Jaguar XK8 - 2001

[Fat Albert]

I bought my XK8 in December and have covered around 8,000 miles so far, I use it as my everyday car and often do 300mile+ days. Over the previous 4 years I ran a 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo and then a 1994 968 Sport as my everyday cars. I wrote the 968 off in an aquaplaning incident in November so had to get something less hardcore (968 had full M030 upgrades) to appease Senior Home Management, luckily she had always loved the look of the XK8 and being an automatic it actually suited my everyday driving needs better than the Porsches.

I bought from a local MR2 Specialist ([http://www.doncollinscars.co.uk/), the owner has owned many Jags and stocks them from time to time. He has been very good at addressing the couple of issues I have had since I bought it.

I took it straight down to my local Sports Car Specialist, Dove House, that looked after my Porkers (http://www.dovehousecars.com/) to give it the once-over as it had a wheel judder and the rear end didn’t feel quite right and they diagnosed warped disks and a wrongly assembled nearside rear suspension, they also pointed out that all the tyres were over 6 years old and that the rears were ‘not premium’ (Die-young slipmasters). Don covered the rear suspension work and I had 4 new tyres, disks and pads fitted, it was like a new car when it came out.

There is a niggle with the passenger window not going up when you close the door to seal it (they are frameless), Dove House tested all the microswitches on teh 3 window modules, but it needs to go onto a main dealer diag tool to identify which module is playing up, I will get around to sorting that at some point....

I do like and enjoy the car, but I don’t love it like the Porsches, it doesn’t have the same sense of occasion when you drive it or the cachet or rarity on the road, however that V8 is an absolute Gem and sounds so much better than the Porsche 4s and gives the Jag a character of its own. The V8 is a bit of a revver, but it does seem a little churlish to take it to the red-line all of the time, you can make swift progress riding the torque wave from 3,000-4,500 where the car seems to gently purr along whilst the scenery goes more and more blurred

The attention the Jag attracts is somewhat different from the 968; In the 968 I would get middle-aged men giving me an appreciative nod, thumbs up or chat at a petrol station, whereas in the Jaaaag, I get well-maintained ladies of a certain age giving me a nod and a wink....
However, I get let out of side-roads quicker in the Jag, but lane-hogs are not in the same hurry to move over as they were when a Red Porsche loomed up behind.

Some rust re-appeared on the OSR wheel arch (common issue) but Don sorted this for me (great after-sales care) and I can feel that the front bushes are feeling a little lax (they are hard on their suspension bushes) so I can see me sending my 10 year-old son underneath with a socket set to replace them in spring (he did the ARB bushes and droplinks on the 944!) It will also need its 100k service about when the MoT is due in July, and that is a big one (£400ish), I will probably take it to Nene Jags for that one

I also have an intermittent fault with an ABS sensor, I think there is some dicky wiring somewhere (it is British!) so when it is wet I don't tend to have ABS...or Traction Control...or stability control! I have found a fault-finding process on an American website to trace which wheel is causing the issue, so will do that one weekend now that the weather is improving

Good Points:
• Looks great
• Great mix of comfort, poise and handling
• Modern without losing too much feel
• Cabin has a nice, relaxed ambience
• V8 is silky smooth
• Turning over at just over 2,000 rpm at 70mph
• Can be hustled when you learn how to balance and trust it
• Wife enjoys driving it

Bad Points
• Heavy car shows when pressing on
• Steering very light
• Fuel tank too small
• Lacks low-down torque (obviously fixed in the XKR!)
• Rust patches on rear arches
• Occasional electrical glitches
• Can’t fit my mountain bike in the boot like I could in the Porkers


Some Pics:









Sports cars always look good with Aircraft:

Edited by Fat Albert on Monday 15th April 23:12

[MJK 24]

Nice write up!

I think I drove past your Porsche on the A14

These early XK's are lovely looking cars. They're getting better with age - they look better now than when they were still in production IMO. Enjoy!

[Fat Albert]

Thanks, Yes my Porker did meet it's maker on the A14

[Captain Cadillac]

If you haven't changed the timing chain tensioners with the steel ones and the chain while you're at it, you sir are tempting fate.

In this case fate is a huge violent man and you are poking said man with a flaming stick.

[Fat Albert]

I know about the tensioners, I will get them and the chain checked at it's 100k service, I got a 12 month warranty thrown in as part of the deal because of this

[Fat Albert]

Decided to have a go at identifying and fixing my ABS/Traction & Stability control error yesterday.

started by seeing if I could spot a duff ABS sensor using the handy Pin diagram from this website:

http://jagrepair.com/ABSModuleRepairs.htm

and then took a look at the multiplug on mine:



All 4 were the same resistance, until I turned the wheel to full left lock, the NSF sensor's resistance shot up!

So I watched the yootoob vid on removing the front sensors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl6xzCbpOk8

and copied it, you can get at the fronts without taking the wheel off:




the sensor was pretty cruddy:



so I cleaned it up with soap and water and put it back in...

I then road tested it and it was exactly as before except now my engine check-light was on!!! AARRGGHH!

A quick check of the forums and found that this was usual and after a few cycles it switched back off today. I sometimes get a little way before the warning lights come on, so a little improvement

Next thing is to replace the cable and see if there is a break in it somewhere

[Fat Albert]

Put the jaaaag into Nene Jags today for its 100k service and MoT.

Got given this rather nice Courtesy car, a 2.5 V6 with 6 speed auto 'box and 146k on the clock, it drives very well and has returned around 30+mpg so far (across the full driving envelope...)



They checked the Errant ABS light before it went in and confirmed that it is wiring, but unfortunately in the main ABS Harness, so that is a £130 hit (hopefully covered under warranty)

It then went and failed on corroded Brake Pipes (£135) and worn Front Wishbone Bushes (£350ish) which I was kind of expecting as I could feel that they were worn.

I should get it back tomorrow hopefully and we will see what the final damage is...

The service from Nene Jags so far has been excellent

[Fat Albert]

Thanks for the tip on the steering, that might be worth doing as the car handles and grips very well when pressing on, you just can't feel what's happening at the front (I suppose I have been spoiled with the Porsches, which doesn't help)

[Fat Albert]

Just picked the car up, having shelled out almost £1200....ouch!

But for that I had:
100k Service
Drive belt
MoT
ABS Harness
Upper Wishbone Bushes
Front Brake Pipes
NS Door Module (electric Window)
Engine Flush

A few items I need to work through in the coming months, mainly to do with bushing
Nice to get it back though!

[8bit]

Lovely car Looks in great nick. Don't see enough Jags on here IMHO.

[Fat Albert]

Thanks 8bit.
Will be ordering up some parts and start working through the list before the weather turns nasty. My little apprentice (now 10) is very excited to expand his experience away from Porsches

[Fat Albert]

So, first Advisory from Nene Jags is that it runs a bit hot. They did a flush which has improved things a little, but I do need to address the Thermostat and Water pump (the 2 traditional weak areas of the cooling system)

I have ordered an Aluminium Thermostat housing, new Thermostat and Water Pump, all with gaskets. I have checked my crossover pipe and that seems OK, but will inspect it when it is off

I have also ordered a flexible 8mm ratchet spanner and a Crows foot to get at the rear mounting bolts of the housing

I have found these two web pages with instructions for the work:

http://www.jagrepair.com/ThermostatHousing4XK8.htm

http://www.jagrepair.com/WaterPumpCrossoverPipexk8...

so I think I just need some coolant (any recomendations?) and distilled water to top up the system afterwards (it had a new drive belt in the service too) Anything I have missed, or any advice? I aim to do it the week after next

[Fat Albert]

Parts have arrived! Quick service from Berkshire Jags (they were cheaper overall than going through eBay)

Just awaiting tools now

[Fat Albert]

So, had a crack at it today! took a large brave pill and made busy with the spanners...



It is always hard to effectively 'break' a working engine...but it had to be done
the radiator fans took some getting out...altough once I had unclipped the oil cooler pipe fro underneath it came out easier!

some of the pipe clips were tricky, but easier once I switched from pliers to Stilson wrench

The main sticking point was the dreaded 8mm bolts at the back o fthe thermostat housing, neither fo my solutions worked (crows feet and bendy ratchet wrench) so I bent an 8mm ring spanner, but that didn't work either, the bolts were just too soft and I was in danger of rounding them off.



I took the decision to leave the hosuing in situ as it was Ok and just change the top and front parts for aluminuim.

I then removed the water pump (once I had googled how to slacken the belt tension!) and found that the plastic skirt was breaking up and it didn't run as smooth as it should (good call to change it).



I then re-fitted everything (replacing the spring clip on the lower radiator hose with a Jubilee clip) and topped it up, this is when I discovered that I had not bought enough coolant, so will ahve to wait for tomorrow to test and see where it leaks from!!

[Fat Albert]

OK, did a test run on the drive last night and a quick tour around the village to get it up to temperature to check for leaks and that the fans came on...no leaks and the fans did cut in, but at low speed...

Parked in a different spot on the drive and no incontinence this morning...

checked the levels and topped up (not much needed) started up, still no leaks and then did a 18 mile round trip to the nearest Tesco for Picnic supplies for a day out, which included a high lepton speed as well as some crawling around a car park. the heater went from cold to hot and back again when prompted and there were no leaks when we arrived at Tesco...

On the way back I switched on the Aircon and for the first time in ages it was ice cold!! When we got back on the drive I switched off and the fans did not cut in! no intense heat radiating from the car, but I did find a leak...well a slight weeping from the small pipe running from the header tank to the top of the thermostat housing. It has a silly clip on that I felt was not particularly good at the time, so have swapped that for a jubilee clip.

So, it seems to have cured the issue and seems to be working ok, I have put a pot of coolant and enough tools to fix anything that I touched in the boot just in case....so fingers crossed!!

Next job will be to re-bush the Front ARB and replace the drop links....

Edited by Fat Albert on Wednesday 14th August 08:42

[Fat Albert]

Did my first 200+mile day yesterday since the cooling system work, and it seems to have held!
seems to be a bit more economical too, not sure if that is the cooling system or the service, but either way mixed driving over the past 2 days (270 miles) has yielded 26mpg!

[Fat Albert]

Did another 230 mile day yesterday including 30 mins of crawling in a jam on the M40, so far so good!

Popped it back into nene jags today as the passenger window was clipping the rear qtr light as it closed since they fitted the new window module and the ABS light has come back on.

They adjusted the window so that is OK now and shuts with the correct noise (glass on glass jars somewhat!) the ABS issue turns out to be the OSF sensor. They offered to do it for me for around £160, but as it is literally one bolt and a clip (you can leave it on the ground with the wheels on) I will hunt out a second hand one and do it myself (new they are about £110, SH are around £50)

As a side-note I had another S Type as a courtesy car, this time an X reg 5 speed V6 of I think, 2.5 litres. Amazing the difference the gearbox makes, this one falt a lot slushier than the 6 speed I had last time and it averaged about 5mpg less! i can see why the 4.2 XK would be better just based on the gearbox alone!

[Fat Albert]

Still no leaks!
I have taken the brave decision to remove the tools and coolant from the boot (left my Breakdown coat in there however!)

The ABS warning lights and messages came on 2 weeks after my MoT, so took it back to Nene Jags to see what's going on, and also to re-adjust my passenger window as it was clouting the rear Quarterlight as it closed.

The window is fine now and they identifed that the OSF ABS sensor had gone Pop. They offered to replace it for £95+VAT parts and £46+vat labour...I declined

Instead I bought a SH sensor off eBay for £28.50 delivered and then asked my 10 year-old Mechanic to swap it out for me:



It took him 10 mins (I had to loosen it at the start and then tweak it tight at the end) and when I started the car, after a couple of minutes I had a Clear dashboard with no warning lights again...

....so now wondering how long that will last!!

Edited by Fat Albert on Monday 30th September 12:01

[Fat Albert]

Well the Jaaaag has been a great car, I do about a 1,000 miles a month in it, often early Morning/late Night dashes to and from Heathrow/London City Airports at which it is the perfect car (especially after a transatlantic flight)

All I have done is stick a new set of rear boots on it after 22,000 miles which wasn't too bad for this weight/power of car. I went for Falken 453s as these were a good tyre on my ol' 944 Turbo and seemed a good cost/performance balance

All was well until it went in for its MoT...it failed spectacularly - some simple things and some not!

I should get it back today with new front Brake Pads (lasted 23,000 miles!) the front Subframe mounts welded, the floor welded and a new rear subframe Bush, which should tighten it all up again.

Alas with all this expense and the fact that my mileage has gone down and my children are getting bigger (aged 14 and 11) I have made the decision to sell it and do a bit of shedding

I am thinking BMW E36 Coupe/Cab or SAAB Convertible as something cheap, cheerful and fun for around a bag

[Liquid Tuna]

Shame you have to sell. I've enjoyed following this thread.