Made it down to the South of France in the XK8. Day one saw us motor to Folkstone for an overnight stop, then bright and early start onto Longemer over on the Eastern side of France on the German border. After a fabulous days motoring on the routes National towards Chambery, we found ourselves amongst some sort of Cannonball run with every exotic sportscar ever made (Modball) tear arsing about. After a really fun bit of mountain driving (Not really pushing it) we encountered a road closure, which had us traversing mountains at a snails pace, up some sections which were dirt tracks, at this point, I had the engine failsafe light come on for a few seconds, then it went out. I stopped to check out a hotel, the Jag was running really rough at tickover, vibrating and not wanting to keep going. We decided to stop for the night, and I called my breakdown service (ADAC) who said they would send a mechanic out the following morning.
Mechanic duly arrived, loaded the car onto a transporter, and drove us to a Renault garage who helpfully advised us that the Jag was a Jag, and not a Renault. The car was running fine so we decided to press on to Castellane via Geneva, as there were Jag dealerships in Switzerland.
Another 400 odd miles were achieved without incident so we decided to carry on with our well deserved holiday.
The last leg of the journey, took us back up into the Alps, through the Gorges Du Verdon, a spectacular part of France. We stopped at the Point Sublime in the gorge to sight see, and I noticed I was switching off just as the radiator fans cut in. When I turned the ignition to start away, engine failsafe light came on briefly, then extinguished as we moved of, coming on briefly again a few minutes later. The car is running beautifully apart from this little glitch with the engine failsafe mode light, I'm wondering if this is just the top of the engine getting hotter than the gauge tells me momentarily before the air flow cools it back down. The Jag has used no oil or water the whole trip and has run faultlessly apart from the day 3 instance. Anyone else experienced similar issues?

 

Cannot help you out with your problem but its great to hear you got to take the jag down south, something I want to do as I live in north france and roads are great.

 

The roads down here are quite outstanding. The only thing which could improve things would be a manual gearbox. We are staying in a tiny village near the Lac Du Sainte Croix, guess what I passed in the village? An XKR, first Jag I've seen in France besides the one I'm driving.

 

Sounds like an amazing experience.

I would encourage you to check the OBD codes for these errors. For lack of a better plan, get a cheap ELM327 with Torque Pro for a few $ each. Get the codes. Also, get the "realtime" details, in particular the fuel trims.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

I'm in the SoF at the moment, my OBD2 diagnostic computer is a few thousand miles away in the UK. The French are not really car enthusiasts so I think finding a code reader would prove difficult. So far, the failsafe mode light has only flickered on twice. I'm tempted to order a coil pack from Britparts and have it posted out to where we're staying. At the moment, the Jag is running beautifully, the light only flickered after a full days driving in mountain terrain. On the motorway at 70mph plus, no issues at all. Worst case scenario, the ADAC will transport us home if things go awry.

 

 

Gorgeous!

 

That looks a bit like the Dordogne region. Glad to see that you are driving on the correct side of the road.

 

 

It's Le Var, Cote D'Azur on the Route Napoleon towards St Tropez. RHD Jaguar should always drive on the left, anything else just feels wrong.

 

We're off on holiday to Valbonne in a few days which I think is near your neck of the woods, so if you're still there I'll look out for your XK! Unfortunately we're flying so I'll be in a poxy hired car.

 

Do try to check out the Grand Canyon Du Verdon there is a route to the right and a route to the left which leads to the base and the Verdon river. Both are not to be missed. If picturesque villages are your thing, I recommend Moutiers Sainte Marie at the north eastern end of the Lac Du Sainte Croix.

 

Just passed another UK reg BRG XK8 convertible in Aups. What are the odds?

 

In the last 20 years I've made 33 Continental driving trips totalling 77,214 miles in 454 days. In all that time and distance I've only seen an identical model car (and never one the same colour as mine) 5 times.

You could go a very long way before you see another XK8 let alone one in BRG.

Graham

 

I really wish I'd chased him down for a photo op' but we were going the other way, I was waving like a mad thing and being ignored, and my wife was doing the usual, "Oh don't chase after them, how embarrassing.'
Oddly enough, I had the same thing 3 years ago with the MR2 Turbo, that time, the other guy chased me down, and we took photo's of the car's together (The MR2 wasn't imported to France, so it's quite a novelty) If I see him again in Aups, I will brave the possibility of being mugged off and introduce myself with a view to photographing the two cars together. I don't hold out a lot of hope though, you know how some Jag owners can be.

 

Only one I've photographed was this Spanish XK Convertible when I pulled in behind it at a petrol station between Madrid and Granada.



He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

Graham

 

The French are generally not big car buffs, but they really seem to admire a Jaguar. I suppose because they are so rare, and of course because they're so damned handsome.

 

Oh I don't know. I've been to France a number of times with my Jaguar. I don't find the French to be particularly rare or particularly handsome.

Now the Jaguar, on the other hand.......

 

Lol!

 

Well, we made it back home with the XK8 and I've had a chance to read the fault codes; one stored code P1227. I found a post on another forum which so mirrored my symptoms that I would be surprised if it wasn't the same fault. I'm thinking throttle body/position sensor as this would explain both the sudden stalling and the restricted performance/engine fault lights after the under bonnet area heats up excessively.