[jer]

On start up I get slightest whiff of diesel smoke, but it's gone very quickly. I always thought it was just a characteristic of the car.

Reading this has got me wondering!!!!

 

[stevewarbs]

I picked my new 2008 2.7 up on Tuesday and got a quite sore throat and headache on the drive home with the same happening on a longish drive on Wednesday. I took the car to the dealer on Saturday morning but service was closed so I went in first thing Monday morning. The pipe is cracked and they gave me a loan 3.0 premium luxury whilst they fix it under the 3 month used car warranty.

Result.

 

[dyrlege]

Mine is going in Wednesday for repairs (changing both downpipes w flex joint), paid for by used car ext guarantee, happily.

 

[drantuk]

It's the flexi

My garage has come back and said it is the flexi that has failed. The right side is worse than the left (as expected).
There's a lot of shared experience on here.
Has anyone found a viable fix that doesn't need £1300 for a pair of cats from Jaguar?

 

[smorgo]

drantuk, it might well be worth trying somewhere that makes bespoke stainless exhausts. When the centre box on my Accord went in September, I was quoted 3 months for a replacement (thanks, Japanese Tsunami!).

Since I couldn't do without it for that long, I took it to MIJ Performance in Walsall who hand-built a full cat-back system while I waited (I waited nearly 5 hours, mind you). Came with a lifetime, transferable warranty, too. They, or someone in the same line of business, may be able to help.

 

[Makendon]

Cat fracture, diesel fumes in car.

Flexi fractued on the cat. Unfortunatly the warranty that came with my car didn't cover the exhaust, despite (in my opinion) a fracture not being wear and tear!. A local garage carried out the replacement of the cat on the passenger side of the car. Paid £450 for the cat plus £200 to fit. No problems since.

 

[jagular]

Any exhaust leak upstream of the catalytic converters remains cause for concern from a safety aspect. Downstream gas is pretty benign these days.

 

[thegasman]

I too have noticed a smell after starting the engine in the last few months.
I had thought it was something to do with the DPF. Now I'm not so sure.
MOT next week, fingers crossed.

Martin

 

[Stormcat]

Martin - a bit late, but may I ask how the MoT went?

David

 

[stewartl2010]

I have a 2008 XF 2.7D with just under 58000 miles on the clock. It is currently at the garage for its 4 year service and 2nd MOT and I have been presented with a bill for £3500 for the service and essential repairs. The big item amongst the list is the replacement of both catalytic converters due to cracking at the flexible couplings and the consequent leakage of exhaust gases. The service department has approached Jaguar claiming that this is a defect which neither the driver nor the service agent could have taken prior action to prevent and that Jaguar should therefore make an appropriate goodwill payment for the repair. We await their response...

 

[Guest]

.........and that Jaguar should therefore make an appropriate goodwill payment for the repair. We await their response...

Welcome to the forum stewartl2010

Jaguar will hopefully do the decent thing as this is a known defect.

 

[stewartl2010]

Jaguar have offered a 50% "goodwill" contribution towards the replacement of the catalytic converters. The dealer gave me a 10% "allegiance discount" and got the total bill to under £2000. Significantly better than the £3500 I was quoted yesterday but I still need 4 new tyres on top of this! I have asked the dealer to photograph the damage to the catalytic converters in situ and to retain the faulty items for independent inspection, should I choose to take the matter further. Jaguar are clearly avoiding admitting that there is a design defect and trying to manage the PR on an individual basis.

Can anyone get any evidence that Jaguar have issued any internal technical service bulletin on the topic of cracking of the flexi joints on catalytic converters?

 

[Guest]

To be honest Stewart, a 60% contribution doesn't sound like a bad offer. BMW typically offer a 50% contribution for post warranty work of a similar nature.

 

[pekem]

Welcome to the forum stewartl2010
All technical bulletins are published by Jaguar and are available for you to inspect, for a small fee, on the Topix site Here

P.S. A brief search revealed
XF catalytic converter flex joint cracking
SSM48737

 

[stewartl2010]

I still think that it is unreasonable that I am £800 out of pocket as a result of a design defect. I inspected the faulty parts this morning and spoke to the technician who replaced them. The flex joint is barely 2cm long and welded to the cat. The flex joint could have been longer to absorb vibration more effectively, or a low cost sacrificial joint could have been fitted so that the more expensive component was protected from damage. The 2.7D has 2 of these things and the technician confirmed that he has replaced both at the same time on a number of occasions. He also confirmed that the 3.0D only has one catalytic converter so if the same design flaw exists it won't be quite as expensive.

I am not prepared to let it rest and will seek to recover all of the cost from Jaguar. I do not see why I should have to pay for poor design and I will be giving up this car at the earliest opportunity. However good it is to drive I do not want to live with the uncertainty over its reliability and cost to keep it on the road

 

[RAS]

Blimey Stewart, I would have been choking if I had been presented with a bill for £3500 for a service and an MOT!!!!!!
As Gemset has said, a 60% contribution is pretty good although it does reinforce my feeling that when my car approaches its third birthday I will be extending the warranty in order to avoid heart stopping bills like yours.

 

[Malleman]

Stewart, one factor you will nedd to consider is that while the cost to you is unpleasant, efffectively you are prolonging the life of the cat and hence the required contribution.

 

[stewartl2010]

It is not unreasonable to expect the cats to last the lifetime of the car. The whole reason for having them is environmental and scrapping them every 4 years is certainly not eco friendly!

 

[R55 DOV]

I have the same problem along with countless other 2.7 XF owners. I have written to Jaguar but do not expect to get a satisfactory answer. In my opinion it is a design fault.
Now I am interested in finding out if anybody has the long term answer to the problem. It has been suggested to me that a longer flexible joint be fitted. Can anybody try and throw some light on how to fix it.

 

[v6arj]

just to let everybody know, mine are gone as well. took it to the garage today and they told me that both cats need replacing simply because of a leak in the 'flex' piece of the connector that bolts onto the manifold. they showed me one that had recently been replaced and it would be a fairly straight forward job to cut the pipe and replace the 'flex' part together with the manifold bracket. to replace the other 95% that includes a perfectly good cat(s) is totally unreasonable and bad practice. and ehat make it worse is the garage is telling me that this is - a common problem - the quote for the work is £2400. for gods sake. !!!!!!!