Hi....I have an 07 X Type as my daily driver, and an XK8 is for sale down the street. The driver's seat is torn and messed up, and there are a few body dings, and the rear bumper will need to be repainted. It seems to run nice and is an automatic. Does it have a timing belt? The tires are worn, but pretty evenly, and the top is nice. It is missing a few trim pieces, that don't seem too expensive on Ebay. It has a good service record, but is owned by a pig. What else should I be looking for? How is reliability? I am used to Jaguar part prices. Weak links??? ANY help would be appreciated. It would be a 3rd car, sitting next to a Porsche 928S, so it would not be my daily driver, except on sunny days.......Thanks......Be cool....Mike

 

The single biggest issue is the cam chain tensioner issue. The plastic version used through 8/01 will fail taking the engine with it.

Beyond that is just standard 15+ year old expensive car problems. The stickies above give the best view of the principal repairs.

 

TIMING CHAIN.

What year is the Jag? Price?

The way you explain it missing this, bumped up that, chances the car mechanically has not been taken care of which can cost more to bring up to shape than spending more on a nice one.

 

In answer to your one question: No it does not have a timing belt, it has timing chains (five I believe, a lower chain and 4 upper chains.) Forum is good source for specific info, but naturally shouldn't replace shop manual (either "paper" or DVD. Your choice.) Welcome aboard!

 

Are there any statistics as it pertains to the percentage of early timing tensioner failures?

 

The engine is a double overhead cam design.
Four chains.Two upper tensioners that will fail on 1996-2002 sooner or later.

 

I have never seen anything formal, but nearly everyone who has ever done the job preventatively (before failure) and posted about it has had a tensioner with a crack or missing shoe. And that amounts to many dozens of samples on the forum. In fact I think I can only remember one person who did not have one in some state of beginning to fail.

They are time bombs waiting to go off. If you are putting it off, you will likely regret it at some point.

 

Hi again.....The car is a 99 with 93K miles. I looked at the picture of the front of the engine, and the cam covers and timing chain cover don't seem to be that complicated to remove, other than a lot of expensive gaskets and pulley removal. Which tensioners are the culprits? Are they the long guides, or the ones on top, and is changing the chains necessary?

I was a Porsche Audi VW master tech in the 80s and 90s, so I hope there is still some of the old juju left in me. I am on disability now, because of a brain injury, from an old air over hydraulic hoist dropping a little over an inch, and a muffler clamp poking a hole in the top of my gourd, as well as some experimental electroshock therapy wiping out my short term memory. My wife is a saint for listening to me repeat questions several times a day.

The price of the car is $3200, and I located a complete interior, seats, door cards, console, shifter, etc. for $1000. The top looks like new, and it doesn't smoke. I will look in the service records to see if the chain tensioners were replaced, and if not, will try to negotiate a lower price. The same result happens if the Porsche 928 timing belt breaks.....game over for the engine. Does any other Jaguar use this engine. I have an in with a guy who is able to buy wrecked cars from insurance auctions......

Sorry for the long post.....Mike

 

Wow! Sorry to hear about the injury!

You deserve this car.

The '99 you ask about uses the Jaguar AJ27 engine which was used from '99 to '02 in the XK8 and '99 to '03 in the XJ8. Other similar Jaguar engines can be used with some to much reconfiguration.

The upper, head mounted tensioners are the ones that fail probably because of the higher temperature. The primary tensioners do not fail as much as the plastic chain guides but are more difficult to change.

See: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ners-how-4747/

Easy to change with simple tools. Look up 'zip* tie*'. The * is because the forum's search engine won't search on less than 4 characters. There is a very helpful 'sticky' above with lots of info on this and other problems with this car.

 

3200 for the car? I will sell ya mine and you can avoid allllllll the work you are doing. My front suspension needs some bushing work, that is it. 2003 model, less BS with it then the pre 03 models with 98k.

 

I ask my wife the same questions over and over too so don't feel too bad about that one....lol

I would pay $2500 for what you are describing, less if the paint is in poor shape. With the forums help you can do about anything so if you are looking for a project that might be somme fun this could be the one.

 

if you are ganna do it, put the money into a Gm LSx v8 swap. I wish I had thought before I bought, my 03 which you can not do this swap. Should have got a 2000 or so model and drove it till she puked.

 

I have 155k on my '99 and I am happy with it as a daily driver. Known issues are the timing chain tensions, the thermostat housing (replace with the aluminium), air intake hose from air filter to throttle body probably has cracks/holes on the lower side and the transmission will possibly fail around 110k or so.
Remember "you cannot buy a bad Jaguar cheap enough". Sounds like a dog that needs a new home.

 

Pigs don't maintain cars. They crap in them.
Only buy this if you can pass it off as therapy - a LOT of therapy!
Ideal project if it isn't rusty. Mechanicals can be fixed - body failure is terminal.

 

My wife is still....let's say not over joyed with my purchase, but she will get over it, once the summer comes around.

Thanks for the info on the chain tensioners......She does have a check engine light on, and a slight miss at idle. Is the 99 able to be hooked up to my OBD2 scanner, and if yes where is the plug. I will get on the tensioners, when they come in next week. The oil change receipts are at every 3K miles, and he has had a lot of the bushings replaced. He also had both keys and remotes, that just needed batteries.

The body is rust free, except for a lot of scratches, and the only electrical problems I have found is the drivers window going down about 2 inches every time I open, or even touch the inside door handle, and staying down once it is closed. I am opening the door now with the car running and putting the window back up and things stay put for now. I also need a combination switch for the electric mirrors, a driver's seat motor for going forward and backward, and a gas cap tab.

Everything else is working, including the heated seats, and the seat memory, and this car is LOADED, with every option I see in the owners manual. It isn't as bad as when I first gave it a once over, because he has some parts in the trunk, and glove box.

He put new tires on it, once he found out I was buying it. I am good with paint, and bodywork, and the interior will be therapy.

Is there some kind of waterproofing I can put on the canvas top? I needed to do it on another car many moons ago.

Overall, I am happy with the purchase. I was going to buy an early XJS, but this one, believe it or not, looks much better. I like the kind of shark nose on the XK8, even though the designers seem to have lost interest while working on the back of the car.....Thanks for all the info. I will change my avatar soon, showing both cars, after I give this one a good buff.....Thank you for everything. Now I have two forums to play on.......Be cool.....Mike

 

Try the window reset procedure. Hold the buttons for the window down, once down, hold for 5 seconds, then roll it up and hold five seconds. Do this for each side. That should fix the doing on each open.

Obdii will work, the port is way down there. The cel should guide you. Possibly a coil, etc.

The top can be protected with 303 or raggtop.

 

All cars '96 and later must meet the OBDII standard. The data port is directly above the hood release handle. It is invisible unless you get on the ground and look up.

The window position memory must be set after loosing its settings due to low or no voltage. Sitting in the car with the door closed raise the window and keep the switch depressed for about 5 seconds until you hear a quite click. Lower the window and hold the switch for the click again. Losing window memory is a first sign of a failing battery. An auto parts store charging system check would be appropriate.


A failed seat control module is a lot more likely than the switch or motors. Common problem. Swap modules with the other seat to verify module or other problem.

The two favorites are Raggtopp which is recommended for our tops and 303, a boat canvas product. Which ever you use the canvas must be completely clean including using an entire sticky lint roller to remove all the loose fibers sticking to the canvas.

 

MrPlow, The suggestions on resetting the window listed above are great, but I am concerned that from your description the microswitch in the door lock mechanism may be malfunctioning. Does the dash display "Drivers Door Open" when it is with ignition on? Does the interior lights light up when driver door open? If no, then is the micro switch. You see what caught my eye is that the window doesn't go up - the door doesn't know it was closed.

Like I said, don't want to alarm you, want to get you on the right track if this is the problem. Let us know.

 

Not necessarily. It notices when the door is opened and drops the window. Until the set points for up and down are set through this window reset it will just keep doing a drop each time you open the door and no attempt at an up. The microswitch is definitely a concern if a "touch" can drop the window.