I've made a couple of recent posts, but in case you missed them, here's an update:
On October 5, I was sitting at a red light in my 96 xj6 when I was rear ended by a kid droving pretty fast. My foot was on the brake, and the skid marks where he pushed me forward were about five feet long. My beloved xj6, also my first Jag, was "totalled," but in giving its life it saved not only mine, but also my daughter and three year old grandson's. There were no serious injuries, Thank God! (And jaguar safety engineers!)
So I was debating between finding another xj6, between 95 and 98, or trying out an xj8. Today I paid $1500 for a 2000 xj8 with 119,000 miles on it. It seems to run great and everything works, but of course for that price there are a couple of issues. The seller thought that it needed a wherl bearing, but after some research on these cars i've come to suspect it is the differential. The seller said if im right, and get a replacement rear end, that he will have his mechanic install it for me. The other notable issue is that one of the rear mufflers is missing. The car runs so quietly you wouldn't know without looking. Anyway, the seller said he would have his mechanic make that repair as well, if i bring a muffler. The ones on the xj6 look like the same size, so im hoping that will work.
So now I am thinking about other known problems with these cars, including the timing chain tensioners and transmission problems. Without knowing the car's history, are there any preventative measures I should look into? What's involved in changing those tensioners?
I'll be scouring the forums for information, but thought I'd write a post, mostly because I'm pretty damned excited about my new Jag!

 

Trying to figure out how to post a pic!

 

Luke,
Congrats on the new Jag. The timing tensioners may be the biggest thing to take care of although it's kind of worrying to me that you're missing a muffler and have a bad differential (just noisy? may be a low fluid issue...). It kind of sounds like a car that may not have been paid attention to. That said correcting a few simple issues might yield a nice car. Taking the driver's side valve cover off will give you a good look at that tensioner and you'll have an idea if someone replaced them. If they are still the plastic tensioners both covers will have to come off. If you decide the upper (can chain) tensioners need to be replaced you might want to consider a little more work and do the primaries along with their guides. I know a lot of people opt for just the cam chain tensioners but there's no reason to believe the primaries are in any better shape (IMHO). It's kind of a big job and you'll need some tools to time the cams and remove the crank bolt & pulley but it's not a hard job. I'd expect it would be expensive though if you had to pay a mechanic to do the work. Hopefully you find good news when you open up the valve cover...

 

While you are in, check all hoses (replacing them is even better), replace the thermostat tower for an alloy one, replace the thermostat, and replace the plastic cross over pipe in front of the thermostat.
Further, look for codes, check the short- and long term rims of each bank, look at ignition timing (OBD2), they will tell you a lot of the health of your engine.

 

If it has made it 119,000 miles without having the tensioners replaced and the transmission rebuilt, I would be very surprised. That's not to say it couldn't have, but the likelihood is slim, in my opinion.

 

Well, gentlemen, of course I was excited about the xj8 being delivered today. I was at dmv this morning and transferred the registration and insurance from the xj6...all ready to see what i would need to do to keep it running. I had a message from the seller saying that he would probably be here with it around 5 pm. At 4:30 i had a message on my phone to call him. Seems like he fueled it up and was getting ready to bring it here when it stalled. He said he was pretty sure the motor was blown from the horrible sounds it made. He offered to drive the hour to my house and refund my money and i told him I'd be happy to meet him halfway. He also gave me the money i had spent at dmv, for taxes and fees.

So now i am back to scouring the classified ads! My big question is, are all the xj8 models prone to the same concerns? When did they start and stop the nickasel engine production? Did jaguar address the chain guide and tensioner problem? Are there particular years with better transmissions than others? I am leaning heavily toward another xj6 with an aj16. That seems like the best bet for reliability. Were there any issues with the transmissions in those cars? What are your thoughts on pre-95 xj's and the aj6 motors?