Like many of us, my car has been sitting still for a while without getting any sort of TLC. Dust and bird droppings were starting to annoy me and I found that access to water for washing the Jaguar was getting tricky. I used to follow a 3-sponge 3-bucket system for washing my cars but […]
Now that many of our cars are laid up with the global pandemic raging, I thought this would be a good opportunity to present a video guide on what sort of regular maintenance checks your car would benefit from. I am going to adopt the FLOWER term that is widely used within the motor Industry, […]
I’m starting to wonder about the integrity of the NCT. And I say this with good reason. Those of you following the story of my XF’s NCT will know that it was failed on a rear suspension imbalance. (In case you’ve only joined the story on this post, here are the first and second parts). […]
I’m typing this as I sit here waiting for my turn in the NCT Centre. I generally travel to the Mullingar as the NCT staff here understand that the cars they are testing are people’s pride and joy and they tend to treat them with respect. Unfortunately it seems that everyone has cottoned onto this […]
The time has come for my XF to undergo it’s NCT. Because the Jag has not reached the ripe old age of ten yet, she has to go through the NCT every two years. For those not in the know, the age rules are as follows: Once a car is four years old, it must […]
Winter has arrived, and with it my daily driver, the 2014 XF, has decided that it needs some help. The rear tyres are at the tread limiters, but what reminded me to do some winter checks were my brake pads. Today the car gave me a Low Brake Pad warning … but not which set […]
Large capacity engines tend to be thirsty. They are also terribly inefficient at low speed, as the throttle is nearly closed so the additional cylinders are running at very low pressure, resulting in an engine working hard to draw air so it can feed fuel into all the cylinders. Many manufacturers have now adopted technologies […]
Let’s start with the basics – a single turbocharger is a “forced induction device that pushes more air into the combustion chamber of the engine, allowing for more fuel to be added”. This basically means you get more of a bang by re-using air from the exhaust gases of the engine, as these gases are […]
VLSD stands for Viscous Limited Slip Differential. In case you’re still none the wiser, a VLSD links the two wheels (in the case of the 350Z) using two sets of plates encased in fluid, all together in one sealed housing unit. When the wheel on one side loses grip, it spins faster, causing one of […]
VDC stands for Vehicle Dynamic Control. In case you’re still none the wiser, VDC is the vehicle stability system used in Nissan vehicles. When the system is actively preventing a disaster, the orange SLIP light will blink rapidly on the dashboard. How does it work? The system monitors readings from 4 different types of sensors […]