As mentioned by many grateful owners, this forum is a fantastic resource (although I have said it before, don't know what I would have done without it in getting my XK8 back on the road in good shape). My car had been garage stored and covered for several years after failing smog and the owner moving on to a new Jag, and not wanting to deal with repairs right away : )

So here is what I have done:

-New Tires, New Battery (of course)
-New Water Pump (although turns out old one only had 30k on it which is why it looked so good)
-All new coolant hoses and plastic fittings (literally, including valley and "octopus")
-New aluminum thermostat "tower", new oem crossover
- 2 coils from 2009, all others brand new),
-New spark plugs,
-Injectors ultrasonically cleaned and flow tested,
-All fresh fluids and filters (rear diff checked and topped off)
- Transgo PR Valve installed (no symptoms, preventative only),
-New idler and belt,
-Verified new upper cam chain tensioners,
-New valve cover and intake gaskets.
-Verified no oil leaks
- New headliner.
Although I do have the car listed for sale, it is simply because I am low on garage space, and will keep the XK8 if I sell another, so I would like some opinions for either a new owner or for myself, is there anything else to look at ? Mileage is 95,500 and gaining, starts, runs, drives very smoothly.

 

Didn't see any front suspension work. Are the shock mounts in good shape? A-arm bushings?, etc.?

 

No noises from the suspension and handles fine, I'll do some searching on what to look for though. A bit surprised that with only ~100k miles I would need to look for something but I'll check it out. We don't really have any potholes to speak of around here, so perhaps the roads being in fairly good shape helps.

 

It's time that is the big factor on some of the bushings. They are a foam type poly and you need to look at the front top shock bushing. Or just look under the cap in the engine compartment. If it's starting to flake, Houston we have a problem. Same stuff on the top at the rear.


Wayne

 

I got around 30k miles on the OE upper wishbone bushes on both my XK8's and around 25k on the heavier X308 and X300 that preceded them. Over 95k on the originals is extraordinary.

Graham

 

Most of the threads I see regarding suspension bushings start off with a description of a clunk or noise. Lacking any noise over bumps, is there a visual indication or a way of loading the suspension to check for wear ? For what it is worth the old front tires had even wear across the tread.


I am wondering now if this is a case where paying the Jaguar dealer for an inspection would be worthwhile. The car did have a full dealer inspection at 84,500 miles which resulted in new brakes, pads, and motor mounts, but that was almost 9 years ago even though not many miles.

It could be that something was replaced prior to 2007, the CARFAX description of the service performed is fairly abbreviated but that is the only record I have for 2000-2007 and the first 81,000 miles (yes only 14,000 miles covered from 2007-2016).

 

I think I would take it to a trusted independent Jag mechanic. Most dealers aren't really interested in repairing an older car. Where are you in Calif?

 

Santa Barbara area. The car has a service history at Santa Barbara Jaguar after 2007, and Ventura Jaguar Land Rover prior to that.

 

My good friend Mark Biddison was the Sales Manager until 2 years ago. He is now a Service writer at their BMW store (Long Story). I would trust that dealer as I know the history. Especially for an inspection.

 

To me, this question deserves 2 answers:

If you are selling on the open market, you should expect to get "book value" for a car in working order, and not get anything extra for new parts. For example, buyers expect a car with a working alternator. If someone had to replace it at some point, so be it, but the car gets its value from having one that works. To an extent, you seem to have done more that the minimum for this car already.

If you are keeping it (or possibly selling to a relative), then you might want to look into things ahead of problems, especially in the areas that could leave you stranded. You seem to have gone over cooling pretty comprehensively (shy of the radiator, with its plastic end tanks). Have you looked at the fuel system? Fuel filter comes to mind. Possibly fuel pump and air flow meter. Also ignition: the coils are probably showing some age. Folks have reported them failing quickly in succession.

Separately, and further down the list, there are the known poor designs: seat control modules boards rubbing against the case (electrical tape can fix this), headrest cables, brake switch, sway bar bushings, etc.

 

My upper bushings went well over 100,000K miles before I realized that they were toast. The visual indication was an abrupt (and startling) increase to the wear on the inside of my friggin'-brand-new front tires. I think the bushings may have actually been failing over time, but wheel alignments may have kept compensating for a slowly degrading geometry,... that is, until one of the bushings collapsed catastrophically.

If you just look at the upper bushings you can at least see if they're not in good nick. Everything up there should be concentric. Any eccentricity among the components is an indicator that the bushing(s) are going or gone.

Good luck!

 

A quick inspection is to check the ride height (assuming stock coils). From the center cap of the wheel to the bottom of the fender lip should be 15.75" or close to it. If it is below 15.25" then something is worn. At ~100k, the top mounts are probably going, even if they have been swapped at some point in the past and the coils may be sagging as well.

I changed my coil springs at 120K miles and picked up an inch in ride height. The top mounts added another 1/2 inch. Low ride height will definitely effect tire wear. BTW, they never made any noise other than the occasional scraping of the front end on parking curbs.

 

Well that "settles it" so to speak I am at 15". Not sure I am going to love the look of raising it an inch, but so be it.

 

Keep in mind, how much height you add will depend on how worn the coils/other parts are. My coils were truly sagging, so one inch was easy to gain.