I'd be trying to ascertain WHY it only did 5000miles in 9years.. it could be genuine.. but it sounds a tad suss. Other than that a good service and checking the battery v.carefully would be my guess. I dont like engines that sit idle for years...
Head corrosion is the greatest enemy to the AJ6 engine and coolant should be changed regularly. At about 160,900km/100,000 cylinderhead should be removed and the valves reworked; many head gaskets have failed around this mark. Now many others have gone distances much longer without any work or failure...its your choice.
Jaguars seem to spend much of their time in the garage...not that they are in need of repair, but because most owners dont like seeing their kitty get used up. I have driven my Jag a total of 1200 miles in the last 4 years and it needs nothing.
The chrome heat shield: Look at your exhaust heat shield. Mounted on top of that shield is a EGR valve. Now look to see if the shield is part of the EGR mounting surface or if there is a gap all aroung the EGR valve. The old style shields mounted under the EGR and commonly rot out, resulting in EGR fault codes whilst the newer ones had a cut out so the EGR valve mounted through it, not on it.
The rear end: Does it make noise? All parts in the XJ40 rear end are Dana 44 parts and the prices for these parts are very cheap. Typical rear end failures are from the easy to replace output shaft bearings.
Cars that sit need a little extra care. All fluids should be replaced/flushed. All in all I have been really pleased with the reliability of my Jag (Unlike my old Series II) and I am especially happy when I blow past little hot rod Hondas going up the hills.
There is an absolute heap of stuff that you will need to check out. A 'service' is simply not enough. These cars do not like to be left stored unless done carefully and very regularly fired up and run.
I have just been through an exercise of bringing a 1987 3.6 back to life. Mine had done a genuine 16,132 miles when I inherited her from father-in-law a couple of years ago. This car had a 100% not cost barred Jaguar service history but that was simply not enough as things go wrong due to age.
Dont know where you live but would be happy to chat with you if you email me direct. See my post of 12 sept. I am in Aussie right now but have my own XJ40 looking for a new owner and I have been through the car front bumper to rear.
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