1985 XJ 4.2 Soverign

[philipbrown123]

Hi All

Looking at a C reg soverign tomorrow. Has been off the road for 12 years but back on it for 6 months. Photo's look great including underside.

I have previously owned xjs, xjr, xj, xk8 and xkr but never bought anything as old as this before. Will be a sunday afternoon type car but used most weekends.

What should I look for ?

Regards Phil

[Orcadian]

Corrosion would be the big issue, most other things are relatively cheap to put right.
Lower edges of rear of front wings
Lower sections of bonnet under the inner headlights - this is where the hinges are and with stiff hinges, stress corrosion starts.
Rear wings and wheel arches plus leaky fuel tanks
Chrome on bumpers
Lower edges of front and rear screens - bonded in.
Wet carpets
Elec window and mirror function - rear windows don’t go all the way down with that door design.

Lovely cars though, I had a 4.2 and two V12’s

Ian

[Jaguar steve]

Rust. Just about everywhere there's metal

Oil and coolant leaks, rear diff whine when hot, potential block cracking between bores - check for oil and coolant mixing and hot missfire, handbrake weak or seized, cooked or inoperative rear bakes and diff oil leaks, suspension wear manifesting in thumps and clonks and uneven tyre wear, vague steering indicating knackered rack bushes, damp carpets, brown or burnt auto box fluid, a/c and heating working correctly, fuel tank switching working and all electrics functioning including windows and HRW.

Drive line clonks on/off load, knackered shocks, blue smoke from exhaust on over run and start up, tapping from top of engine at camshaft speed.

Apart from all that a good S3 is a lovely thing, but a bad one will bleed you white.