Jaguar S Type

"Unfortunately, these are dealer-only wiper blades so you should consult your dealer."

This is NOT true. You can replace these wiper blades on your own. I happen to have a 2005 Jaguar S Type and I will tell you how it is done.

First, you will notice that there are tubes running up the arm of the blade that connect to a plastic clip on the side of the blade. That is the line from the wiper blade fluid tank to the wiper. That is responsible for spraying fluid on your windshield when you go to clean it.

Pull off the tubing. As you can see, it easily slides off and on.

Now you have to remove the wipers. How do you remove the wipers? Well you have to press a small lever that is on the underside of the plastic clip that had the tube running into it. If you reach under it, you will see what I mean. You have to press that clip while you are sliding the wiper down. This will help release it from the hook it is on. So press that button and slide the wiper down.

Once it releases from that hook, you are going to have to turn the wiper to get the rest of it off, but once you get it off the hook, it should be clear how to do it.

NOW, you have to take that little plastic piece that the tube ran into off of the old blade so you can put it on the new blade. It pops off. It doesn't look like it does, but if you gently force it, it will pop off. You can then attach it to the new blade.

After you have attached that clip to the new blade, you have to slide the blade back to get that hook on it. That is it.

It SOUNDS complex, but it isn't. You can get the blades and the clip from Trico for about $9.99 for the passenger side (19 inch) and $13 for the driver's side (24 inch). In fact, you can likely get the blades cheaper than that from eBay if you can wait for them. If you can't get the item off the hook, just go to ANY auto parts store and they can do it for you.

I have a X-reg. (2001) Jaguar S-Type and the windscreen wipers stopped working after 99,000 miles. After the fault developed they would give one sweep then freeze at a random point. With the power on they could be forced to a different position, but were very stiff. The cost for a garage to replace the wiper motor and linkage was in excess of £500, so it looked terminal. The service manual describes an involved process with brake servos having to be removed to get access. Even doing it yourself a replacement motor and linkage would cost over £200. The car could be saved if I could repair, in-situ, the existing mechanism: this I have successfully done.

My wiper mechanism failed because the driver's side shaft, to which the wiper-arm is connected, had corroded in the bearing and seized. This is caused by gallons of rain water passing over it due to the design of the car. My wiper motor had not been damaged by either the fault, or my attempts to push the wipers across the screen, so I was lucky!

To repair the fault. Mark the position of the parked wipers on the windscreen using masking tape and a felt-tip pen. Lift up the bonnet and remove the two plastic stoppers at the ends of the wiper arms. Remove the nuts thus revealed and wiggle the wiper arms off the splines. The manual says there is a special tool for this, but I fortunately didn't need one. Mark up which wiper arm goes on which shaft, so that any differences in the splines and blade wear will not be swapped about when you replace them. Remove the plastic panel that crosses the car at the rear of the engine compartment. The front of this is fastened with plastic plugs. To get these out press the centre in about 4mm (take care not to push it straight through or you might lose it) and lift out the plug. To reassemble reposition the centre part so it protrudes a few mm from the body of the plug then, after inserting the plug through the plastic panel and the car chassis, press the centre down until it is flush. Remove the screws from the rear of the plastic panel. These are aluminium and have star drives; they will easily damage if you use the wrong type of screwdriver. Be careful not to lose the black plastic stand-off washers that are beneath these on the underside of the panel. The panel should now lift out over the wiper shafts. Take care not to damage the plastic water-guide that fastened to this panel is about two-thirds across at the front. Also be careful not to remove the rubber seal from the bottom of the windscreen. It is easily re-fitted, but is a job less to do if it stays in place.

You can now see the wiper shafts and the linkage mechanism on the driver's side of the car. The motor is on the right underside of the assembly as you look from the front. I did not need to remove the motor and therefore can't suggest how to do it. The wiper shafts have each got a plastic shroud over them, presumably to stop water ingress. Carefully remove these and note which goes where. On my car the driver's side shaft was solidly rusted into the bearing. I applied "Plus-Gas" and left it overnight.

The following day I released the linkage from the motor by undoing the single screw from the centre of the crank. To get a spanner in required the wipers to be away from the parked position. This may be difficult to achieve if yours is totally stuck, but should be possible. If you try and force the mechanism have power to the motor, as it will be locked against the worm gear otherwise and keep your fingers well clear of the linkage. Note: when re-fitting the crank to the motor shaft it only goes on one way (one end is slightly curved) - this is to ensure the auto park is at the correct position. With the linkage free I used the wiper arm (refitted tightly to the splines) as a lever and began to gently work the bearing(s). It was slow progress but over time with many applications of Plus-Gas it freed up. I carefully removed the circlip (it would be a good idea to have a spare in case this breaks!) and washer from the wiper shafts to enable better access to the bearings, which are sintered bronze. I then flushed out as much rusty debris as possible with Plus-Gas and the airline, before injecting lubricating oil into the gap. It was possible, with the circlip removed, to work the shafts up and down in the bearings to force the oil into the space between the two. Finally I replaced the, cleaned, washer and circlip and put a large dollop of grease onto the top of the bearing and around the shaft before replacing the plastic shrouds.

Refitting is the reverse of the above noting the observations I have already made about positioning the crank, wiper arms etc.

Sorry ...there is no magic override button on this cat!

You'll have to either get a friend (or two) to help "rock" the car while you try to move the gear handle out of park (OR) you can arrange for a tow truck to "lift" the rear end.

To avoid this situation in the future, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pull up the Parking Brake BEFORE you put the car into Park (they say to do this on an incline, but I do it all the time so it becomes routine).

Then when you are ready to drive again, move the gear shift handle downward to either Reverse or further down to Drive. THEN take down the Parking Brake handle.

TIP FOR GETTING CAR HOME IF STUCK IN PARK.

Hi. On our car we popped the gearstick surround moulding off. Then with a screwdriver on the left hand side[passenger side], there is a little button that sticks out horizontally .If you lever it inwards using the screwdriver it will release the gearstick from Park which was stuck on our car. This releases you to get the car into drive to bring it home.If Park is engaged again just repeat procedure. A new gear selector had to be fitted to cure the problem.Hope this helps.

Overide Button is at the rear of the selector fixed on with 2 screws. you need to remove lower centre console, hand brake cover, ash tray ect. (not to bad) once removed you can run your fingers down the rear of the selector and just underneath is silver button looks like a mushroom size of a penny. push up to disengage lock

yes you could, but there is a down side to that it will ping in really heavy load or driving the car hard because of the tremedusly high compression that's why Honda tells you to use 91 its best for the engine

The engine control system uses a knock sensor to control ignition timing. Low octane fuel results in pretty severe ignition retard, mine would not rev over 4000rpm on regular fuel, no knocking or pinging was evident, but neither was the normal performance this engine delivers. Compression ratio is 11:1 and high miles and carbon build up may increase this further.