I've begun searching for a XK/XKR convertible. Budget seems to dictate somewhere between a 2007 and 2009. I recently looked at an 07 and the dash leather and leather around the top boot were pulled away.(almost shrunk away might be a better term) I then saw another 07 online and the dealer informed noted the owner spent $3500 to have his repaired (glued and stapled). He said this was an inherent problem with these cars. Is it? Is it only 07? Both of these cars were FL cars..does weather play a part?
Any other items I should be looking out for? Anyone know of one for sale?
Feel free to post or contact me at rumorsband@hotmail.com

 

When I was on the hunt for mine I looked at Autotrader , cars.com , cargurus and jaguarusa. These 4 sites have a loot of Jags and you can tailor your search. Good luck.

 

The dash shrinkage problem is one that has hundreds of posts on the forum. It is a known problem with any car that has a leather dash, but especially bad on Jaguars because there are no staples holding the leather to the actual dashboard, only an overwhelmed adhesive. I had this problem on my 2010 XKR when I bought it about a year ago. I had arranged to have an auto upholsterer redo it for $1300 including new leather, however, I had my mechanic/body shop remove the dash for me so they could continue doing some modifications on the car while the dash was being recovered.. When it was removed, it became obvious what was causing the problem and that any upholsterer could restretch and repair quite easily and use a better adhesive as well as staples. I took the dash to my personal upholsterer (I'm in the interior decorating industry), and he fixed it in one afternoon for free (although I paid him anyway). Heat probably plays a role as well as the leather needs to be kept conditioned on a regular basis.
The removal of the defroster vent pieces is the tricky part as they are so fragile they disintegrate when lifted out. There will be plenty of glueing goin' on.
Use the search bar and look up "Leather on dash pulling," and you will see eleven pages of comments including pictures of how mine was done on the last few pages.

 

Climate is a factor for the dash problem; it seems to be more common in areas with high temps & lots of sun.

The other thing to look out for in the 4.2 cars: damp carpet in the passenger footwell, indicating a blocked aircon drain - that's a significant job to fix, due to inaccessibility.

 

The damp footwell passenger side - would the car need to be run to discover that? If the car has been sitting would it be wet? I looked at a car today...initial look - its been in the garage all winter and not taken out. Just started it up to give an initial listen

 

The damp footwell is from condensation dripping into the cabin from the air box when the A/C is running. The drain tube gets clogged.

 

If it's been sitting for some time, it would probably have dried out. It might even take a while to fill the blower box with water before it starts leaking out again onto the carpet. I guess you could try lifting the carpet to see if there are signs of water staining.

 

Follow up question. I just sold a 97 VDP and on every body panel I could see they had a sticker with the vin # (hood, trunk, fenders, door jams etc) Does Jaguar continue this practice and if so everywhere like mine? I just looked at an 07 XK and found the stickers on the drivers rear fender and door jam, but not on the passenger or in the trunk. Wonder if they maybe stopped labeling panels as religiously or if that is an indication the car was hit and repaired.

 

The dash needs to come out for AC drain fix, so fix the dash leather while you at it.

 

I have an 07 which I purchased last July. It spent a lot of time garaged and the dash is in good condition. I treated the dash several times with Lexol until it stopped absorbing it quickly. Since I live in Arizona, I also use a dash pad between April and October. It doesn't look good but it looks better than peeling leather.

 

Thanks - I have a leather conditioner I use on my Saab ..its not Lexol - is that a preferred brand ... and while I'm on the subject - what does everyone use on their wood?

 

sorry, just had to do it.

I just recently bought my 07 xkr and have the dreaded blocked AC drain but I knew about the issue before buying. On mine, the water overflow took out the blower motor too. My car is a low mileage one owner car with only 38k miles.

My car recently threw a "check engine light" and the codes from a standard OBDII scanner says P0128 and P0232 which is coolant temp is low and secondary fuel pump circuit high respectively. From my limited research, these are common. The strange thing is that the car drives normally and it went away the next day.

Some other issues are:
- no AM reception what-so-ever. BTW if you get an 07, you get instant classic status with the power antenna!
- steering column does not automatically move out of the way when set to auto mode.
- glove box "soft open" function is broken. Easy fix.
- one of the slide cover is not closing when convertible top is down. Easy fix.

 

On the wood - carnauba wax - the same as you use for the exterior. For the leather - any GOOD conditioner that does not contain silicones (most "commercial" conditioners do contain silicones. Lexol and Leatherique are two that do not, and there are others).

The AC drain: the practice at my dealership is to simply remove the drain tube altogether; they say that the unit then drains with no problem at all.

 

Probably OK, if you live somewhere without a lot of hole-dwelling insects. The reason for the 'duck bill' on the tube is to keep bugs out.

 

I think Lexol is probably the best compromise. Works well, easy to apply, easily available. I like using with microfiber covered pad. Can do the whole car in no time.

For the wood I just use Pledge or similar product. I like the lemon or orange scents and look forward to the results each time. You could also use car wax on the wood. I would be super careful not to get the wax on the leather. You could tape around the wood first, but with auto wax, it will super shiny with great depth.

 

Set myself up for that one

 

Why not use a much longer tube that could accessed easily?

 

I don't think they teach that in car designer school...