Fan clutch

Autozone has a fan clutch for about $50.00

Maynard Hirsch
86 XJ6
91XJS
78MGB
67MGB

Personal preference and personal experiences as well.

For instance, the cooling system on my XJS is 100% original configuration and I have no problems. Others have not been so lucky and seek alternate solutions. Under the circumstances it is hard to fault them.

But I'll add that, personally, my desire to keep my XJS mostly original really doesn't have anything to do with concours events. (I've never shown it even once although I suspect it was place fairly well). Its simply a matter of maintining the integrity and character of the car...even if it means, in *some* cases, more upkeep. After all, I never bought Jaguars with the expectation that they would be inexpensive to own or require no more care than a Toyota... :-)

Cheers

Doug Dwyer
Longview Washington USA
1987 XJ6 Ser III
1988 XJS V12 Coupe

IMHO, it all depends on what you are trying to accomplish and what your priorities are. When I owned my XJS, I was constantly fighting the battle of the overheating. A major solution came along in the form of an electric fan to replace the engine driven fan. It mounted up easily to the shroud, eliminated the belt driven fan, looked fine to me, and it worked brilliantly. Plus, it freed up a few extra horsepower by eliminating the belt. Was it concours correct? No. Did I care? No. It worked. And in my opinion it was a nice improvement to the reliability of the car.

If winning in JCNA concours is important to you, stick to original, at least where it counts for those purposes. If reliability and cost effective replacement of parts is your objective, considering reasonable alternatives is well within the scope of consideration.

Just my $.02.

Steve Weinstein
'70 XKE FHC

I have found this thread to be very interesting. One of the complicating factors is that it is increasingly difficult to find genuine Jaguar parts for some cars. For example, my XJR-S was made in such small numbers with unique parts that a Jaguar replacement is not always available (and never was).

I tend to follow a triage routine, which is to first check out Jaguar parts and determine their availability and price. If Jaguar has the part and the price is reasonable, I go ahead and purchase. Only if necessary (not available or Jaguar charges too much) will I go to a backup vendor. In desparate moments, the mechanic who does much of the work on my car will raid the storage lot. We have found that many British autos (especially Land Rover) are close matches (e.g., headlight washer fittings).

I do consider some parts to be inviolate , however, and I will go to the ends of the earth to find a genuine Jaguar part. After all, it is Jaguars that I have chosen to own.

1993 XJR-S
1996 XJS Celebration Edition

Fair point. I don't put stuff on unless it fits the same hole the old part came out of without modifications.

Tom Kipp
89 XJ-S Coupe

I'd say the AC Delco accumulator is a good idea, Tom. It is the SAME part.

The type of thing I was talking about would be needing a new accumulator and deciding that a $5.00 boneyard replacement from an '87 Nissan is the hot ticket, and then, let's see, with some tubing and tie wraps and plumbers tape and adapters----it works !!---- and SO much better than "the crummy part Jaguar used."

Doug Dwyer
Longview Washington USA
1987 XJ6 Ser III
1988 XJS V12 Coupe

I don't know if I fully support the "Jaguar only" position. Case in point; on the ABS cars, you have that pesky accumulator ball. I've had to replace two. Now, our friends at Jaguar want to charge about $400 for one. I got mine through AC-Direct (AC Delco) for less than $90 including shipping. No, it didn't come in a green Jaguar box, but the blue and white AC Delco box. I compared both parts. They are identical, including the part number stamped on it, and are from the same manufacturer. If buying it from AC Delco makes my car less of a Jag, well, I'm willing to deal with that I guess. Same goes for the air filters I paid $17 each for from AutoZone. I just couldn't justify the $150 Byers Imports wanted for the "Jaguar" one. The Jaguar boxes, Delco boxes, and Fram boxes all meet the same "equalizer" in the end anyway, my trash can.

Tom Kipp
89 XJ-S Coupe

Amen, Amen !!

Lots of owners have repaired their Jags with substitute parts from other makes or gizmos fashioned from bits purchased at the plumbing section of the local home improvement store.....and then try convince themselves that the cobbled together result is some sort of grand improvment over the original design.

Hey, I'm all for ingenuity and that sort of thing and I'll admit to a few small "enhancements" of my own design but, as Dick says....the danger is in ending up with a non-Jaguar.

I'm not saying that *every* replacement part must come from a Jaguar labled box....but do avoid too many "there, that oughta do it" replacements.

Doug Dwyer
Longview Washington USA
1987 XJ6 Ser III
1988 XJS V12 Coupe