Hi! My best friend just inherited a very nice Thunderbird. He had just had lots of maintenance on his jag thinking that he would keep it. He asked me if I'd like to buy it and gave me a deal I could not refuse.

It is in perfect condition. The only problem... the tab holes that hold the drink holder broke. I live in central Miss. and don't see alot of these cars. It gets lots of looks. I am very excited to have this car and is a joy to drive. I'm looking forward to visiting this site.

 

Three weeks ago I did not know I'd own a Jag. I really needed a decent car. I feel greatly blessed!
I love looking at pics and posting them. Please post what you have here if oyu don't mind. Thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum Morpheus311,

Congratulations on the XJ8. It looks a well cared for example.

Follow this link XJ ( X308 ) XJ8 / XJR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the to the X308 section for help and advice.

Remember to add vehicle details to your Signature to help others to give relevant advice. Go to the User ID button on the left of the top menu bar, then Settings & Options under Your Control Panel. Select Edit Signature and enter the details.

Please also visit the Mid West US Region section Mid West US - IL IN IA MI MN MO OH WI - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to find other members in your region.

Enjoy the forum.

Graham

 

Welcome to the forum Morpheus311,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.

 

Added details. Thanks for the welcomes and links.

 

I think this is the peak of the "old style" XJ shapes. Enjoy your big cat!

 

Hi there Morpheus311 & welcome aboard, good to have you here with us

Sounds like you totally lucked out......nice one.
Ride looks great, thanks for sharing.............

Any useful information you may need such as how to post pictures, edit signatures, add videos, use the search facility etc, can be found here
Helpful_information

Why not drop in and visit the regional section for your area?
There are lots of members local to you with the same interests.
Regional - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

There's a really great mix of information, camraderrie and fun here....

I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the whole site and all its features

Please Jump on in and enjoy the site.................

 

Welcome. I like that color. Make sure if it hasn't already been done that you do the recommended preventative maintenance. There are a number of threads on here explaining how to repair the cup holder.

 

I hate to admit this... and this is a dilemma in my opinion.

I feel this machine is out of my league. My best friend who sold it to me, had the funds to care for this machine. I looked over past receipts and he has spent lots of $$ on needed maintenance.

This is similar to being married to a high maintenance lady on a cab drivers income.

I badly needed a car for everyday use. My friend dangled a sum I just could not refuse.

Here I am! Help! LOL!

I want the jag owners here to tell me... Man! You did good. This 14 year old jag will give you great performance and service. You just gas it, oil it, shine it, and you'll be fine.
But you can't, can you? I don't mind if you tell me I'm screwed.

 

I assume I can just do a search? Thanks!

Thanks Jim!

 

Fuel and parts are never going to be low cost with a Jaguar but the biggest element of maintenance costs is labour. If you can do all or most of the work yourself, running costs need be no greater than driving something far more mundane.

The information and knowledge is here on the forum. All you have to do is search or ask.

Graham

 

I have a mechanic friend that may help with this.

 

I have to ask tho. Do you have something else to drive or another way to get around when it is down for repairs? I honestly would not have bought an older Jag if it were my ONLY car and the only way to get to work. (In fact, there's a lot of cars I wouldn't depend solely on if out of warranty.) I took a chance on it because 1) I have a late model Honda, 2) I'm a half-way decent amateur shade-tree mechanic, 3) I have lots of tools and 4) we have public transit nearby and so I could take a bus to work if all else fails.

You find that the people here on this forum are dedicated fans of Jaguar for many reasons other than mechanical. For me personally, the 2000 xj8 is several orders of magnitude better looking than the 1999 Lexus LS400 that I previously owned and far, far more comfortable. But yes, 4 months in and its already parked waiting for me to figure out what's wrong with it so I guess I better finish my sandwich, get off this internet (biggest time-waster ever invented) and get back to work.

 

This was my excuse...

I drive 11 miles to work. That is 22 miles a day. Just enough to get it warmed up and driven each day. On weekends, we drive my wife's car. I have always been able to keep vehicles for a long time and with low miles.

I am already discovering little quirks such as the car not cranking first time I turn the key sometimes, not all the time. I see lights on dash that come on for only a second for no reason. Yesterday, while barely pressing accelerator backing up, it jerked. This happened 2 different times.

Everything is basically brand new including battery. I'm not too worried about it but try to be aware of any abnormalities.

My old Honda runs but brakes need replacing. I am keeping it just in case.

I almost wish that I could kill all the memory functions when first starting it. I only want it doing one thing when I get in... start. If I need to make any adjustments, I can do it each time I drive.

It drives well, handles well, sounds great except for a few rattles, but lacks umph that I expect when slowly accelerating. It seems heavy or lugging. Don't know if this is normal or if it has a performance issue. There is no hesitation or engine missing sound, I just expected it to want to get up and go. Even with the sport button activated, I see no real change.

I really like this car but somewhat insecure because of all that I have read. If I can drive it until this time next year with no issues, then it will be love. I want to be hooked by this jag.

I've been riding a motorcycle for a year now. Always wanted one and I'm definitely hooked. I feel I have 2 really good reasons to enjoy life more than ever.

 

Damn. Mine started that too toward the end of July and I've read a few dead-end threads on the symptom. Mine has read out some random things on the odometer at startup too including a scary looking "gearbox fault" message. General consensus seems to be that these Jags react badly to bad batteries and poor connections so I'm going through everything in the starter circuit, cracking off every lug, running a wire brush over it and cinching it back up even tho they all look like brand new. Next to try is to replace a ground strap near the starter motor. Jag even labels it as a one-time use only - must be replaced if removed from the car. But its not a generic enough strap to be available in an auto parts store.

If you turn off the auto switch on the side of the steering column, then the seats don't auto adjust either.

 

I'll try this. As for car starting... as soon as I turn key and steering/seat begin adjusting, I go ahead and attempt to start engine and nothing. Makes me think I should wait a couple of seconds and then try to start and same thing happens. So, I turn key off then back on and engine starts up.

 

I've been getting the same exact thing. I've even tried holding the key in the start position and sometimes it will go ahead and start normally after a few seconds, but sometimes not. But so far it always starts after turning the key off and on again. It's as if the car were running on Microsoft Windows ME software. And it's so random that it defies an actual diagnosis. It will only do it if I'm away from home or late for work. Never when I have my tools out ready to try and test something. I'm just going to fix everything that's ever been suggested on this forum and hope that one of them is it. Sorry for not giving you a more cheerful welcome.

 

I appreciate your responses here. We have the same issues with starting but as you said, it eventually starts. The knob is missing on the steering column for turning off the auto adjust. There is only a plastic part that I tried to twist but feels flimsy. I'll just live with it.

Warning msg don't scare me. We've been driving wife's Toyota Sienna with the engine lite on for several years.