Howdy everyone,

Just like a super model from the 90s, the XJ's Elegance, Class and Charisma were forever redefined.
More importantly the XJ has ever since always been in my mind...

I actually caught the XJ bug longer than I care to admit, however only recently did I reach the (terminal?) stage where I had to had one... And it finally happened... Yesterday at 15:24 EST precisely... My life will never be the same again, I can already feel it, because I ended up winning a local auction for this very car:
1998 JAGUAR XJR | Almost Free Cars

Although I paid substantially less than the advertised price on the photo, I bought her unseen, un tested, and the only description was "1998 Jaguar XJR, 75,721 mikes, no reserve". Wasn't much but I was sold !

I will be picking her this Tuesday from the place about 50 miles away... Needless to say I feel like I'm 15 again getting ready for the prom ! I can't stop thinking about it, replaying in my head the moment I will first see her, sit inside, start her up etc... At the same time I dismiss everything negative I've ever read or was told about those early models... Nikasil issues? Of course not! Porsche has been doing this forever, block temperatures mean nothing and oh... If the car lasted this long, should be OK now... Tensionners issues? Not this car! Because it's perfect, I mean look at those 3/4 pictures! Can't look like this and have tensionner issues at the same time, right?!?
As any " 15yo" getting ready from the prom I need advice and to have "the talk" with you... I also need your help with the 1,473,557 questions I have.
I do know the SEARCH is my friend but the first question I have was not there: should I tow it home or drive it?

Thanks for reading this post and in advance for the help. By the way I'm Alex...

 

<p>&nbsp;</p><p>from a fellow South Carolinian - welcome to the forum - a wealth of info and support at your finger tips!&nbsp; Nice find!</p><p>For info specific to your MY XJ, check out the&nbsp;XJ XJ8/XJR (X308) section paying particular attention to the first few threads containing how to's, DIYs etc:</p><p>&nbsp;XJ XJ8 / XJR ( X308 ) - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum</p><p>For local events/news, check out the US Lower Atlantic region: USA Lower Atlantic - NC SC FL GA - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum</p><p>Lastly - recommend adding a signature to your profile by clicking the User CP link in the upper left - include model and year fior best responses to your questions.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

 

Alex, welcome to the Xperimental Jaguar camp. There is nothing on the planet that drives like a XJ. In searching for my X350, which I now have, I sought long and hard for the right one, and really wished I could have found one in Meteor Maroon like yours, however, they are very desirable and hard to find one that I wanted to settle with.

Having said all of that, please understand and be realistic in the fact that one of the greatest killjoys to any new marriage, is the false hope of that the timing chain tensioners and the guides, if original, won't cause you the greatest of heartache, as they will fail. Plan to set aside the funds and upgrade them before this happens. Sulfur content that can and will destroy Nikasil is not as prevalent in today's fuels in the US. It is the lack of heat, not the over-abundance of it that causes the issues with Nikasil and sulfur in the fuel. (it creates sulfuric acid) Keep the oil changed often if it is a Nikasil motor.

Good luck!

 

Thank you for your reply for the warm welcome ! We've been keepng Charleston in our prayers...

I guess my question was missed in the introduction: should I drive it home or tow it home ? I have no history OE documentation....

 

Make the decision after you first drive it. Have your chase car stay close and your AAA card closer.

Also, run a CarFax against the Vin #: it will tell you lots and maybe even suggest the repair and service frequency.

Driving it will tell you lots about where to go. I hope you paid a lot less than the windshield price.

 

hi Jim,
Thanks for your post

Having received an honorary a PhD in Murphy's law, I decided about going to pick it up with my trusted truck and trailer. Auction company said they were open today so we're about to head out in a few minutes.
The Carfax shows 2 previous owners and several maintenance items done but most service records are not specific. I plan to contact Monday the concerned dealerships to get more info if possible.

I'll post more about it tonight and in the days to come... I paid kbb prices on it...

Any advice and suggestions are welcome!

 

The best advice, and it will be repeated over and over, CHECK THE TENSIONERS!.


If they are not the metal ones, CHANGE THEM!


Anything else can wait, but if a tensioner lets go it WILL wreck the engine.

 

+1 tensioners; then water pump and TST, maybe hoses and belts; then fuel filter.

 

Here she is !









Gave her a hand wash already. Now moving to the interior...
What cleaning and treating products do you recommend for such fine furniture?

 

Use this for the leather cleaning and feeding


Also, invest in this

 

TST ???

 

Thermostat Tower - the default ones can fail and cause overheating..

 

Forget about the TST, you have an XJR... that has an aluminium thermostat housing from the factory.


It is the normally aspirated V8s that have the fragile plastic units.


Another bonus from having purchased an `R` is the fact that you have a Mercedes gearbox, not the super fragile/ unreliable ZF gearbox, so do not worry about the `A`Drum failure that is so common with XJ/XK 8s

 

+1 on the Tensioners. First order of business. If not already done. Do it before anything else. Really. That beautiful car deserves an engine that equals it. The plastic tensioners were an exercise in value engineering...and should have been updated, but, probably were not. Nikasil shouldn't be an issue at this stage; gas was reformulated a long time ago (near the turn of the millenium), so sulfur is and has been way down in the stream since then.

Don't worry about the thermostat tower; yours is metal; the normally aspirated ones (usually condensed to "NA") were plastic and prone to failure.

If it's not been done (ie documented), I'd suggest a coolant and brake fluid flush/renewal. Start from known good fluids. Maybe change the thermostat (inexpensive part) just to make sure...again, starting from a known good point.

Fuel filters probably need to be changed.

Cleaning? I use the Meguire's car wash; for paint preservation, I'd check out the Zaino Brothers process. It really does work well. Darn care comes out looking like you could climb into the paint layers. Otherwise, a good clay bar once over, and good clear coat safe major brand wax a couple times a year. As a second level, Griot's Garage products are pretty good, if pricey. I use the Best in Show wax for my Lotus before car shows, and it comes out nice.

Interior? I'm not a fan of the Connolly hide food, strangely enough. Been getting good results with the Leatherique 'Prestine Clean' cleaner followed by a good application of their "Rejuvenator Oil", especially on old leather. Been using it for years; did a Lotus Esprit interior where the leather was the consistency of cardboard...brought it back nicely. Bonus is that if you need to redye the seats/repair cracks, they have a complete line of complimentary products that all work together based on the same formulations.

Second level is, again, the Griot's leather preservative. I like the scent better than the Leatherique; it seems to work well on my new XF's seats (which are in a lot better nick than the XJ8).

On leather, you want to stay away from petroleum-based products; it leeches out the natural oils. Nice thing about using either of the two products above is that you can spread it around with your bare hands...which leaves them nice and soft (from the lanolin and natural fats in both of them).

Mother's mag polish for the chrome. Lightly apply, buff with microfiber cloths. Don't wail away at the chrome blades on the bumpers; they're chrome plated plastic. Light buffing is what they need.

Blue Coral carpet shampoo. Follow directions. Works well.

Meguire's low-gloss tire treatment. Personal thing with me...don't like the tires looking like they were cheaply shined for the used car lot. Low-gloss turns them black, but not like they've been sprayed with gloss black enamel. Natural black rubber look, but not brown/greyish.

Hope this helps; what I use on my rides. And welcome, and good luck.

 

Welcome to the forum and Jaguar ownership from a fellow South Carolinian. Looks
like a beautiful car. Congratulations.


German Auto works in Columbia, SC does excellent work on the jobs you don't want to tackle.


Tensioners are your #1 priority ......


Useful things to have include.
1. An OBD2 reader like ELM 327 that works with your cell phone. This gives you
a good coolant temperature gauge and other nice stuff. $14
2. A volt ohm meter
3. Ebay and other sources have shop manuals and JTIS. Some work best on Windows XP computers.
4. Ebay is your friend for finding parts.
5. Plastic interior trim removal tools.
6. A spare key

 

I just did an oil change (6 qts of Mobil 1 5W30) and put a new NAPA Gold 1228 filter. Old Oil looked good and will be sending a sample to Blackstone labs for analysis. The earliest I can trace an oil change is sometime in summer of 2013 about 5k miles ago. Blackstone usually gives me a good insight to I'm dealing with.

Tensioners may have already been done... or not... I wonder if I can use my telescopic camera to reach in there and see (avoiding me removing one of the valve covers). In any case I do not hear any chain noise. The only sound I hear is a "typewriter" noise which sounds like a valve.Does it cold, warm, it's RPM related and sounds more pronounced from the bank on the driver side.. I'll trace that down.

I'll also need to check the secondary tensioners. Can these be easily seen to assess if they've been changed before ? I have one of the

ok, great info to know -> "Thanks !" given

Agreed, I also like to change the diff fluids and may tackle the tranny as well.


Will tackle this with next oil change...

I like Meguire's and use Leatherique products as well (for my 2 BMWs). I did a good interior cleaning and used some Meguire's products for now. I will getting her wash inside/out more thoroughly this weekend.

Thanks for this great info. Great forum y'all have here !!!

 

thank you for the warm welcome and the recommendation. I'll look them up, although there is someone here local that I know is pretty good with Jags.
I already have #1 (with Torque on Android), #2 and #5. I'd definetly love to have #6. Any good link (search returns several sellers) you'd like to recommend?

I checked the codes and none were found. Of course they could have been cleared up just before I got the car if someone wanted to hide something. But in the grand total of 10 miles total I drove the car and the 15 minutes or so idling, nothing came up, all looks good, so who knows, maybe there were no codes (wishful thinking, time will tell).

Back to the ticking sound it's making, it cannot be the VVT, nor lifters... I'm thinking either a lazy valve, a noisy injector, a spark plug not seated right or the SC coupler. I'll start by disconnecting the SC belt and see if it quits. If not, I'll start disconnecting the injectors one by one and see if any difference. I'll then check the spark plugs right before I remove the valve covers this weekend. Best place for valve cover gaskets anyone ? (I already used the search, many options found: Felpro, Christophers....)

 

Look at the FelPro set for a 2002 Lincoln LS 3.9L which is the same engine. That is the least cost solution and available at your local AP store. With discount code under $50 at Advance.

Welcome to the forum! You sound like a great addition to the club.

 

A beautiful car.

I would look to change the water pump,ThermoStaT (TST) and fuel filter, as soon as possible. Check your hoses and drive belts. If you didn't get a drivers manaul, they can be downloaded on this forum.

Finally, how does it run?

 

Good new parts
www.welshent.com/


Atlanta area jag junk yard and parts. Very knowledgeable
Coventry West - Jaguar and Land Rover Parts


Discounted new parts
Genuine Jaguar OEM Factory Parts sold at Wholesale Prices | GaudinJaguarParts.com


German auto werks. Does Porsche, BMW, Rolls Royce etc.
Welcome to the Frontpage!


The SC Jag club. Mostly into shows and a lot of trailered
cars that don't get driven.
The Web Site of the Jaguar Society of South Carolina


This scan tool will do SRS etc with the Jag enhancement $500 ouch!!
https://www.autoenginuity.com/








Good info and lots of free downloads
JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource


Best place to get a spare transponder key for a jag is at the dealership. $150.
If you loose your key and they start from scratch, plan on $1,000.


If you have a place for a parts car, it will pay for itself pretty fast. Find a nice car
with a blown engine or transmission. Junk yards only pay $300 for one. Give
somebody $800 and you will have a HUGE supply of parts.


The timing tensioner will make a ticking noise as it is failing.....


A truck with a nice trailer is the best Jag tool yet. I want one of those!!!