Jaguar Driver Technical Tips

Bob Bate (1990)

R.G.Bate Publishing, 501 Cleveland St, Birkenhead, Merseyside England

Reviewed by southern@sol.cgd.ucar.EDU (Lawrence Buja)

Format: 9.75 x 12.5" 4-ring binder; handsome red imitation leather w/gold embossed lettering. 500pp. No photos; several sketches used with permission from Jaguar workshop manual.

An essential book for Jaguar mechanics. It's been a real mystery to me why this book has never been mentioned in Jag-lovers. It's an unbelieveable gold-mine of Jaguar information. If anyone is cataloging the book reviews, please add it to the list with a * indicating that it is a "must have"

Technical Tips is a huge collection of tech articles published in the Jaguar Driver Club magazine by a professional Jaguar mechanic. It is about 500 pages long and covers an immense range of topics all related to the real-world operation, diagnosis and repair of Jaguar automobiles.

I won't even attempt to catalog the hundreds of topics which are covered. From Jaguar engines, drivetrains and suspensions, thru the cooling, brake, and electrical systems, to the complexities of the modern (pub 1990) climate control setup, just about anything you need to know about your Jaguar is explained and dissected plainly and clearly.

The focus is primarily on the 60's thru 80's years, but the information applies to almost the entire range of the postwar Jaguars. Sometimes an item is simply explained, other times it's introduced as a mystery: "Our customer drove her Jaguar into the shop with the following symptoms. This is how we diagnosed the problem (sometimes going down the wrong path) and this is how we fixed it."

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Anyone considering working on their own Jag MUST have this book. Anyone who doesn't want to get ripped off by a high-priced mechanic should get this book. Written in a down-home style very similar to the posts on Jag-lovers, it adds whole other dimension to the dry and all too often static descriptions given in regular Jaguar repair manuals.

Unfortunately, I received the book as a gift and I don't know of a US publisher for this book. If anyone has a lead on it, please post it. I'm sure you could order it thru the Jaguar Driver's Club (I think they've got a web page).

Note: Based on Lawrence's review I ordered this book by phone (011-44-151-653-6765 from the USA). L42 (~$70) for overseas standard rate = 2-3 weeks delivery; L58 for air mail (<1 week). It's a collection of 56 columns Bate wrote for a British Jag club magazine in the 1980's, describing his diagnostic thought process, complete with the maddening red herrings and missteps along the way.

The index lists subjects alphabetically, so I can quickly see if he has anything to say about my current bugaboo. As a practicing mechanic, he deals mostly with maintenance and repairs, not restoration. For example, he has several good articles about checking and servicing steering gear and troubleshooting faults, but nothing about removing the column/renewing bushes, turn signal switch, etc. Novel, unique, interesting, but helpful? Time will tell. GJ 3/21/98