I think the October issue of
JWM had been out just a few days when Wyn Thomas, independent Jaguar specialist
(tel: 01992 571532/578555), left a message saying I should pop over with the
XJ6 Series 3. When I rang him back he told me that co-director Michael Ferrari,
the man who fronts the Wyn Thomas Servicing operation, had been reading the Our
Jaguars report in said issue, and noted the reference to the clunk in the
gearbox on down-changes. To him the solution was obvious
Naturally
intrigued, we dropped in to see them. Wyn's a real enthusiast and his favourite
Jaguar of all time is the XJ SERIES 3: "proper cars these," he says
infectiously. Couple this to the fact that he sold this Cranberry example to us
back in 1998 and the smile on his face was as broad as it could have been as we
rolled into the ever improving Epping-based premises.
While Wyn and I
chatted about the current state of the market, Michael took the car out for a
brief test drive, sailed back into the workshop, popped the bonnet and, within
five minutes, he'd returned to the sales office triumphantly declaring that the
problem had been fixed.
Apparently, inside the gearbox is a throttle
valve that, when correctly adjusted, has an exhaust gap within it in order to
let the fluid drain away quickly as the car comes to rest. On our Series 3, the
throttle valve was ill adjusted, thus causing the jolt on down-changes as the
car was slowed. Whisked up onto a ramp, it was a simple job for Michael to set
the throttle valve correctly, and now down-changes are silky smooth once
more.
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