A long, hard day

It couldn't have been a worse start to the day. For the first time in two-and-a-half years, the 32-year-old car failed to start this morning. A combination of short runs, heavy battery drain and a dusting of snow during the night proved too much for it. Jump start from my wife's Rover at 06:30.

Clutch much worse. I only get one shot at moving off now and if I hold the pedal down the car starts to creep after a few seconds. Parked in the space by the exit at work, pointing outwards and spotted a solitary magpie. Ben later commented, 'That's the parking of a man with a dodgy clutch.'

Many thanks to all of you who wrote to offer advice. You all correctly diagnosed a leaking seal in the master cylinder.

David Marks rang at 11:00 to say the master cylinder had arrived from SNG Barratt and that he had a slave in stock. He never reseals hydraulics and often finds that a new master cylinder will quickly expose weaknesses in the rest of the system.

By noon I was ready to tackle the 40-mile journey from Peterborough to Nottingham with virtually no clutch. What followed was a virtuoso performance of clutchless driving. The challenge of approaching every junction and roundabout in neutral and selecting just the right gear for the next gap in traffic thrilled me and frustrated the hell out of everyone behind me. If you followed a very slow XJ6 along the A52 today, I'm sorry.

David Marks took just over an hour to swap the master and slave cylinders and bleed the system. The only unexpected task was the need to drill one of the slave mounting lugs to accept an oversize bolt that had remedied a stripped thread in the past. The pedal box needs to come out and the new master cylinder is fitted on the bench.

The master cylinder cost £64.63 (inc VAT) from Barratt, which was more expensive than Martin Robey, but Robey's didn't have one in stock. The slave was £48. Carriage on the master cylinder (£14.68) and David's time resulted in another sheet of paper to hide from my wife. But it was all worth it to feel a smooth, strong clutch pedal for the first time in weeks.

I enjoyed the A606 down through Melton Mowbray and Oakham, winter sunshine, white clouds and a heavy snow shower creating a stunning skyscape.

At the Shell filling station some dolt had tangled two pump hoses and when I stretched the unleaded nozzle for the far side tank, the diesel nozzle flew out of its holster and took two chips of paint out of my nearside rear wing. It was that bloody magpie's fault.

Clutching at straws

I have a worsening problem with the clutch. During stop/start town traffic the clutch starts to 'clear' and 'bite' deeper and deeper into the pedal travel, until at its worst, the clutch starts to drag. Gears become difficult to select and even with the pedal right to the deck the plates are still engaged.

But if I take my foot right off the pedal, and allow it to recover for a few moments, a good pedal action returns.

I've tried bleeding the system and it doesn't improve. There are no apparent leaks where air could be getting in and it doesn't lose any fluid. Pumping the pedal, a typical remedy for a dragging clutch with air in the system, actually makes it worse.

Any suggestions out there?

TV star car

Bet you wondered where I'd gone! Spent all day filming for the documentary to go out on Men & Motors later in the year. Cameras stuck to the paintwork (with duck tape!) and inside the car to get some wild angles. Did about 30 miles round and round the same loop of roads in the business park. Viewers will be gripped.

Taxi!

Picked up Phil at Longthorpe. He's getting the tracking sorted on the Porsche 911. A damp start for the Jaguar, but it fired straight away and ran on six, quietly and smoothly. Today's CD: Fallen, Evanescence.

Oil level

Exactly one litre of oil brought the level back to the top mark on the dipstick, just 439 miles since I last filled it. Is this normal? It also needed a lot of water, but I hadn't checked that since I replaced the split hose.

Snow joke

The winter weather arrived today and all the drivers decide to show how crap they are. It's 17:10 and all the frozen roads are blocked by ineptly-driven cars. I'm going out myself now, and I may be some time.

Cool kids

Taking the kids to school the heater wasn't working and there was steam coming out of the grille. Inspection at home revealed a split hose between the water pump and header tank - one of the few not renewed last year. I had a spare.

All the pots

Started on six this morning. Lovely. Today's CD: Pulp, Different Class.

Washing off the salt

Bright sunshine convinced me it was a good day to wash all the salt off the car and restore the shine. The emergence of the hose and bucket had its usual effect on the sun and I finished wiping the brightwork with a GT85-soaked cloth just as the rain started.

Secured the door handle and dried all the HT leads and gave them a blast with WD-40.

I'm away, not the cat

I'm away in Switzerland so the father-in-law is in charge of the Jaguar. He tells me it started on only five cylinders again this morning but cleared when it warmed up.

Blue haze

Can you overfill the dashpots on SU carbs? It's such a satisfying job, squirting oil into those big alloy receptacles, even though I'm never quite sure what it does. Anyway, filled 'em to the brim on Sunday and every time I started the engine, there was a slight blue smoke haze from the exhausts. It quickly cleared and now it's gone altogether.

Great day out at Lance McCormack's Romance of Rust workshop in Ealing and then on to the Ace Cafe.

32.7litres of fuel filled it up after 102 miles. That's 14mpg round town/six mile commute. Gulp!

Cool music

Today's CD: The Jam, Beat Surrender.

32 today!

Happy 32nd birthday LAB 320K. After spending £12.99 on a new, more powerful washer pump, I discovered it was probably everything but the pump that was at fault. The non-return valve in the tank was sticking, the pipes were badly-routed and the joints were leaking. But I'd put the new pump in by the time I discovered all this. The resulting blast of screenwash is astonishing.

Also astonishing was the fact that I needed to add 1.5litres of Miller's Classic 20/50 semi-synthetic oil to bring it up to the mark and the coolant was low by about a litre. Time for a consumption check – everything topped-up nice at 196,111 miles.

Went for a run and just got to thinking how well it was all going when the door handle came off in my hand.

Fuel consumption test

156-mile round trip to the Autosport Show at the NEC. Good show. Put 42litres of Optimax in at Thrapston on way out and used left tank for a fuel check: 19.7litres in at Thrapston on return 109 miles later = 25mpg, assuming odometer is accurate. Juddering at 70mph, wheel balance? Screen washer packed up; tried to suck out blockage. Halfords Apple fragrance tastes dreadful.

Early start

Reluctant start at 06:50 (me and the car) but at least it was on six cylinders straight away. Sat until the temp gauge moved and the exhausts had created their own weather system. Battery gauge showing -ve charge, needs a good run. Today's CD: Ten Summoner's Tales by Sting.

The Fens

Drove the family out to Whaplode Drove. Blimey, it's like Nebraska out there; straight roads and big skies. Fellow journalist Gary Inman, out for a ride on his motorbike, spotted the Jaguar from miles away and gave us a wave. Collected wife's little Rover from servicing at WH Brand and enquired about trade-in price. Maybe not yet. Jaguar behaved perfectly. 28 miles. Total recorded mileage: 195,879.

New Year niggles list:

Leaking offside rear quarterlight; headlight switch worn-out; occasional dragging clutch (improved after adjustment and replaced return spring); rust bubbles on nearside front wing; vacuum leak in heating system at air vent; cooling fan fluid coupling worn out; pulls to left under heavy braking; wheel balance vibration at 70mph.


Most recent 2003 fixes: massive adjustment of tracking to correct 'dead' steering and prepare for new Dunlop SP Sports; Dunlops fitted (£147 each) with immediate improvement in ride quality - firmer; starting only on five cylinders remedied by six new NGK BP5ES (v-notched electrode) spark plugs (£2.05 each).


You can click here for a brief summary of my ownership of the car, some previous history and a more detailed specification.