My wife's /04 XJ8 has been getting a lot of 'love' lately what with suspension repairs and transmission service so as it crossed 120,000 miles this week I thought some cosmetic work would be in order.

I polished both low beam outboard covers with a different product this time as the previous attempts using Maguire's Restoration Plus kit have been good for no more than about 6 months. You'll see what I mean in the attached picture.

The product I used this time is Rustoleum's heavy duty headlight polishing kit available at your local Walmart for about $10 bucks. It contains 4 different 'grit' polishing discs and a smallish container of polishing/buffing compound used only at the last stage. I'll warn you that after you use the first two disc (800 & 1500 grit) you'll believe that you've screwed up royally as the yellow will disappear to be replaced by what you'll believe is a permanent fog. Keep going and after the 3rd disc (2000 grit) things will definitely look much better. The final buffing/polishing disc makes it all worth it I think as the result after maybe 15 minutes or so from per lens start to finish if pretty da*n good consider these lenses are now 15 years old.

I used an ancient 1000 rpm electric drill I've had for decades and followed the instructions to the letter. I also didn't try to use a lot of pressure and just let the equipment do its job.

 

 

Etypephil -

I just wanted to write a thank you for your posts and especially the link to the jag chat site - which led to the auto catalog site and all the interesting details regarding my 05 super v8 performance, transmission, and other specs. In addition, posts on jag chat and jag forums led me to go to the ZF transmission site to learn about the ins and outs of this critical auto part. All of this helps a newbie like myself make better decisions maintaining my car. At minimum, I now know the terms and location of ZF transmission parts and can better understand forum discussion regarding the subject.

So - what did I do to my Jaguar today? I itemized the repairs that need to be done, large and small, and educated myself a bit on the more complicated items.
The entire list as I currently know -
Immediate -
Brakes, Rotors, and a sticky caliper on front passenger side.

Suspension - bushings and other parts related (not sure exact, my trusted mechanic reviewed them quickly w me - more education necessary).

Cooling - A/C worked fine this summer.

Heating - Typical common problem of driver side upper vent blowing cool air, rest of vents upper and lower are fine. Car heats up generally so I just closed the cool vents blowing in my face for now. LOL

Exterior - drivers side mirror replacement, rear driver side "rust" repair on back pillar started from a small paint chip at window edge.

Drivetrain - Now have 142 K , decision re transmission oil change at this point needs to be made. Pan has some rust around edges, so needs replacement "soon", no visible leaks at this time. Transmission operating normally. Posts around this point are instructive to say the least.
Advice - Should I change the pan/oil now?

Exhaust - Decent shape but beginning to show signs of wear. Mechanic says will need to be replaced in one entire piece front to back, so it's expensive. True?

General - Fog lights, front parking sensor just went out, driver side lower speaker not working, headliner at rear window corners dropping but otherwise in good shape.

What I've done so far since beginning ownership in April 2018 (6k so far) is a Strutmaster Eibach coil over (sorry purists, it needed to be a problem solved at a fixed price and timeframe), new 19inch A/S tires, new 18 inch rims and tires for summer, and an engine oil change.

Regardless of any market valuation weakness, I don't care - I didn't buy the car for its monetary value or potential - To me, these are just the coolest thing on the road and I want to keep it till it hits 200k. At about 10k per year that takes me to 2024 - at which point my son can chauffeur me around in his i-PACE.

Best Regards
Mike D.

 

Gave her a good quick detail!

 

Nice work;
Pressure washed mine a few times, as well as vacuumed the carpets.
Nothing like detailing for me, i will be driving, or fixing something.
Working on keeping them running & working like new is about it for me.
Same with my bikes, they may be dirty looking.
But check the fluids, as well as how they start, & run.
These cars look great even when dirty, especially in white.
White looks better dirty than about any other color.

 

 

They do like to run!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can top a hundred without realizing just how fast your going.

 

 

 

Damage to my bootlid on New Year's eve from a wind-dropped tree branch was worse than I thought after washing it off and looking at it in the sunshine. I thought the dents were softer, so might be massaged by a "dent doctor", but I was wrong. Called the insurance vendor, got the approval to head in to my preferred body shop. The estimate was $1008 USD, my part will be $100, but reduced by the fact that I don't need a rental while it's in the shop.
So, dropped it off Friday night for a Monday start date, and my wife dropped me off at my work truck parking location. Saturday I dropped by the parking location of my previous daily driver, 01 X308, discovered my leaper has leapt. Love to stumble across the dumb-*** who took it and rap him upside the head with it.
Sux2Bme.

Softer dents

Paint damage

 

Took a 200 mile road trip and half way through and on the way back, the temp gauge went into the red. I pulled over and checked under the hood, everything seemed ok. Once I got home, I decided to change the thermostat and burp the cooling system. Took it out for another drive and now all seems well.

 

Finally decided to downsize a bit, and when I saw a superb XE Portfolio in the local dealer a mile from my house, I decided to make the change. With just the two of us now, and my mother sadly passed away in December, we'll only ocasionally need the rear seats. I got a good part-ex value and the new XE was well priced. Of course January is the graveyard month for dealers here, so they were keen to deal.

So no more XJ for me from next Thursday. The two I've now owned have been superb cars but I decided to move on. The current XJ is a bit too large for me now, as we don't need roomy backseats anymore.

 

I think under similar circumstances, I might have been tempted to "downsize" to an XK ;-)
Hope you'll continue to dip your toe into the XJ forums Fraser, you're a mine of valuable information!

LC

 

Hope to still hear from you Frasier, you have saved my rear many times. We can't afford to lose another veteran.
Mark

 

.

 

Mr. Mitchell -
With over 7,000 posts and over 1,500 thank you's - you essentially can never completely disappear from the forums.

I've only been on since April 2018 and can appreciate the expertise you've added over the years.

I learn a lot visiting other areas of the forum and will look forward to learning from your expertise in other Jaguar models.
Best Regards
Mike D.

 

I to recently did the Alternator but was able to get it out the back after removing the engine mount and the two bolts holding the steering rack andjacking the engine up. Removed the lower mount bolt and top nut and it slid off backwards and out. all done in about 3 hours.
Alternator had an odd failure, worked oK sometimes, or didn't charge or was putting out 16V. Transmission and other electronics behave oddly at these times trying to protect themselves, They did, all works fine now.

 

Had the custom four branched manifolds fitted, next stop is Dyno to confirm gains after the obligatory few hundred miles re-adaption cycle.

Tight to fit but went in without removing engine or undoing engine mounts.

Initial impressions are good, different note to the car now and seems alot smoother when driving, hopefully the Dyno run backs up the 'butt dyno'.

 

Wow. Well done!

 

To those who have thanked me for my contributions on the various Jaguars I have owned, I thank you all for your kind comments. I have not disappeared, and will still be looking in on this forum and passing on my own experience of these cars which was gained from ownership of two of them, a 2003 3 litre Sport, and a 2007 3 litre Sovereign. I only took over the XE yesterday and am still a bit nervous of taking it to our two local supermarkets where the standard of driving is not all that good. This coming weekend I hope to put more miles on the car. Interestingly, my old 1980 XJ6 that I had for 14 years up to 2002 is still around. I suspect all the work I did in those years has proved of benefit, but to another owner unfortunately !