Hi everyone,

 

Hi Lena and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you gave yourself a great gift! I have to admit I'm a little jealous of your Florida weather right now, we're down into the single digits, so no beach time for us!
Head on over to the XJ8 section, you'll find plenty of folks familiar with your car!

 

Welcome to the forum.

Nice present.

Good to have you with us.

PS, send a little warm weather over, spent time on the beach yesterday, dressed like a Yetti in a force 11 gale. Brrrr

 

Hi Lena

I am sure you will enjoy your Big Cat. With those sort of miles there will likely be a few jobs come up, but just enjoy the car and don't worry too much. A Florida car should at least not have been exposed to winter road salt.

 

Welcome to the forum,
Lena
I pick up a 2004 XJ8 this week myself with 75000 on it. I wanted to use my bluetooth also come to find out it was not fitted with bluetooth, hopefully you have better luck than I did. This forum is is so full of information you will enjoy it.
vacmail

 

lenalittle,

welcome, I'm a fairly new member myself, but you will find this Forum to be overflowing with helpful members.

There are a couple of things to watch out for to ensure that you do keep on enjoying your 'metal puttytat'. Keep an eye on the coolant level, if it seems to drop without any obvious leaking, then the thermosts housing is probably the cause. Have it replaced with an aftermarket aluminium one. You won't get that from a Jag Dealer, they'll simply try to sell you another Bakelite Plastic one, which guarantees that you will have troubles with it in 3 or 4 years time and be back for another exhorbitant 'service fee' to replace it yet again.

Another thing to do is to keep an ear on the timing chains: if you notice a rattle from the front of the engine, they all need to be replaced along with the tensioners. These should also be replaced using alternative parts (not Jaguar). Again, the Forum can & will help you with that when the time comes.

The other big debate which has been going on in the Forum of late, is whether or not to change the transmission fluid. Personally, I'm an advocate in favour of changing it. My Business Partner here in Aus is a mechanic, he specialises in second hand parts & repairs to Jags & Landrovers, and he does quite well out of engine & gearbox replacements for the very things that I have itemised above.

Nothing lasts forever, but sensible planned preventative maintenance will extend the life of your car, and save you a lot of money & grief. In spite of their foibles & weaknesses, they are wonderful 'driver's cars'.

Not all Dealers are mongrels, but good one's are a bit like gold mines; they are few & far between. And one could be forgiven for believing the the dealers are gold miners just in the wrong occupation!!

Cheers,

Languid

 

Welcome to the forum,

Enjoy your new Jag.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. While we in FL were not in the single digits, the brisk north wind at 15mph made 22 feel like single digits! It warmed up nicely today though. Still not quite beach weather. TTYL

 

Thank you Norri. chat with you later...

 

Languid,

Thanks so much for the welcome email and the very helpful information regarding preventative maintenance. The advice on parts is especially appreciated. I like your quote, "metal puttytat". Too funny. I will be talking to you again soon. Take care...

 

Vacmail,

Congrats on your 2004 XJ8. I love my "new to me" Jag. I am searching for a new Stereo/GPS/Bluetooth/IPOD/MP3 etc etc... receiver. So far, Best Buy has a decent one for $350. It's a Pioneer - 50W x 4 MOSFET Apple® iPod®-/Satellite Radio-/HD Radio-Ready DVD Deck which is Navigation ready. Good luck with your new Jag...

Later...

 

Thanks Fraser. I am taking it in to have the 80K check up. I was told by the dealership (not a JAG dealership) that the 80K service was completed but they could not produce the paperwork. I'll be on the lookout for the condition of the timing chain, and serpentine belt (do the JAGs have this belt? I assumed all cars did). I'm going to jump over to the xj8 section and check it out. TTYL!

 

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the welcome email. It is warming up today. I'll send some warm weather vibes your way . Yes, this JAG is a very nice present. I love it! I'll be "seeing" you around.... Take care.

 

Richard, I did take a look at the forum rules as soon as I joined the other day. I believe I have met the 10 posts? May I now create a garage? Thanks again...

 

Almost all cars have this thing called a "Serpentine Belt" so called because of its twists and turns around a multitude of components and pulleys. it drives things like the power steering pump, and the alternator that generates the electricity for the car. They last a long time, but not forever, unfortunately !

Generally speaking the engine in the X350 series of XJ saloons is pretty bulletproof, a mileage of 80k shouod not turn up any problems, but things like suspension bushes and ball joints can be starting to show wear. Also a "hardy perennial" for a repair job is the compressor for the air suspension, not particularly cheap, but not all that expensive either and quick to replace in labour. It is the most common cause of the message "suspension fault", like I had last year.

I would just enjoy the car right now, and not worry about anything going wrong. Hey, its a 7 year old car, and will want to show it is starting to get a few aches and pains now and again !!

 

Hi Lena and welcome to the site, great to have you with us here at JF ....As you can see we're a real friendly bunch here, so jump on in and enjoy.....
Glad that you found your way here with your Jag, which was a really nice present from you to you. You must have been really good this year

Do you have pics?? If you have em, post em on up

There really are some amazing and friendly guys here....you're in really good company to discuss anything Jag related or have a few laughs!

A really great mix of information, camraderrie and fun
I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the site and all its features

 

Hello,
Welcome!

 

Hi Lena and welcome to the forum. Hope you enjoy your present!

Richard, I thought there were sightings of something on the beach while we were over there lately. No one wanted to approach in case it was dangerous.

Jim, thank you for your kind words and I agree, we are all a friendly bunch on here and Lena you will have fun!

Enjoy your Jaguar...