2001 Jaguar S-Type from North America - Comments

2000-2002 S-Type transmission is out of the Ford Lincoln LS.

The chassis is the Lincoln LS, so the trans fitted perfectly so they used it. It was a problem in that car as well long before they placed it in the new S-Type. Rebuilt trans cost between 1,300-1,600 plus install labor. Jaguar charges 5,000??? All window regulators failed, auto steering colume failed, Fault-engine safe mode= gas pedal pressure switch. Paint peeling from car and its only 6 years old, not like the old jag paint jobs, its now Ford paint.

Be aware that I found out the hard way that the timing chain tensioners on the 2001 4.0 S- Type are faulty and will break causing major engine damage. Jaguar is aware of this problem, but failed to inform the owners. There is an upgraded tensioner to solve this, but this too is very costly.

I, too have had all of the same problems that everyone else has expressed about their S-type jags. My transmission light has come on at 55,000 miles (2001 year) and the deal tells me that I need to replace the transmission for $4,100. I believe that I have been sold a lemon. I would like to be part of the class action suit again Jaguar because they are knowingly and, I believe, deliberately selling us cars that will fall apart within a matter of two years. I will never purchase another jag and am going to tell anyone who will listen, and even those you won't, about the inferior car that Jaguar is producing.

Hello -

I am another victim of the 2000 S-Type 3.0 made in Coventry.

I bought it used at 51Kmi, now it has 77Kmi and I aim to sell it ASAP.

My problems during the 26Kmi:

1) Driver seat power motor module burned out per dealer tech

2) Cloth coming away from the left and right windshield bars

3) Replaced O2 sensor and 3 fuel injectors (and the right intake manifold gaskets, and all 6 plugs (no prob really)

4) So-called 'expansion tank' leak.. replaced coolant tank

5) Engine light came on; dropped $550 USD at dealer tech, but as I drove away less than 10 miles it came back on again! Drove back to dealer. The next day, they said they used up another $350 USD in labor, but have it "narrowed it down" to a 1 volt drop in some sensor wire in the engine compartment. I told them to pound sand and to get their damn hands off my car. I still have this problem now, but in good weather it goes away.

6) In really cold rainy days, the car cranks fine but won't start... not getting fuel up there because I have great spark and compression, but plugs are dry.

It runs fine in decent to good weather, but hates ice cold rainy weather.

7) Since it is rear-wheel drive, it is very poor in the snow/ice. I don't have that "traction" option. While trying to rock it in/out of a little ice spot in a driveway, I apparently broke the plastic stick-shifter thing on the cable that goes to the transmission. Now I have to ease it into gear #4 and then the drive "catches" and I can go back to "D" Drive.

Bottom line: I would like to sue the crap out of Ford/Jag, but now they are selling the whole mess to the Indian TaTa company. Good riddance.

Well, sadly I guess I get to be "one of the gang" in this. I have a 2001 S-type and have just been blessed with the transmission issue, which is how I found all of you. In the 4 years I've had mine, putting less than 50k miles on it, I've had to have the following done:

1. Passenger side window regulator --died when down

2. Rotors and brakes

3. Stretched shifter cable

4. Battery issue

5. Radio display flashes on and off with radical flashing, making it impossible to read the channel or time

6. At one point, there was no sound from the radio. Drove it like this for a couple weeks, then one day, it worked and I had sound again.

7. Driver's side window regulator -- died as I was pulling into the airport (so convenient)

8. Windshield whistling, took in for replacement and now the cloth around it peeling and sagging.

9. Now, driving down the road at 70mph, the car shifts out of drive into neutral. Thankfully it just meant pushing on the accelerator just revved the engine, and I could get to the side of the road. All I got was a "transmission fault" and the occasionaly having to wiggle the stick to get it into gear.

Jag dealer says it's just a stretched shifter cable and a parking paw replacement needed. I'm told this is normal for jags, and after the "upgrade" it will be fine for another several thousand miles.

Now, I'm a bit worried about just having this done for $2,000, but am not ready to drop in the $5,000 for a rebuilt tranny. Guess I'll get it out of the shop, and drive straight to the Lexus dealership and trade it in!!

Count me in on the class action if it goes ahead.

Kendra nottoday77@hotmail.com

To My fellow 2001 Jaguar owners... my sympathies:

My car was a gift, bought hardly used with very few miles on it by my husband who had come closer to death than he had ever expected and wanted to make amends for being a pain all of our lives. So after over 20 years in my reliable Camry I became a woman about town in what I thought to be the most gorgeous, great riding car anyone could ever imagine. Well I have experienced nothing but "AAA help me please," trips to the mechanic, tow truck rides and tears of "how much did you say that will cost and can we barter in exchange for my first born child?" The Jaguar dealerships where I get my repairs have that look of... oh no not you again! My list is comparable to all of yours from the windows dropping out in the freezing cold to absolute death on the road with no warning for a laundry list of reasons. I am the proud owner of a brand new engine too, just about 6 months old. No explanation for that one so I assume I did something wrong. So sorry to vent, but once again, I made my appointment for brakes and rotors... feels like yesterday I made the same call and that time it felt like yesterday too. With about 60 thousand miles, I have spent about that much in repairs. And yes the cloth is coming off the interior front windows and the coating on the cup holder is peeling away and the paint is eh... well it is seven years old. Oh yes I live in NYC, my car has a comfortable garage, is driven 10 minutes to and from work and is cared for better than I ever will be!

2001 Jaguar S-type.

We bought this for my sister about 3 years ago. Perhaps the worst car ever made. We have had the same problems, dropping lining from around windshield, window regulators having to be replaced.

Engine light came on few weeks ago, she took it to the dealership in Southern California, where its always been serviced even though it's 50 miles away... They charged her $700, two days later the transmission light came on... and she started hearing noises from the rear wheels... went to the dealership again, where they worked on it the whole day only to tell her at the end of the day that they misdiagnosed it.. and the rear differential is going to have to be replaced for $4000... and the whole transmission might need to be replaced soon as well...

The car has 85000 miles and has been driven hardly 5-10 miles per day... she is afraid to even open and close the doors because she thinks it will fall apart. If there's a class action lawsuit, let us know more about it.

I own a 2003 S type 3.0. I purchased it in Aug 2004 as a lease trade in. The vehicle had 22000 miles on it. I purchased the 100000 mile extended warranty at the time of purchase.

I have had my car in the Jag shop at least 4 times for the transmission snatching roughly. While driving just out of no where the transmission will jerk. Each time the dealership told me that the computer just had to be cleared out and reset. I would bring the car home, and in just a couple of days it would be doing the same thing again.

After the 3rd time for the same issue, the service manager told me that if it happened again I would need to replace the transmission. Since it was under warranty I was not very concerned about the cost.

Again the car started shifting rough. I had seen all the many web blogs about the S type problems and the lack of Jaguars service to these problems. So I really felt defeated and just accepted that this was part of owning a Jaguar. Besides the car was not worth the payoff according to Blue Book. So I was stuck paying for a car that the rear end might fall out of.

At 91000 miles, knowing my warranty would expire soon, I took my car back to the dealership for the same item. They have had my car for two days. A Jaguar adjuster came out and determined that there was nothing wrong with my transmission. My driving was the problem. They told me that I drive the car "too hard" for the computer. So they have again reset the computer and they send me on my not so merry way.

Please if anyone knows of a class action lawsuit, let me know. I wish there was some way to force a recall. I paid as much for my used car as I would have paid for a new Mercedes! Jaguar and Ford sell these extended warranties for thousands of dollars on expensive cars, and then don't honor either one. Heartbroken.

Own a 2001 S type Jaguar with about 70,000 miles driven mostly on the highway. While we've had minor (though expensive) problems still love the way the car drives. Just yesterday the Gear Box Fault message appeared but in the manual this is not addressed. Exactly what does this mean and does the service need to be done at the Jag dealership?

I own a 2002 4.2 S-type, which I bought 3 years ago with 40,000 miles. 3 years later and 54,000 miles on the clock, and I've spent over £3500 ($7000) on fixing faulty parts including:

- Front headlamp (stopped auto adjusting)

- Engine coolant cabling and radiator

- Rear parking module.

Latest problem is the electronic parkbrake. Got back from a week's holiday with the car stored in the garage (where it is always kept) and saw a warning on the dashboard saying "Parkbrake fault", break warning light permanently on and a warning claxon whenever the car moved.

Took the car to the local Jaguar dealership (like many of you, I'm on a first name basis here now) and they found water in the boot compartment that has caused corrosion of the electronics. Where the hell that came from is anyone's guess. (The design engineer that decided to put all the electrics at the lowest part of the trunk where any water (leaking or accidental) would collect deserves to be shot.) They reset the electronics and the parkbrake issue was fixed.

When I collected the car, there was still water in the trunk and I don't know why I was shocked to see the problem return a few hours later. I called the dealership and complained that the problem had reoccurred, and asked why they had not drained the water from the trunk - to which they said they only did a diagnostic. Why not fix the damned problem?

It also seems that the rear park assist module corroded due to the same water problem. Probably the first two of many electric issues. Also I'm not hanging around to get transmission, gear box, engine problems that many of you have been facing, and will sell the car as soon as this problem is fixed. Such a lovely car drive, but not at this price!

I have a 2001 S-type 4.0. Driver/passenger front window regulators, transmission is going out.

Cloth on each side of windshield is sagging.

Now have to take it to the shop because it is missing horribly.

The car has 119k miles on it. What a mess.

If there is a lawsuit, let me know. sawinc24@yahoo.com thanks.

Last month I wrote about the "gear box fault" problem I am having on my 2001 S. Took it to the dealer who promptly told me that it will need a new or "remanufactured" transmission. The car has less than 70,000 miles on it. Cost for transmission around $3700. He also told me to drive it until it just stopped running, but I notice the engine revs up pretty high and I don't want to blow out an engine just to save on a transmission. Does anyone have any good advice for me?

We bought a 2001 S-type Jaguar in the summer of 2007. It made clunky noises that we thought were caused by loose junk in the trunk. It was actually bad bushings, etc. That mistake cost us $3200.00.

We've replaced 2 window regulators ourselves to save several hundred dollars. (Ordered the regulators on line.) And we had the front window pillars reupholstered for $75.00.

The engine light is on permanently but we've had no engine problems. The gas gage sensor is faulty so we have to fill up at a quarter of a tank or risk 'running out of gas' going down the highway.

I never ran out of gas before we had this car. It's been 3 times now. Makes you feel great to push a Jag down the road. The manufacturers should be ashamed!

It's a beautiful car and is running great for now-- but all the problems and potential problems take a lot away from

the joy of owning a 'luxury car.' Not to mention the hard seats. Jag lovers beware.

We have a 2001 S-Type 3.0 with just over 160,000 miles. Car was purchased in 2002 with just about 20,000 miles on it, and had the 100,000 miles extended warranty as part of the deal.

Overall it held up OK, but we had our share of problems with some of them being fixed under warranty.

Those were window problems (2), and ignition coils (3).

Fixed after the warranty expired were: all around shocks, brakes front and rear, high pressure power steering hoses (2), front end components and front stabilizer bar bushings, transmission valve body, cooling system thermostat & hoses, pcv breather hoses, and many check engine light resets for some weird codes that are coming and going for no apparent reason, to the point that I had purchased a cheap OBD-2 scanner to reset them and not have to visit a mechanic.

In all fairness, there are some some positives about the car like gas mileage in the 23-24 mpg combined, smooth engine power, ride quality and quietness (thanks to the Bilstein shocks), and overall looks and shape.

In conclusion, there are some good things about the car and some bad things, and I am debating to either save for a transmission replacement or to try to find a buyer soon.

My two cents!