Hi all,

I went to look at a 5.0 s/c Autobiography at the weekend. It was immaculate except there's a gap in the service history from 26k to 88k over 2 years.

Apparently the supercharger was rattly, but that's been sorted.


Should I walk away?

What are the big services on these ?


Cheers

Morning Bob-Lab

Try and find out who the servicing dealer was, they should be able to get a copy of service history. Its not uncommon for superchargers to have some work done on them but they are bullet proof if looked after. What age is it.

I have had 8 Superghargers, mixture of L322 and L405 and none ever let me down.

DrF

Hi DRF,

It's a 2010 model, 107k miles.

The vendor is due to talk to the servicing garage today for evidence of servicing.

Surely one of these would be bonging like crazy if it had missed 60k of services?

If it runs sweet, check to make sure all genuine parts fitted. The key to a good Supercharged is in the maintenance and your right if it runs like a dog then its probably been abused and not serviced.

DrF

Hi DrF,

Thanks for the positive vibes.

The car ran like a dream. Smooth power delivery, no rattles or squeaks either in the car or in the engine bay. No leaks or wet patches.

Mrs-lad loved the reclining rear seats for the mother in law


My daily is a Jaguar XJR so I'm used to superchargers. I've never had one rattle before, so was concerned.


Thanks.

some 5.0's suffered from front end rattle so i'd make sure this has been done..other than that they are pretty reliable..



welcome to the forum and wiki..  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
.

Apparently this supercharger had a right old rattle.
Vendor has sorted this. Sounded very smooth and quiet.

I saw the receipt for almost £1k

Thanks.

RR Dealers are sometimes difficult about sharing Service Histories...data protection and all that. It might be worth discounting your offer price by ££££ because of the gap in the history. The seller may say that's already taken into consideration in the price, but if he is keen to sell and that's the only barrier to you buying the car he/she might shift.

Try the Beta DVLA MOT check site, https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

This lists all garages where the MOT tests have been carried out on a vehicle. I used it to trace my old Triumph Spitfire which is now a JC Midge!!!

First thing I did.

Last owner did 30k a year for first two years. MoT history is not the problem.

The problem is the lack of evidence for the missing services over those two years / 60k miles.


I mean if you're going to buy a 2 yr old one of these and pour enough Super into it to travel 30k a year, you surely wouldn't be the sort of chap to skimp on servicing, but there's just no paperwork or service stamps.


MoT history only showed advisories for thin-ish front disks and there are receipts for those being replaced.

*boggle*

Thanks for the ideas though.

What I did with my old Spitfire was I contacted the garage that has done the recent MOT's and explained that I was the second owner of the car (in 1974!) and that I had often wondered what had happened to it. The guy at the garage very kindly sent my contact details to the current owner and he contacted me the following day.

Not saying that you'd want to contact the owners but the garage may have some service records (assuming it was the same gaage)

Mind you, as you said, 'I mean if you're going to buy a 2 yr old one of these and pour enough Super into it to travel 30k a year, you surely wouldn't be the sort of chap to skimp on servicing, but there's just no paperwork or service stamps. '

We bought ours then found out that it hadnt been serviced for two years, so people do skimp on servicing!

Bought mine with all the stamps but no other documents. So rang the dealer, spoke the the service manager - explained and whilst they said they couldn't give me copies of invoices (data protection and all that), they read out everything done since new.

You could also find the previous owner (name on the V5) on Linkedin or Facebook and message them. They may have the invoices in a file somewhere.

Give it a go if you like the car.

Greg Cheers, Greg
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Thinking about it,if it did do 60,000 miles in two years without a service, and didn't fail an MoT then it's clearly not one of the unreliable ones.

And surely that's a good thing.

Some times you just have to bite the bullet. If you have driven a few,know what you are looking for and feel that the current owner is legit then i would not be too concerned.
I purchased a Sc 4.2 07 two years ago advertised with Fsh. The guy was selling having just moved house with his girlfriend, evident when i went to inspect the vehicle,and he couldn't find the car history. I thought the car was honest and the seller genuine enough so purchased the car on condition he sent the history on when he came across it.
Fortunatley 2 years had no regrets athough had a full service and all oils changed asp.Still waiting for him to send me the history,however checking out mot history gives a good indication of works done and i would be more concerned about works carried out in the last 20.000 miles rather than what had been done 4 or 5 years ago. Full fat 4.2 Sc
Full fat vogue 4.4 petrol
Jaguar XJR super charged
Porsche cayenne
Tvr tuscan mk1
Bmw mini cooper

The vendor has agreed to thrown in a full service. That way every one knows that all has been covered.
Seems paperwork has been lost between two houses.

It's an unnecessarily swift machine.

So it looks like I'll be joining the fatty club after all.