XK8 - lots of work
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Joined: Aug 2012
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From: San Antonio TX
XK8 - lots of work
Well folks -
My 1997 XK8 is proving to be in much worse shape than I originally thought.
Last week, when I took the car over 70,000 miles, I noticed a small coolant leak on the garage floor; I smelled some hot coolant after a drive; the heater started to not work properly; and upon startup, the "low coolant" indicator would appear on the dash for a minute or less and then go away.
Since there was no service history on the vehicle when I bought it - I neglected to get a pre-purchase inspection on the vehicle as the seller was pretty far away from any Jag shops ... I know, I know, my fault entirely - I was about to take it in for a 60,000 mile service anyway. I took it to Motorcars Ltd. a few days ago.
This morning they informed me that aside from a coolant hose leak, the radiator is leaking internally, into the transcooler ... and there is some evidence of transmission fluid in the radiator. SO ... we're replacing the radiator, hose, transcooler, and flushing both the coolant and the transmission.
There's more bad news; the motor mounts and transmission mounts were pretty far gone so the shop recommended that all three be replaced. We're getting that done too.
There are more things that need work ... valve cover gaskets, sway bar bushings and links, rear differential pinion seal ... but they aren't as critical. I will do some of these myself if I can. I'm not a great mechanic but necessity (and an empty wallet) may force my hand.
Seems like an awful lot to go bad on a car that only has 70,000 miles ... but I guess that's neither here nor there at this point, these things still must get fixed. I still love the car though.
I'll let you know how things turn out. This is a great forum, thanks for all of your posts.
My 1997 XK8 is proving to be in much worse shape than I originally thought.
Last week, when I took the car over 70,000 miles, I noticed a small coolant leak on the garage floor; I smelled some hot coolant after a drive; the heater started to not work properly; and upon startup, the "low coolant" indicator would appear on the dash for a minute or less and then go away.
Since there was no service history on the vehicle when I bought it - I neglected to get a pre-purchase inspection on the vehicle as the seller was pretty far away from any Jag shops ... I know, I know, my fault entirely - I was about to take it in for a 60,000 mile service anyway. I took it to Motorcars Ltd. a few days ago.
This morning they informed me that aside from a coolant hose leak, the radiator is leaking internally, into the transcooler ... and there is some evidence of transmission fluid in the radiator. SO ... we're replacing the radiator, hose, transcooler, and flushing both the coolant and the transmission.
There's more bad news; the motor mounts and transmission mounts were pretty far gone so the shop recommended that all three be replaced. We're getting that done too.
There are more things that need work ... valve cover gaskets, sway bar bushings and links, rear differential pinion seal ... but they aren't as critical. I will do some of these myself if I can. I'm not a great mechanic but necessity (and an empty wallet) may force my hand.
Seems like an awful lot to go bad on a car that only has 70,000 miles ... but I guess that's neither here nor there at this point, these things still must get fixed. I still love the car though.
I'll let you know how things turn out. This is a great forum, thanks for all of your posts.
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 7,657
Likes: 3,019
From: Arlington VA USA
Well folks -
My 1997 XK8 is proving to be in much worse shape than I originally thought.
Last week, when I took the car over 70,000 miles, I noticed a small coolant leak on the garage floor; I smelled some hot coolant after a drive; the heater started to not work properly; and upon startup, the "low coolant" indicator would appear on the dash for a minute or less and then go away.
Since there was no service history on the vehicle when I bought it - I neglected to get a pre-purchase inspection on the vehicle as the seller was pretty far away from any Jag shops ... I know, I know, my fault entirely - I was about to take it in for a 60,000 mile service anyway. I took it to Motorcars Ltd. a few days ago.
This morning they informed me that aside from a coolant hose leak, the radiator is leaking internally, into the transcooler ... and there is some evidence of transmission fluid in the radiator. SO ... we're replacing the radiator, hose, transcooler, and flushing both the coolant and the transmission.
There's more bad news; the motor mounts and transmission mounts were pretty far gone so the shop recommended that all three be replaced. We're getting that done too.
There are more things that need work ... valve cover gaskets, sway bar bushings and links, rear differential pinion seal ... but they aren't as critical. I will do some of these myself if I can. I'm not a great mechanic but necessity (and an empty wallet) may force my hand.
Seems like an awful lot to go bad on a car that only has 70,000 miles ... but I guess that's neither here nor there at this point, these things still must get fixed. I still love the car though.
I'll let you know how things turn out. This is a great forum, thanks for all of your posts.
My 1997 XK8 is proving to be in much worse shape than I originally thought.
Last week, when I took the car over 70,000 miles, I noticed a small coolant leak on the garage floor; I smelled some hot coolant after a drive; the heater started to not work properly; and upon startup, the "low coolant" indicator would appear on the dash for a minute or less and then go away.
Since there was no service history on the vehicle when I bought it - I neglected to get a pre-purchase inspection on the vehicle as the seller was pretty far away from any Jag shops ... I know, I know, my fault entirely - I was about to take it in for a 60,000 mile service anyway. I took it to Motorcars Ltd. a few days ago.
This morning they informed me that aside from a coolant hose leak, the radiator is leaking internally, into the transcooler ... and there is some evidence of transmission fluid in the radiator. SO ... we're replacing the radiator, hose, transcooler, and flushing both the coolant and the transmission.
There's more bad news; the motor mounts and transmission mounts were pretty far gone so the shop recommended that all three be replaced. We're getting that done too.
There are more things that need work ... valve cover gaskets, sway bar bushings and links, rear differential pinion seal ... but they aren't as critical. I will do some of these myself if I can. I'm not a great mechanic but necessity (and an empty wallet) may force my hand.
Seems like an awful lot to go bad on a car that only has 70,000 miles ... but I guess that's neither here nor there at this point, these things still must get fixed. I still love the car though.
I'll let you know how things turn out. This is a great forum, thanks for all of your posts.
Age is more of a factor than miles on many of the rubber parts like seals and bushings.
Last edited by WhiteXKR; Feb 19, 2013 at 11:45 AM.
Hey buddy, so sorry to hear of your issues.
Please see below some awesome video "how to's" that should cover most of what you need......
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-videos-77768/
These walk through vids make any job a breeze.
Hope it helps
Thread Starter
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Member
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 60
Likes: 2
From: San Antonio TX
Hello folks - If there are any detailed descriptions and/or videos regarding XK8 secondary chain tensioner replacement, could you please point me to them? I've spent some time browsing here but can't seem to find any such info. Thanks again -
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 120,439
Likes: 17,005
From: Durham, UK
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xk8-xkr-17/xk8-xkr-how-diy-repair-maintenance-links-facts-data-29800/
Scroll down to the Engine section for a link to Primary & Secondary Tensioner Chain Replacement thread. It'll take you to MediaFire where you can download a PDF of well illustrated and comprehensive instructions.
Graham
Last edited by GGG; Feb 20, 2013 at 05:18 PM.
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