Wee things...

Despite the rain it was another glorious day to be out in the Jag. I've been using her to commute and she has been running well. There is also noticeably less oil and transmission fluid leaking from her since the transmission service and thanks to the Pro-Tec stop leak treatment, which is excellent because the amounts that had been lost overboard were beginning to worry me. The gearshifts are still smooth, the 'box isn't as noisy and old girl has got some pace back.

A couple of things have cropped up that will need attention though. Just wee things, but they annoy me. First off, the petrol gauge is lying again. It had seemed to sort itself after earlier inaccuracies but today I put a lot of petrol in but it only says there's a half a tank. At some point I will need to run the Jag almost dry so that I can remove the sender and give it a clean up. The posts on the JEC forums seem to indicate that this is probably what's causing the odd readings.

The forums have also helped with diagnosis of another issue - the sticky throttle. When changing from D to R or N & vice-versa while stationary the revs will rise to about 1500 and won't go down till you blip the pedal. Not a critical issue, but annoying and embarrassing when you're at a set of lights. If the revs are left high it causes a good thump through the drivetrain too when the gears engage, which can't be good, so a thorough clean out of the throttle body and butterflies is on the cards.

Speaking of cards I'm going to need to remove the driver's door card shortly - sooner rather than later - to see what's happened to the check strap. The door got stuck open today in the rain but released with a bit of a bang. Now it will not open fully. The forums pointed me in the direction of a knackered strap which may have pulled out of the door itself and become jammed. Inventive repair work may be required along with a trip to Rob Jenner for spare parts. A wee thing again, but frustrating.

I suppose that's part of the attraction of older cars. There's almost a masochistic delight in something needing attention just so that you can fix it. I really don't want to be chasing my tail fixing things though. I want to improve the car, to make it run and drive perfectly and keep it's body and paint in good condition. I also want to look into it's past and start compiling a history folder. Mr Jenner has suggested a couple of things to try. First of all there's a Jaguar Heritage Trace which will give me the cars "birth" details, such as when it was completed, original spec, original and supplying dealers, original reg etc and maybe even first and second owners. Secondly if I pop into Stratstones (Jag dealer in Edinburgh), ask for John in the spares dept, give him the last six digits of H9 WAP's vin and ask nicely for a print out of my car from the DDW system, then that may yield more info. Thirdly I can pay DVLA for a full owner check.

Pulling all these wee things together will make H9 WAP a better, more valuable car. One that I can comfortably enjoy and maybe one day turn a profit on.