Aloha, Please take a look at the attached file. I found this 2003 XK8 and am very interested in buying. However I'm in Hawaii and the car is in CA. The seller faxed me the service records which I summarized and attached. This looks like a well maintained 2 owner car. I think at least one service record is missing as theres no record of the 50K service, also the last service has a troubling note about a leak at the transmission connector sleeve. Any thoughts on this. There were other service items I did not detail as they were minor trim replacements, wiper blades, etc.

I have a friend that is going to lay eyes on the car for me but he's no Jaguar expert.

Any and all comments are welcome and thanks for your time.

 

The service on 10/8/2011 worries me. I've never worked on a transmission in this year, but if the leak was easy to fix they would have done it.

Brett

 

Good day,


The leak at the transmission connector sleeve, if it is in the same location I had mine fail, is a common issue (AFAIK) and is an easy fix with new transmission fluid hose... I just did this fix for my 99 and is on page 13 of "my project" in this section... Can you get more specific information on the leak?

Cheers!!

 

My concern also, second time the oil cooler lines were replaced, the question is was the engine running when it lost all the oil.

Hope someone else chimes in about the trany leak....

 

Bluexk8ragtop, took a quick look at your project, very nice wright ups, thanks. Don't think I can get more info on the leak but will ask.

 

It looks good .......... but most Jaguars do.

Some items in the Service History would give me cause for concern:


(click on the image to enlarge it)


The 4.2 litre engines aren't noted for cooling system issues like the earlier 4.0 and that is a lot of attention (see red arrows). My worry there is that it could have been overheated which is definitely not good news on a Jaguar V8.

Others have commented on the oil leak (see blue arrow). It has done over 5K miles since then so the reason is possibly the driver hit the oil cooler on a kerb etc. Running with no oil would have caused serious issues long ago.

The transmission leak is a regular issue. At least it's been noted.

Again the throttle body was a serious issue on 4.0 litre engines but a much rarer issue on 4.2 litre (see green arrow). Could be just bad luck.

Overall, the vehicle has been regularly serviced and had additional attention so has clearly had money spent on it. Given the distance involved, I would seriously consider paying for a CA Jaguar specialist to inspect the vehicle.

Graham

 

Graham, thanks for the comments,
The cooling issue is a concern for over heating. The issue started at about 60K and apears to have been a concern for around 14 months and 12K miles but no issues for the last 14K miles. Curious???

The oil cooler lines may be as you suggested, again curious that they were replaced twice and this seems to be when the PO stopped taking it to the dealer for service.

The Tranny leak is a concern, could be minor or major, if it's not the tranny cooler lines as blueXK8ragtop suggests what else could it be and how much of a hassle to repair?

The service history seems to suggest that from May 05 to Dec 08 the car was well looked after but then either all issues were sorted out or the owner's attension fell off. The use of the car fell off as well from May 05 to Dec 08 they racked up 54500 miles, avg. 15570 mile a year. from Dec 08 to current only 14K, avg. 3K miles a year. This could also account for less service issues.

I think a well cared for and driven car may be as good or better than a garage queen as the seals stay lubed and the car gets more service attension.

 

There is a Jaguar dealer in Pasadena which is 7 miles away from where the car is listed. Might be worth having it driven over to have them check it out.

 

The transmission sleeve leak is not a big deal and is a common fault but it does require dropping the pan to change it, but that's not a bad thing as you can do a fluid change at the same time.

 

Thanks to all, learning a lot, however this is now a dead issue as my wonderful bride licked all the red off my candy today, not in a good way either, says I have to sell one of my other toys before I can get a new one. So the dream of an XK8 goes unsatisfied for now. Maybe I'll sell her new Accord and she can drive the Miata, that will teach her cause I'm not selling my motorcycles and nobody wants the Miata, I've tried to sell it. O well......

 

Well this car is back in the running, my bride has relented, I had the car inspected today and will probably make an offer tomorrow!

 

She didn't enjoy driving the Miata?

Graham

 

Actually she refused to let me sell the Miata, it was her DD for 4 years and her first roadster. She's very attached to it even though it has not had more than 1K put on it in the last year.

So I bought the 03 XK8 today, it sails from LA on Saturday and will be on Maui on 5/5. I'm ecstatic about this car.

I'll be starting a new thread when it gets here and will have a lot of questions.
Thanks all

 

Congratulations. I'm sorry I didn't realize the car was in my neck of the woods or I would have been happy to take a look at it for you. I am sure you'll get many years of pleasure out of your new kitty. I am approaching 150,000 miles on my 2002 XKR, it still looks new, runs extremely strong, and garners compliments everyday like no car I have ever owned. Enjoy!