New member coming in out of the cold
 

Been lurking around here for a while, technically been a member for a couple months now. New Jag owner checking in. I've always been a fan of Jaguars, even since before I was a 'car guy', and had been checking used models from time to time and trying to convince myself to bite. I hate that I've missed the opportunity to acquire an E-type for the long term collection--they'll probably go stratospheric by the time I feel like spending the money. But the early XK8 is a lovely car with much of the E-Type's lines, and when the right one in the right color came up I couldn't resist...

Two and a half months ago I bought a '97 XK8 convertible in the best color, non-metallic British Racing Green, with a tan interior. ~100k miles at purchase, for a very competitive price.

I had gotten used to spending lots of time working on a car, my old Ford Taurus has reached 323k miles with a lot of prayer and a lot of wrenching. I have plenty of tools, if not a lot of experience with luxury cars or doing much with the engine itself or the transmission. That was about to change...

Since purchase I've debugged a transmission issue by adjusting the shift cable, replaced the battery with a new AGM one, diagnosed a potential flaky fuel pump, noticed an issue with the stereo, fixed the cigarette lighter socket, and am watching a purge valve issue that is cropping up time to time. Just finished this weekend doing the secondary tensioners (they were 2nd generation plastic bodied tensioners with ~50k miles, and they were in the process of cracking!). Did the job over more days than I care to admit, but they're done and buttoned back up tonight and the car's running again. Thanks so much to the good folks on this forum who wrote up the job and photographed it and gave me the confidence to disassemble my daily driver's engine!

So now I'm enjoying a gorgeous almost-classic motorcar driving ~1,000 miles a month with the wry observation to friends that it's more beautiful, worth less, and will cost more to fix than almost any car I meet on the road. But it gets compliments and smiles wherever I go, and my family and friends covet the invitation to ride along. Here's praying the transmission doesn't decide to fail on me anytime soon, and the minor stuff spaces themselves out enough I can enjoy it without dreading the small repairs!

Welcome.

Well done on those tensioners, peace of mind for sure.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to Jaguar Forums John,

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.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

Thanks!

I got my details added to my signature block after I posted this last night. Should show up below.

I'm located in NC, and I'm sure I'll be looking out for local advice sooner or later, so thanks.

Looking forward to reading more stories of everyone else's woes and triumphs, and hopefully contributing some of my own. I was rashly out on Bring a Trailer this morning looking at an XJS and an E-Type...I still wish the XK8 had a V12 rather than the 8, but I'm happy not to be working in the XJS engine bay for the moment, or hunting for unobtainium E-Type components...

Forgot to mention that the A/C was working perfectly two months ago and now is dry, it's developed a refrigerant leak SOMEWHERE. Not looking forward to debugging that, but given that it's October I have a few months leeway to sort it out.

Thanks, all--look forward to reading and contributing around the forum!

Hello, John,
I absolutely Love that line! Truer words were Never written, as any of us here can well attest!

Congratulations getting your Very Beautiful Jaguar back on the road!
Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!

Welcome aboard John.

Hi John,
Welcome to the forum. Nice to see you here. I am glad to see my "Nice Cat" is in good hands and being enjoyed! This forum is a life saver full of great info and wonderful people.
Nov 3rd I go see a Duke eye specialist and get to find out if I get to keep my license or not due to my vision problems. I have to admit I miss "Nice Cat" but also realize I am no longer in a position to keep a car like her either.


Dave

Hello, Dave!

I hope your eye appointment went well. Your "Nice Cat" is now my "Big Cat" and driving many happy miles a month down here in NC. The forum is definitely been a lifesaver so far. I was sad to see recently that the only mention of a '97 and a P0441 code on the forums was your previous attempt to diagnose the cat a while back! Did you notice any particular differences in it's running in fall/winter? I've been trying to recalibrate ear and seat running diagnosis, and the few small differences I've noticed are hard to pin to malfunction versus normal operation in the different temperature range.

That was about a year ago and after fiddling with it at the Exxon station and not really spotting anything (didn't see the glued nipple) just reseated the connector and some hoses. Nothing looked obvious or suspicious. I also looked at the hoses to the cannisters back by the gas tank and they seemed ok. The mechanic there looked at also and didn't spot anything obvious either.
After that the P0441 never came back not even once. I figured something that got reseated fixed it or was just some gremlin that ran its course. It never ran badly when I had that code so that problem may not be related. I'm sure both will end up being something simple like the purge valve being bad and or a hose/vacuum leak somewhere.
I didn't get the SAAB until recently and the Jag was my only car for 2 winters and never had any problems with it in the cold. But I only drove it once or twice a week usually locally but I did drive it to Petersburg every few months which accounts for most of the 2000ish miles I put on it in 2 years. I used to keep a ELM OBDII bluetooth reader always plugged in so if a code came up I could use my phone or tablet with the Torque app to get it right away. Its now on the SAAB.
I've had 2 eye Doc appointments since August. Last week my eyes hadn't gotten any worse than the previous one but they were worse that time. Both my eyes are beyond passing the DMV eye test when my license is up renewal next year. I already have a daylight restricted license so I may not be able to renew. If my eyes get worse in the meantime I may have to give it up sooner. The eye Doc is from Duke and he says my vision will never get better, only worse. So I get my eyes checked every 3 months now.

Update: I saw your other post and the part we looked at (if I remember correctly) on the lift was accessible in the LH (drivers side) wheel well. If you were standing looking at the tire it was in an opening in the wheel well to the right of the tire. I never saw the part you mentioned on the bulkhead.

Dave

Nice Jag, John. Can't improve upon British Racing Green!

No telling. I'll go looking for that one too, but I verified the one on the bulkhead, go figure. Cleaned up intake/breather hoses and sealed/reseated connections and cleaned the throttle body, now it seems to be running slightly better (less chance of stalling) even if the torque converter's still a bit sticky.

Welcome to the forums and greetings from down under.