Kirby Palm's Jaguar XJ-S Help Book
Experience in a Book:
Help for the Jaguar XJ-S Owner
by Kirby Palm
Having owned several unusual automobiles, it occurred to me
that one of
the biggest problems of having an uncommon car is learning all the
little nuances and quirks unique to that model. The local gas station
mechanic is not likely to be much help, and mechanics knowledgeable on
unusual makes are likely to be expensive and far away. Such mechanics
also have the ulterior motive of making a profit, and therefore are
disinclined to tell you about money-saving alternatives. And finding
someone who will actually take the time to tell you everything you
might need to know is almost impossible.
Owning both a Jaguar XJ-S and a computer, it seemed only
natural
that I
could record the things I learned about my car and make the information
available
to others. What started as a set of notes on "Everything you wanted to
know
but didn't know who to ask" has evolved into a book of 700+ pages of
small
print, including many illustrations and schematics. It was originally
intended
to be printed and s-mailed to whoever sent a few bucks to cover
expenses,
but with the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web it
became
possible to allow people anywhere in the world to download the file and
print
it for themselves. Yes, it is free
to download.
Experience in a Book: Help for
the Jaguar
XJ-S Owner (XJS_help.pdf) is a PDF document
containing
useful information for the maintenance, upkeep, and modification of the
Jaguar XJ-S. The current edition is 4.7 MB.
Since it is a PDF file your browser may just try to open it online; if
you're on a dial-up, it'll take about 45 minutes for that page to
load! It is recommended that you
right-click on this link and select "Save Link Target As..", especially
if you're working with a slow internet connection.
You may print it out if you wish, but it is over 700
pages and will use up a lot of ink and paper. What many owners do
is peruse it on their computer where they can perform keyword searches
and click on cross-references and links to web sites. When it's
time to get greasy they'll print out the few pages they need and carry
them out to
the garage. If they get smudged, just throw them away and reprint.
To view a PDF file, you'll need Adobe Acrobat.
The current edition of the book is dated May 21,
2009. The
date
is on the
cover page.
There is a listing of the revisions
incorporated into this document beginning in February of 2009.
There is also a listing of the revisions
from January 1, 2000 through May 19, 2006.
And there is a text
file listing the revisions
incorporated
in the 1900's.
Since the jag-lovers www site provides me plenty of hard
drive space,
I've
established a collection of pictures
that illustrate some of the parts and modifications mentioned in the
book. These photos are not
included in the book itself; the book contains illustrations and
diagrams but no photographs because they use too much ink when
printing.
Sean Straw has set up a site with some sounds that
Jaguars
make . This isn't just to sound pretty; these are sounds the
engines make when there's something wrong. Very useful for
diagnosis.
You might enjoy visiting Kirby Palm's home page in
Florida. Among other things, there's an entertaining treatise on
how to introduce a lady to your Jaguar.
If you have questions about your car, I recommend you join
the xj-s
and v12-engine discussion lists and post your questions there. You can
join
from the jag-lovers page
.
From that site you can also browse or search the archives of those
lists
to see if your problem has already been discussed, and you can do that
without
joining the lists.
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