New to the Jag World
 

Hi All,

After several months of looking around, I finally bought a 2000 XKR. The car is titanium (blue??) with tan interior. It has about 88,000 miles, Mina exhaust system, Mina Cold (hot) air kit and a Mina (I think) crank pulley. It is in nice shape with a huge folder of service history receipts so I can see the car was driven hard but also cared for. It originated in CA and then moved to Illinois and used as a toy so i don't see any rust (haven't really crawled under yet to really look.

While the car is nice, it is still 16 years old and has some issues that need to be addressed. Some I knew before I paid for her and some caught me as a bit of a surprise.

Knew about:
Pretty worn seats, especially the drives - but EVERY car I looked at was the same. New seat covers are in the future.

HORRIBLE fuel smell in the cabin. Intermittent but there. I had the local Ford dealer look it over as a pre-sale (small town closest Jag dealer was hours away) and then had the PO's local guy check it over, nothing visibly wrong and no codes. Records show a repair for a code and a vacuum leak at the canister purge valve. Ordered a new valve and will do the TSB, hoping that is the fuel smell. Also keeping the tank near full seems to help.

Found out on the 3 hour drive home or since then after running some OBD diagnostics:
She has a lot of power - from an idle, but when I hit the gas hard while moving (30mph for example) it is actually quite slow. It starts up immediately hot or cold and responds nicely so I don't think compression is an issue (will check when I change plugs) but something is certainly amiss.

It smells like it is running very RICH. Could be related to the above. The long term fuel trims are between 11-16% on each bank so I know she is dumping in extra fuel. The O2 sensors appear to be responding a bit slow but still responding. The odd thing is that I only see 2 sensors (the 2nd) with my OCD Mindreader and Torque Pro. No codes on or pending so the computer isn't upset. Thinking a combination of tired O2 sensors and a vacuum leak.

The intake temps are HOT. I mean wow, on a 75 degree day driving along at 40mph the intake temps are 120 or so. The cone air filter has a small shield that is doing NOTHING to stop it from ingesting hot engine air. Factory air box is long gone so i need to figure out a way to isolate the air filter from the engine heat. Also want to check the intercooler. I can feel the pump running but with air increases that extreme I do wonder if the coolant is circulating or the cores are dirty.

Suspension is solid, but I feel some closeness and some thuds when I go over bumps. Suspect a bushing/balljoint project is in the future. Already have a message into Powerflex but not sure I want poly over rubber, I really don't want to lose the comfortable ride. Hoping the stock shocks are good, otherwise just going to standard XK8 shocks. Not dropping 1600 on shocks for the weekend toy.

Last and biggest problem is that my kids and I have sore cheek muscles because despite all the above, we can't stop smiling.

Overall, I LOVE this car. I graduated up from Fiat Spiders so the power and comfort are leaps and bounds better. I think I got a good deal (assuming the power issue is nothing major) but had I known I would be dropping another 2k in her, I might have pushed for a bit more off the price. Cest La Vis.

Open to any comments and suggestions and I'll keep tabs on the projects!

New to the Jag World
 

Hi All,

After several months of looking around, I finally bought a 2000 XKR. The car is titanium (blue??) with tan interior. It has about 88,000 miles, Mina exhaust system, Mina Cold (hot) air kit and a Mina (I think) crank pulley. It is in nice shape with a huge folder of service history receipts so I can see the car was driven hard but also cared for. It originated in CA and then moved to Illinois and used as a summer toy so I don't see any rust (haven't crawled under yet to really look).

While the car is nice, it is still 16 years old and has some issues that need to be addressed. Some I knew before I paid for her and some caught me as a bit of a surprise.

Knew about:
Pretty worn seats, especially the drives - but EVERY car I looked at was the same. New seat covers are in the future.

HORRIBLE fuel smell in the cabin. Intermittent but there. I had the local Ford dealer look it over as a pre-sale (small town closest Jag dealer was hours away) and then had the PO's local guy check it over, nothing visibly wrong and no codes. Records show a repair for a code and a vacuum leak at the canister purge valve. Ordered a new valve and will do the TSB, hoping that is the fuel smell. Also keeping the tank near full seems to help.

Found out on the 3 hour drive home or since then after running some OBD diagnostics:
She has a lot of power - from an idle, but when I hit the gas hard while moving (30mph for example) it is actually quite slow. It starts up immediately hot or cold and responds nicely so I don't think compression is an issue (will check when I change plugs) but something is certainly amiss.

It smells like it is running very RICH. Could be related to the above. The long term fuel trims are between 11-16% on each bank so I know she is dumping in extra fuel. The O2 sensors appear to be responding a bit slow but still responding. The odd thing is that I only see 2 sensors (the 2nd) with my OCD Mindreader and Torque Pro. No codes on or pending so the computer isn't upset. Thinking a combination of tired O2 sensors and a vacuum leak.

The intake temps are HOT. I mean wow, on a 75 degree day driving along at 40mph the intake temps are 120 or so. The cone air filter has a small shield that is doing NOTHING to stop it from ingesting hot engine air. Factory air box is long gone so i need to figure out a way to isolate the air filter from the engine heat. Also want to check the intercooler. I can feel the pump running but with air increases that extreme I do wonder if the coolant is circulating or the cores are dirty.

Suspension is solid, but I feel some looseness and some thuds when I go over bumps. Suspect a bushing/balljoint project is in the future. Already have a message into Powerflex but not sure I want poly over rubber, I really don't want to lose the comfortable ride. Hoping the stock shocks are good, otherwise just going to standard XK8 shocks. Not dropping 1600 on shocks for the weekend toy.

Headlights - the PO installed a 2005 nose on the car which looks great but I noticed that the low beam headlights (outside projector looking ones) are on but do not throw ANY light out. I can almost stare right into the lens without hurting my eyes. I checked a few different bulbs and same thing. The car is still using the 2000 Halogen bulbs but I am wondering if the 05 had HID's and the lens might be different. The deflector plates between the lens and the bulb is the correct halogen plate and I even removed one side to see if that helped but no luck. Will need to noodle that one over a bit. Not loving having to use the brights when I drive at night.

Last and biggest problem is that my kids and I have sore cheek muscles because despite all the above, we can't stop smiling.

Overall, I LOVE this car. I graduated up from Fiat Spiders so the power and comfort are leaps and bounds better. I think I got a good deal (assuming the low-power issue is nothing major) but had I known I would be dropping another 2k in her, I might have pushed for a bit more off the price. Cest La Vis, at least I can do 99% of the work myself and save the Jag labor charges!

Open to any comments and suggestions and I'll keep tabs on the projects!

Yes, that Is a common problem among new Jag owners, painful cheeks from Smiling so much! LOL

Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

Welcome to the forum

Welcome aboard.

Welcome.

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Hjs128,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

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