Hi Everyone

I'm new to this forum and to Jaguars! I'm thinking of buying an XK and have been sent a video of the one I'm looking at. The dealer said there is some rust on the sub frame, but my understanding is that the frame is aluminium for this model, so is this possible?

I've attached photos. Does this look ok? Anything I should be worried about?

Cheers in advance.

 

"rust" is a casual way of referring to visible iron oxides on the surface of well, everything from pot iron to steel, but aluminum also oxidizes. it forms a hard, white layer that doesn't flake off quite so easily.

apart from the fact that the whole underside of this car looks filthy for some reason, no, i don't see any oxidized aluminum. could be due to the photo quality though.

 

While the body panels and rails are aluminum, many other bolt on parts are steel and it is not unusual to see rust on the front A-frame and rear K-frame. In this example it appears there is quite a bit of rust everywhere which may indicate exposure to salt or perhaps deep water. However I would be more concerned about the "wet" spots under the car particularly the differential, suspension and fuel tank. How many miles has it done? What model year?

 

looks like your differential is bleeding and slinging oil. I'd be worried about that.

 

here's an example of aluminum oxidation i found off a bmw:

 

A 'friend' of mine pushed my race car outside for a month or so while he borrowed one of my shop stalls, but he pushed it over dirt and then the moron covered it with a blanket/tarp. Since Winter, I didn't look at it until spring and this is what he left for me:

 

Subframe is steel not ali, but you knew that as have also asked on the (predominantly) Uk forum

 

When I first looked at the pictures I was not sure if all of the black coating was oil or some kind of undercoating . I still can figure it out but it looked like the car has been used. The rust is surface and shouldn't be a problem but I would see what all of the black is. Here is my 2012 with 24K miles on it.

 

@jaguar2020, what are the last six alpha-numeric digits of the VIN?

This appears to be an early car due to the differential fitted. It may be an optical illusion caused by the photos, but the differential appears to be out of alignment with prop shaft coming in at an angle. Has any bodywork been done to it that the main dealer is aware of?

 

Here's the underside of my 2007 XK taken in 2014.









The vehicle spent its first three years in Kent and I then kept it in the North of England for four years when these were taken whilst replacing the heat shields. It was a daily driver. Frequent rain and a lot of road salt in the Winter.

Graham

 

My 2010 underside looks like Jagoes's car, although mine has a bit more dust and grime on it.

 

It's 2008 and has done 50,000 miles.

 

The dealer isn't aware of any bodywork done, and I'd have no idea. I'm getting an AA physical inspection of the car so I'm assuming they will check that out?

The outside of the car and inside is immaculate.

 

There is a huge difference in the photos from GGG and jagtoes. Why is that? And will it be a problem that the one I'm looking at is more like GGGs.

 

Looking over forums it seems to say that 2008/9 models had dodgy differentials. I assume this would be very expensive to replace? Do you think the AA engineer will be able to see fairly easily if there is a problem?

 

Probably because mine crossed England, France and Spain several times and was driven in all weathers.

Graham

 

That car in the opening post has been "rust proofed" that black coating on the subframe (& the shock, wtf) has been sprayed on at some stage, like the Krown process, or some other application.

Looks like it was done fairly recently too.

 

Is that a bad sign then? Would you advise against buying?

 

FYI @jaguar2020 ... My XKR is an '07. I think around 140,000 kms. In all weather and road conditions you find in the north east of Canada/US.
And it doesn't look anywhere as rough as the pictures you have provided.

Also FYI, I still have the original speced differential. Never presented any issues so I held off on the replacement. Was planning the Quaife LSD substitution but got sidetracked.
I have changed the fluid at every 40,000. And the original plug has never leaked.
From my vantage, something is amiss here.

 

Not trying to sound like a jerk, but forget its a Jaguar and let's just say it's your current car and you saw that same differential on your car. Does that seem normal or ok?

There are too many Jaguars out there in good to great condition. Lacking any other information on the car, I'd walk away.