Hi folks! Been lurking about for a while now. Bought my first Jag this past August. A 2003 XK8 convertible, 4.2L silver with grey and black interior and about 66K on the clock when purchased. Certainly not perfect but so far I'm loving it and this site is a major reason why! Lots of great info here and I even used it to help me decide that what I wanted an 2003-06 model year.

I'm a long time sports car aficionado. My first car was a 1971 240Z. I have always loved design of the XK-E. A truly beautiful machine. But I think the XK8 is as close as you can get in a modern package, and more reliable to boot. It finally allowed me to return to the enthusiast fold after years of just family cars. When I park it in the lot at work I always catch myself looking at it and thinking, "What a gorgeous thing!"

I did break one major rule I've read about here and that was buying one without a full service history. I did get the Carfax but I'm still a bit leery of what I may run into as it appears to have spent a little too much time unprotected in the elements. It's not perfect and has some flaws but I'm trying to work through them and as the price was right, I hope I can make the repairs and keep things reasonable. Only minor repairs and basic maintenance so far and I'm trying to do most of them myself to keep cost of ownership somewhat reasonable. So far:
-Fixed airbag fault (poor connection)
-Repaired drivers side power seat (traced down and wired around broken pin connector in the harness)
-Pulled drivers door panel to adjust window travel
-Replaced fuel filter
-Oil and filter Change
-Air filter change
-Cleaned and conditioned top
-Cleaned and conditioned leather
-Repaired leaking Octopus hose Norma connector (with hose mender and clamps)

Still on the to do list:
-Clean headliner or replace
-Repair of a bad spot in the rear seat leather (or just replace the seat bottom, not bad $ on ebay)
-Adjust passenger side window travel
-Minor repair of front seat back lower
-Back-up sensors not working (first car I've ever had with them so I really don't care)
-Trace occasional "very small" evap leak.
-Minor paint touch up here and there.

I'm sure other things will make themselves know as time and miles go by. Probably convertible hoses, a new top in a few more years, tires of course, but in general I'm pretty pleased to be riding in style again!

 

Welcome Sir!

 

Thank you Jacob! Meant to post a pic. Let's see if I can.

 

Welcom to the forum.

 

Welcome rebel!
Beautiful, I feel the same when I walk past mine. Can't believe how nice it is.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Welcome to the forum XK8 Rebel,

Good to have you with us at Jaguar forums.

You may want to add a transmission fluid and filter change to your "to do" list. Although not on Jaguar's maintenance schedule, it can certainly extend the life of the transmission. I wondered why you pulled the door panel to adjust the window travel limits?

I'm sure you've already found your way to the XK8/XKR 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 information on regular issues.

You can also visit the US Lower Atlantic Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/u...r-atlantic-66/ to find other members in your region.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

Welcome to the Forums.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums XK8 Rebel,

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

 

From the lowcountry of SC - welcome to the forum. Where are you located?? The JSSC will be having a meeting this Saturday if interested I can provide details. enjoy!!!

 

Hello,
Congratulations on all your successful repairs! I wish you the same success with those still on the list.

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

 

Thanks for the welcome Graham. I've been considering the transmission maintenance but haven't taken that plunge yet. The fill procedure seems to be quite a bear! Not to mention getting the darn pan bolts loose! I will probably do it but have been debating about the type of fluid to use as well. The Ford stuff seems to have good reports and is much cheaper but..........

I adjusted the window travel as I had let the car set for a bit more than a week and when cranked, apparently the voltage dropped enough that the windows started acting up by just lowering each time the door was opened and closed. Reset the windows using the hold up and down click method and they held the setting but it was in the wrong place and allowed too much travel causing small splits in the front triangle window gasket rubber on both sides and even overlapped the upper edge of the top bumping against it instead of sealing into it. I suspect the hard stop adjustment had gotten out of spec due to rough driveway/roads but the electronic memory kept them going to the right position. When the voltage dropped I'm assuming the reset procedure set it to the incorrect position since the stop probably moved.

More food for thought.

 

Thanks Elinor! I did think of another issue I need to deal with. Based on the symptoms (slow starting) the darn check valve in the fuel pump line is leaking. Been working around it by priming it with the ignition switch so far. Usually just the first start in the morning. Once started, runs great!

 

Thanks for the welcome and the invite! Sounds like fun but I know I won't be able to make it Saturday! I'm about 25 miles south of Columbia. I did get to do a little tour with the Columbia British car club down in Beaufort back in October and had a blast. Turns out I already knew three of the members! Two of which had peaked my original interest in British cars 30 years ago with a slew of MGs from TD's, TC's, A twincam's, MGB/GT and of course the XK-E! Small world sometimes!