Jaguar XJ8 4.0
Discussion
Just sold my X308 and already regretting it. Yours looks great. Keep on top of the maintenance and you'll be rewarded by one of the best saloons of the past 20 years. Here's my experiences: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
A trip to B and Q provided the necessary tool to open the coolant tank, in the form of a pair of adjustable water pump pliers. Their wrench selection didn't feature a wrench big enough. All looks well in the coolant system, so I added a tiny bit of distilled water and sealed it back up. All seems well again!
[quote=Baryonyx] 
In the early 70's the run out advertisement for the 420G featured a solitary 420G in a car park with the strapline - "How to Decorate a Car Park!"
It's funny how a Jag gets you isn't it? It's very much like the Spitfire or the Vulcan or Concorde, something to do with design, elegance and yet big grunt!
I'm a lifelong Jag fan - on my way home from school, I was forever in Rossleighs, next to Newcastle Central Station - I was so well known in there that the Workshop Manager used to show me the different jobs they were working on and explain them to me.
You do need to budget for something going wrong - not that it necessarily will but it kinda helps the logic when explaining to SWIMBO that the Jag needs a new torque convertor instead of a family holiday lol!
Glad you realised your dream
Great bunch Jag fans also across on XJ40.com.
Nice car and nice write up by the way
In the early 70's the run out advertisement for the 420G featured a solitary 420G in a car park with the strapline - "How to Decorate a Car Park!"
It's funny how a Jag gets you isn't it? It's very much like the Spitfire or the Vulcan or Concorde, something to do with design, elegance and yet big grunt!
I'm a lifelong Jag fan - on my way home from school, I was forever in Rossleighs, next to Newcastle Central Station - I was so well known in there that the Workshop Manager used to show me the different jobs they were working on and explain them to me.
You do need to budget for something going wrong - not that it necessarily will but it kinda helps the logic when explaining to SWIMBO that the Jag needs a new torque convertor instead of a family holiday lol!
Glad you realised your dream
Great bunch Jag fans also across on XJ40.com.
Nice car and nice write up by the way
Hmm, I didn't know there was formerly a Jaguar garage by the Central Station. That picture in the car park is the roof terrace parking overlooking Barrack Road at St James Park.
With regards to the leaper on the bonnet, no it's not standard and I don't know where the f
k they come from or who puts them there. If we lived in the days of massive scrapyards I'd probably just get a replacement bonnet, as it is I think I'll have it removed and filled after winter, as and when I can be arsed. Most of the X308's I saw in America had leapers on the bonnet, but it's not to my taste.
With regards to the leaper on the bonnet, no it's not standard and I don't know where the f
k they come from or who puts them there. If we lived in the days of massive scrapyards I'd probably just get a replacement bonnet, as it is I think I'll have it removed and filled after winter, as and when I can be arsed. Most of the X308's I saw in America had leapers on the bonnet, but it's not to my taste. £75 has seen my windscreen replaced. What a relief, to have it fixed!
I was changing the wiper the other day, when I made the mistake of letting go of the wiper arm during the swapping process. The arm, being spring loaded and with a metal hook on the end, snapped back against the windscreen and given it an almighty crack. I shouted and swore, but the windscreen was clearly fked, and even worse, it was my own daft fault.
Luckily, Autoglass were able to come and sort it out today, which was a slightly involved process but at least it's sorted now. On arriving, the technician assessed that he wouldn't be able to change the screen with the car on the street due to the steady, pissing overhead rain. At least it was raining without wind, which meant he'd be able to change the screen under a canopy if we could find the space for him to use it (the van's have a huge canopy array mounted on the roof).
The car was duly taken to the village car park where he had the space to work on it, and in about 90 minutes it was sorted. I had noted in my car that there is the 'heated windscreen' button, and when you press it a yellow light comes on. However, looking at the screen I couldn't see any elements in the glass. The technician noted that the screen coming out didn't have any visible elements in it, but that he would connect the wiring up if it was there.
It transpired that the car had definitely had a new screen during it's lifetime, and the heating circuit hadn't been connected when the new screen was put in. The rain sensor wasn't seated properly either (I wasn't aware I was supposed to have rain sensing wipers!). The Autoglass lad noted that the last installation had been pretty st as most of the sealant on the windscreen was brittle and falling off. During the fitting, he was able to reconnect the heating circuit (the elements are in the sides of the screen, apparently and the wiring was just tucked away inside the pillar). The rain sensor is back in place too.
I was changing the wiper the other day, when I made the mistake of letting go of the wiper arm during the swapping process. The arm, being spring loaded and with a metal hook on the end, snapped back against the windscreen and given it an almighty crack. I shouted and swore, but the windscreen was clearly f
ked, and even worse, it was my own daft fault. Luckily, Autoglass were able to come and sort it out today, which was a slightly involved process but at least it's sorted now. On arriving, the technician assessed that he wouldn't be able to change the screen with the car on the street due to the steady, pissing overhead rain. At least it was raining without wind, which meant he'd be able to change the screen under a canopy if we could find the space for him to use it (the van's have a huge canopy array mounted on the roof).
The car was duly taken to the village car park where he had the space to work on it, and in about 90 minutes it was sorted. I had noted in my car that there is the 'heated windscreen' button, and when you press it a yellow light comes on. However, looking at the screen I couldn't see any elements in the glass. The technician noted that the screen coming out didn't have any visible elements in it, but that he would connect the wiring up if it was there.
It transpired that the car had definitely had a new screen during it's lifetime, and the heating circuit hadn't been connected when the new screen was put in. The rain sensor wasn't seated properly either (I wasn't aware I was supposed to have rain sensing wipers!). The Autoglass lad noted that the last installation had been pretty s
t as most of the sealant on the windscreen was brittle and falling off. During the fitting, he was able to reconnect the heating circuit (the elements are in the sides of the screen, apparently and the wiring was just tucked away inside the pillar). The rain sensor is back in place too. My Jaguar also has a front screen button, which makes a light come on but doesn't seem to do much else. I assumed it had a replacement non-heated screen, which is good as the lines distracted me on my Mum's old Granada (maybe things have improved since 1989?). Are you're saying you can't see the elements on your new screen but that it is heated? Or am I getting confused...
There are no obvious elements in the screen like my 2003 Focus Ebony had - that had really obvious wires running through it. Rather, I'm told the heating element this time runs around the outside of the glass so I'm guessing it heats from the outside in, though I've not tested it out yet. Some of the material I've found online suggests some of the XJ8 screens were heated by wires going through, and some were heated by elements around the edge.
Given that the replacement screen came with the connector for the heater system and is now cabled in, I'm guessing it's getting power for something, hopefully connected to the switch on the dash! We'll see how it goes...
Given that the replacement screen came with the connector for the heater system and is now cabled in, I'm guessing it's getting power for something, hopefully connected to the switch on the dash! We'll see how it goes...
That's the wiper blade replaced. Probably for the best then, that I have the car ready for work. My street is bloody knee deep in falling leaves at the moment, which have come in off the wooded copse opposite my house. My car is practically hemmed in with leaves on three sides at the moment! But I wouldn't relish the thought of riding my motorbike over too much of that ste, hopefully in a couple of weeks it'll have blown off the roads into the gutters.
I've ordered some new tyres and I'm hoping to find somewhere to fit them this week, or the next. I went to the Wheel Specialist in Westerhope with my 106 Rallye, so hopefully they'll be able to provide the same service this time around. I decided to get two Goodyear Ultragrip 8's.
http://www.camskill.co.uk/m96b0s633p105048/Goodyea...
It'll be the first time I've had winter tyres on one of my own cars and they'll be staying on all year round I think, so I'll see how I get on with them.
I should note that the car has two relatively fresh tyres on the front, so I'm not going to swap these out just yet.
te, hopefully in a couple of weeks it'll have blown off the roads into the gutters. I've ordered some new tyres and I'm hoping to find somewhere to fit them this week, or the next. I went to the Wheel Specialist in Westerhope with my 106 Rallye, so hopefully they'll be able to provide the same service this time around. I decided to get two Goodyear Ultragrip 8's.
http://www.camskill.co.uk/m96b0s633p105048/Goodyea...
It'll be the first time I've had winter tyres on one of my own cars and they'll be staying on all year round I think, so I'll see how I get on with them.
I should note that the car has two relatively fresh tyres on the front, so I'm not going to swap these out just yet.
I've made a memorable trip in the Jaguar tonight, namely taking the wife to A&E for a badly sprained ankle. She thought it was broken, and so the did the doctors, so I can't feel entirely indignant about having been assigned the duty of driving her there and waiting to be seen. Coming home was memorable, indeed it's a memory that may stay with me for years. The rain lashing down (and I mean lashing, like it does up North!), pitch blackness out on the almost deserted dual carriageway through the countryside. Radio 4 softly humming on the speakers, single wiper blade silently sweeping over the screen. I was suddenly aware of a comfort which transcended that of any car seat I've ever sat in before. I remarked to my wife that I loved the seats in the XJ, she agreed that they were good and then I returned to the silence of listening to the radio.
I was washing the car, in fact, when I received the call from her saying she had hurt her ankle. At that time, I was looking at the two tyres in the boot which I'm going to get fitted and I thought, even factoring in the tyres, the wiper blades, the new windcsreen, that this car still hasn't cost me as much as the sofa in my front room!
I was washing the car, in fact, when I received the call from her saying she had hurt her ankle. At that time, I was looking at the two tyres in the boot which I'm going to get fitted and I thought, even factoring in the tyres, the wiper blades, the new windcsreen, that this car still hasn't cost me as much as the sofa in my front room!
Getting into my XJ6 at the end of a long day really was very relaxing and soothing. A 30 - 60 minute drive home and I would really be totally relaxed and ready for the evening, and I can honestly say no other car I've owned has replicated that. All those wk clichés that the journalists use to describe practically ever German stbox they drive really did apply - cosseting, cocooned, opulent. Really great car, and as cool as modern Jaguar interiors are I do wonder if they can have the same effect.
k clichés that the journalists use to describe practically ever German stbox they drive really did apply - cosseting, cocooned, opulent. Really great car, and as cool as modern Jaguar interiors are I do wonder if they can have the same effect.Lovely write up OP.
This has brought back so many happy memories of mine.
Actually, I had two. The first was rather forgettable. The second was the same colour as yours, but a Daimler version and LWB. The LWB looks a little "cut and shut" but it's a beautiful thing. I put 50,000 miles on it over about 4 years. Only needed recovery once, when I got a flat tyre and found the wheel nuts seized solid. It is by far my favourite car of all the ones I have owned.
These are future classics IMHO. I reckon that an original and well-sorted one will fetch good money in 10 years' time.
This has brought back so many happy memories of mine.
Actually, I had two. The first was rather forgettable. The second was the same colour as yours, but a Daimler version and LWB. The LWB looks a little "cut and shut" but it's a beautiful thing. I put 50,000 miles on it over about 4 years. Only needed recovery once, when I got a flat tyre and found the wheel nuts seized solid. It is by far my favourite car of all the ones I have owned.
These are future classics IMHO. I reckon that an original and well-sorted one will fetch good money in 10 years' time.
The Jag had a bit of a wobble the other day. Actually, a rather big one! More on that...
I picked it up after work on Friday morning. A nightmare on the way in to work the previous night had seen my motorbike's chain snap and leave me pushing it the rest of the way to work. The Jaguar was in a local garage getting two new wheel bearings at the back after it failed it's MOT on a rough bearing. I had spoken to the garage on Thursday, confirmed the work was done and that the MOT had just been completed, and thought I was quite lucky to be able to collect my car from the garage and leave my broken motorbike at work (I'm going to push it the mercifully small distance to the Honda garage tomorrow for repair).
Absolutely knackered, I paid for the work and MOT on the Jag and set off home. All seemed to be going well for about three minutes, until I hit the long D/C heading out of town. As I passed a lorry in lane one on a sweeping corner that banks and rises to the left, I was doing approximately 70mph. Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the back of the car, and the ABS warning light illuminated. The car suddenly yawed left and right, lurching around as I tried to steer it straight. Luckily, I tidied it up, but if it had been wet I can only surmise a nasty tail slide would have been the outcome of that! Not only was the ABS light on, but there was a scrolling "ASC SYSTEM UNAVAILABLE/TRAC UNAVAILABLE" message on the dash. Oh no...
I gently nursed it back, listening out for anything else. It seemed okay, other than the warning messages. I wondered what the garage had managed to get wrong to knack my XJ like this...! It started to squeak as I pulled into my estate and I jumped out on the pavement outside my house to get a look at it. Smoke was pouring from the rear nearside wheel well and it stunk of burning brake. I rang the garage, who seemed surprised to hear from me so soon, and recovery was arranged for that afternoon.
Since then, I've not heard back on how it's doing (I rang yesterday but the bloke who was working on the car wasn't in). Hopefully it'll come back with a new brake pad, and the correct adjustment, and all will be well again. I've had a brake bind on before (funnily enough, after my 106 Rallye had the handbrake adjusted for MOT!) but that produced nothing like the sudden, dramatic slide the Jaguar did. That was the worst part of it - bone dry road, good tyres, balanced throttle in 5th. Nothing whatsoever to destabilise the vehicle. Then sudden, it's yawing across the road. What if my wife had been driving it? Would she have been able to draw it up given that the second it started to slide, the ASC system had cut out?
You could say, the luck I had between 2100 and 0900 on Thursday through Friday of last week was pretty dire! Two major mechanical failures in such a short space of time, which has interrupted my post-nightshift sleeping pattern and left me feeling crap all weekend. Now I approach another week at work and hope at least one of my vehicles will be drivable by tomorrow night so I can get home!
I picked it up after work on Friday morning. A nightmare on the way in to work the previous night had seen my motorbike's chain snap and leave me pushing it the rest of the way to work. The Jaguar was in a local garage getting two new wheel bearings at the back after it failed it's MOT on a rough bearing. I had spoken to the garage on Thursday, confirmed the work was done and that the MOT had just been completed, and thought I was quite lucky to be able to collect my car from the garage and leave my broken motorbike at work (I'm going to push it the mercifully small distance to the Honda garage tomorrow for repair).
Absolutely knackered, I paid for the work and MOT on the Jag and set off home. All seemed to be going well for about three minutes, until I hit the long D/C heading out of town. As I passed a lorry in lane one on a sweeping corner that banks and rises to the left, I was doing approximately 70mph. Suddenly, there was a loud bang from the back of the car, and the ABS warning light illuminated. The car suddenly yawed left and right, lurching around as I tried to steer it straight. Luckily, I tidied it up, but if it had been wet I can only surmise a nasty tail slide would have been the outcome of that! Not only was the ABS light on, but there was a scrolling "ASC SYSTEM UNAVAILABLE/TRAC UNAVAILABLE" message on the dash. Oh no...
I gently nursed it back, listening out for anything else. It seemed okay, other than the warning messages. I wondered what the garage had managed to get wrong to knack my XJ like this...! It started to squeak as I pulled into my estate and I jumped out on the pavement outside my house to get a look at it. Smoke was pouring from the rear nearside wheel well and it stunk of burning brake. I rang the garage, who seemed surprised to hear from me so soon, and recovery was arranged for that afternoon.
Since then, I've not heard back on how it's doing (I rang yesterday but the bloke who was working on the car wasn't in). Hopefully it'll come back with a new brake pad, and the correct adjustment, and all will be well again. I've had a brake bind on before (funnily enough, after my 106 Rallye had the handbrake adjusted for MOT!) but that produced nothing like the sudden, dramatic slide the Jaguar did. That was the worst part of it - bone dry road, good tyres, balanced throttle in 5th. Nothing whatsoever to destabilise the vehicle. Then sudden, it's yawing across the road. What if my wife had been driving it? Would she have been able to draw it up given that the second it started to slide, the ASC system had cut out?
You could say, the luck I had between 2100 and 0900 on Thursday through Friday of last week was pretty dire! Two major mechanical failures in such a short space of time, which has interrupted my post-nightshift sleeping pattern and left me feeling crap all weekend. Now I approach another week at work and hope at least one of my vehicles will be drivable by tomorrow night so I can get home!
johnxjsc1985 said:
Hooli said:
I miss my XJ40, I need another Jag 
You can buy XJ's for peanuts now life is too short not to have a Jag in it.johnxjsc1985 said:
You can buy XJ's for peanuts now life is too short not to have a Jag in it.
You can. I'd advise anyone to get one! These 'proper' XJ's wont be around forever. I saw two of the new XJ's whilst at work today and whilst I do like them, they're not graceful or sleek like these old ones. Hell, the top of the bootlid when shut on the new XJ must be higher than the roof on my XJ!Anyway, I got the car back today. Collected the keys from the garage, couldn't drive it away at that point as I was working, so I returned under cover of darkness to collect it. The start - rough, lumpy idle. Selected 'R', the engine cut and showed an 'engine stalled' message. f
k. Started it again, cut out again. Started it, revved it out and let it settle, then revved it again. An Italian tune up at the roadside. After a bout of revs (uncomfortable with a cold engine), I clicked it into 'R' and managed to reverse it without stalling. Made it back to the office, where it sat in the car park for 90 minutes before I finished work. It started okay.I had noticed though that the clock was an hour fast - or was it? That, coupled with the hard start made me think the battery had gone flat, or at least been disconnected whilst it was out of my care. I tried to switch on the radio and it asked for a code. Yes, it had surely been flat. I wonder if they disconnected the battery to clear the codes/warning lights for ABS/TRAC/ASC? Anyway, it had either been without batter for 11 hours or 23 hours, one of the two. The garage advised me that the bloke who had worked on it had forgotten to put a compression washer back in place when putting the wheel bearing it and re-assembling the wheel.
Overall, a nightmare experience. If the radio accepts the code I give it tomorrow (written in the owner's handbooks) and starts without issue all will be well. I feel as though these trials are ending. Honda expect my motorbike to be fixed and ready tomorrow for about £80 and the experience has urged me to complete my full bike licence (starting next month).
Barging is mostly skill but with a bit of luck thrown in. You win by carefully managing retreat on an old, well loved and well used car. Eventually, defeat tends to be be inevitable but you have fun along the way. Sometimes, the dice don't turn in your favour and a relatively simple job like I expected on my Jaguar goes wrong and leaves you in the s
t. But overall, the car is worth it. It's now got another year's MOT so that's another year that it'll grace our roads!Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff