Scott.


How old is the battery ?? Before you start to panic big-time, I would invest in a new battery or at least, make sure yours is 100% fully charged. Many of the curious and spurious warning lights and beeps and messages can be attributed to a battery with not quite enough volts. It's not amps, but volts, that's the problem, so although the car will crank and start, the computers may not be working properly.
Not sure from your last post - are you *still* getting the beep, or has that gone away too ? There would appear to be no 5 second beeping in the owners manual (section 3-33) but there are various beeps associated with doors, valet switch, park brake and convertible top, so might be worth starting to work through those, although there should be an associated message in the "message centre" as well.

 

I knew about the shock prices before I bought the car. I can get a pair of front shocks for $300 a piece at all shocks. How can we know it is the shock mounts? The car bottomed out twice on small dips on the way home. It may have been the tires in contact with the wheel wells? If I'm going to have the job done for replacement of the mounts wouldn't it make sense to have a set of shocks available just in case?

What kind of testing can I do beforehand to check them (shocks)? I don't want to spend more than I need to. However, I know what I have gotten myself into. What is the expectation for longevity of these shocks? It has just over 79,000 miles on it.

 

Here is a picture of the car as it sits.

14" from center wheel to fender.

 

Looks like some investigation might be in order...

First, on a factory stock car, the usual suspects for the ride height being too low on the front are the lower shock bushing and the upper shock mount. These deteriorate with age and collapse. You can typically tell by measuring the distance between the center of the wheel and the top of the wheel well arch. The exact number is in the applicable specs book (page 79):

VSB_2007_2004.pdf

Separately, you can check the mounts from the top, in the engine compartment. There is usually evidence of crumbling orange foam, and sometimes the shock is no longer centered in the mount.

At this point, there are after market upper mounts better built than the originals. Check eBay merchants jagsjagsjags and sngbarrat.

For the shock bushings, the bushing itself can be replaced if collapsed, but the general sentiment is that if your car came with normal shocks, you are better off replacing the entire shock. On the other hand, if your car came with the adaptive damper set (electrically adjustable rebound), the cost of the shocks is high, so the bushing alone can be pressed out and replaced.

One additional caveat: the picture shows wheels that are not from an XK8, best I can figure. The stock tire sizes are listed under the arm rest. You probably want to compare the tires you have with these stock sizes to find out if these tires are possibly too tall (there is a formula to find this out). If they are, this is the root cause, possibly aggravated by the collapsing mounts. Separately, if this suspension has been "worked" for a lowered look, the initial recommendation might not be sufficient. Are there non-stock or cut springs, or do the wheels have spacers? As you have the big brakes, spacers might have been added for clearance and could contribute to the problem.

I hope this helps. Best of luck, keep us posted.

PS: Congrats on the new-to-you car. Welcome to the forum.

PPS: This thread has great pictures for the mount and bushings: working-thru-issues-my-newly-acquired-04-xk8-99805