(Please forgive me in advance for the length of this tome; most kind.)

Hi everyone, I'm Alex, I live in on the coast of Southeast Florida USA, and I just bought a beautiful sapphire blue 2000 Jaguar XK8 convertible @ 70,000 miles (normally aspirated). Of course, it has some electrical gremlins and other woes that need taming, which has brought me amongst you.

It's an honor to become a member of this storied forum, and this is a heads-up to let everyone know that I intend to submit information & illustrations that hopefully will be of use to others, as well as adsorb tips for myself from the seasoned owner and professional alike. (I --must-- add at this point, to all members who have made available Jaguar TSB's and other OEM documents--BLESS YOU!!)

However I am totally new to the business of online forums, so, I will appear to be (and function as, for awhile) an idiot. My apologies in advance. Please bear with me, and if I offend or cross any guidelines or rules, it will not be on purpose.

I'm currently in the middle of replacing my secondary timing chains and tensioners; and yes, an abbreviated story replete with a few pictures, bad puns, intermittent swearing, and fast-fading moments of ecstasy, will be given in due time. I'll even try to coax a smile from my sapphire blue kitty for the camera.

Be it known, a car mechanic I am not. For sure. Only via circumstance (as is so often the case). Thus I will oft seek mechanical help.

Actually, as a teenager, I thoroughly enjoyed working on cars--until I got a nearly-new MG Midget with 25K miles on it from my best friend (to this day, some thirty years later, it is still the newest car I've ever owned, and, yes, we're still best friends). In spite of the MG's newness, it was the most unreliable POS I've ever owned. Its reliability was soooo bad that I was forced to carry, in the MG's very tiny trunk, a full-size (12 inch wheel!) spare tire, a hydraulic floor jack, and a FULL set of tools. It stranded me more times than I could count, and all too often, in the middle of nowhere. ...Oddly, an MGB that I owned a few years later was actually very reliable; go figure...

Anywho, ever since that MG Midget, I've tried to buy cars that were reliable enough that I did --not-- need to work on them, at least not very often. For the most part successful in this effort, it has brought me to my current car (before the Jag) a 2000 Honda CRV, now with 166k miles on the clock. An amazingly reliable vehicle for the past six years, I voluntarily but sadly pass it along to my youngest son. Enter, (drum roll if you please) THE JAG.

My newest beastie is a beautiful 2000 sapphire blue XK8 convertible, normally-aspirated, which turned over 70,000 miles exactly when I took possession of her. As a side note, this is, I swear, the very first car I've owned (out of perhaps two dozen total), that I don't feel positively silly referring to it as a 'her' or 'she', all previous vehicles having deserved the designation of 'it' or 'that there'. I bet I'm not the only person who has felt this way, no? ...I didn't think so. Clearly, my hobby of psychiatry is paying nicely.

For a living, 'though, I'm paid to repair medical equipment as a biomedical technician, and have been most of my professional life. Both a blessing and a curse, I'm generally pretty good at fixing things. And The Jag is in need of some of my technical lovin'.

She came to me at a very fair price, in the beautiful vista of Naples, Florida, because the dashboard was lit-up like a Christmas tree even after the engine was purring. Most of the electrical beasties have now been banished, leaving, as of this writing, no ABS (we all know that that likely is), what appear to be two leaking hydraulic rams, and, to finish the right bank secondary chain and tensioner replacement (left bank is done).

Again, I must express my deepest and sincerest appreciation to those members who have posted official Jaguar paperetts and TSBs; without those, I would have had no hope of curing any electrical ill thus far. Much, much appreciation to all of you who have generously given.

I look forward to both sharing and receiving available knowledge, and becoming part of the greater (Jaguar) good.

XK8s RULE!!!

 

Hello, Alex,
We all liked working on cars as teens. Most of us liked working on our cars until something insurmountable came along, held us up, made us doubt ourselves, question our very sanity and wonder what possessed us to ever turn the first bolt!

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

 

Welcome to the forum, nice intro.

 

Welcome to the forum Alex,

Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums. Thank you for the splendid Intro.

It sounds as though you have already found your way to the XK8/XKR tech forum so there's no need for a link to it from me. The 'HOW TO' thread at the top is a good place to start for info on regular issues.

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

You can also visit the USA Lower Atlantic Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/usa-lower-atlantic-nc-sc-fl-ga-66/ to find other members in your region.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums Alex,

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

 

Hi and welcome aboard, its good to have you here with us here at Jaguarforums, nice intro btw

Any useful site information you may need such as how to post pictures, edit signatures, add videos, using the
search facility etc, can be found here within the following link Using JF "How To"

There are lots of members local to you with the same interests with info on local dealers and possible meets.
Regional - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

Need a Manual, a TSB, or General Info' about your Jag? Check out our >> DOWNLOAD AREA <<


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

 

You're so right, everything you said is eerily true! Thank you for the warm welcome!

 

Thank you, Clarke, it is my pleasure to be here!

 

Graham, many thanks for the signature tip; I'd been looking to find out exactly now to do that (add my car info at the bottom of my posts), and will take care of that shortly.

 

Jim, thank you so much for the warm welcome, I will make effort to deserve it. And also thank you for the early upgrade as this will clearly come in handy! Many thanks.

 

What a great post! I wish you luck with those electrical "gremlins"! I'd love to see pictures when you have a chance! Enjoy your XK!

Have a good day!

- Pilotman