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About two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to purchase a long-neglected 1997 XK8. Now, in my infinite wisdom, upon looking at the car the first time, I did absolutely zero research and agreed to the deal on looks alone. It's probably a good thing I did that, had I known what was in store... I almost certainly would have passed, in all honesty (and today I am very glad I did not pass on this!)
Firstly, the reason I was told that it had gone into long-storage (unfortunately outside,) was due to a defective fuel pump. I thought "Oh, geez, that's no big deal!" ... that is, until I got it home and watched the videos of other owners and the difficulty of moving the tank to get access... and in my case, I could take zero shortcuts - the entire tank had to come out, as I discovered there was quite a bit of rust built up inside from the years of storage!
Having accomplished this, I then checked on the tensioners by removing the passenger side cover and looking at the secondary - to my relief, I saw steel tensioners had been installed... *whew* Dodged a bullet there, at least!
Finally, I confirmed fuel pressure at the rail, then performed an oil + filter change (Royal Purple 5w30!) and, after probably 12 years of storage, the engine coughed to life and to my surprise, after only a moment of roughness, purred quietly and smoothly... oh what a great sound! The feeling in my chest standing behind the car, the rumble of that 4.0L... wow! I think it was at that moment that I first fell in love with this resurrected beauty...
So, I managed to find that the spare + the remaining three wheels which could still actually hold air would allow the beautiful machine to roll around a bit, and I put her in Drive for the first time. I managed to limp around the block (quite literally - I triggered the P0706 somehow, and ended up in "limp" mode!)
Then I watched more videos, and took apart the center console to get at the J micro-switches. It was quite dirty in there, so I cleaned it up a bit, reseated all the contacts, verified switch operation with my multimeter (the little grey/yellow/white ones on the right side) and buttoned it back up - and I am happy to say, I have completed my first lap around the block, no issues - I even dropped the top (it all works!) and made another pass to great success!
I know she's not much to look at (yet) but, here's a photo of this resurrected beauty!
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Hello, Jim,
Hearty Congratulations on your newly Resurrected Jaguar Xk8!!
Well done!
I decided some time ago that my one of these would be my Next Jaguar - In BLACK though.
My very best cars have been bought just like that; I see it, I want it, I BUY it.
And not a single one turned out to be a bomb.
XK8 Resurrection in Missouri (63129 zip)
