I'd avoid any water damaged car at any price, unless you plan on gutting it for parts or track use. "Fresh" water is still corrosive, just not as much as seawater. Electrical connectors may appear fine, but can corrode enough to cause intermittent problems. Upholstery and padding can get mold and mildew, adhesives can be compromised and fail unpredictably, etc. Once a car's been water damaged, it's likely to have hard to trace gremlins for the rest of its life.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to try to find out more about the history on the XJ, though I'm shying away from it more and more. It would be nice to have a newer one at a good price and the interior design is spectacular, but Jaguar Gremlins are a nasty lot.

Now that I'm an empty nester, I've been thinking of XK's too. I test drove a '12 coupe today, then an '07 convertible with very few miles on it. The 07 convertible has a little less power, but seemed to have far less engine power vibration coursing through the steering wheel. I've read a ton of complaints in this forum and others about the AC lines on the '07 convertibles getting blocked and flooding water into the floor on the passenger side, so I worry about that. Is that a widespread problem?

I don't have a ton of money, but I could probably swing keeping both the '06 XJ for when the adult kids come back to visit (and grandkids someday) and have an XK for fun in the sun but want to make sure what I get is very reliable.

 

Not just water damage we have to worry about. It's about lead substitute solder joints in all the electrical, ie circuit boards, relays & conectors. A com tech once told me if the damage in some radios, phones etc isn't readily apparent, he re-solders over every solder joint. I had to do this on my ABS, and my XKR hardly even sees rain much less any water damages. Easy to assume running over rough roads as well as high rpms will agreviate the issue, and I don't think it's just a Jag problem. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think all cars have gone to the no lead solder. I hear car repair horror stories all the time, and it's almost never on a Jag, yet the legacy of Lucas still lingers. They don't remember or even know who Lucas was. All they know was Jags had electrical issues. I will say this, most mechanics aren't electricians either, but that is the direction we are headed.

 

Some have mentioned above that you can buy the cables for installing a USB port ($278) and then get a SW update ($140) to be able to use an auxilary input (such as an iPad). I don't really care about the USB interface, can I just ask them to install the software update and get to the iPad through bluetooth?

 

If you can get it at the right price, with the warranty, then it could be worth the risk - I would expect most of the potential problems (like electrical issues) to happen fairly early on, when the warranty will cover them. But you need to go over the car with a magnifying glass to look for evidence. If it went into salt water, there will probably be salt deposits in the lower areas where water would have been trapped & then evaporated. And check everything, even stuff you don't normally use (e.g. radio, satnav, CD player, Winter mode).

 

If it's a 2007 XK, it doesn't do Bluetooth audio streaming; I don't think the Bluetooth hardware is capable of it. You need the Audio Connectivity Module and a cable.

 

On the 4.2 based XK's; yes it is. Be prepared to drop $900 at the dealer for correct fix.

 

Time is critical when dealing with flood damaged vehicles.

The best thing to do would be trailer it home, NEVER connect a battery, strip the car down the the bare frame and start dismantling all of the modules and cleaning then thoroughly then inspecting them with a magnifying glass to find any source of a short or burned circuit boards. One shorted module could cause permanent damage to others.

Best case scenario only a few need to be changed, I have no idea how many are on these cars.
Worst case, the car is salt water flood and it has been sitting for 6 months. Everything would be ruined.

Most importantly you must have the knowledge of how electrical systems work as well as how to rebuild engines and transmissions yourself, otherwise you would spend well over the price of a used xkr-s paying people to fix things.

The key thing to know is was the car driving when it took a bath?

Personally I would be all over this car if I had the money.
I have successfully revived two flooded cars, they were FRESH water damage.
I have also horribly failed to revive a salt water flood, It is a Dodge diesel truck. After spending too much money I ended up keeping it as parts and rebuilding a few trucks with it( engine, transmission, transfer case, ect..)

Being that this post was made in august It might be too late to save that car.

 

I have a question for you seasoned enthusiasts. I'm looking for a used 2007 or 2008 convertible and when I search through the available cars for sale in a 300 mile radius, I find 40 or 50 of the 2007's for sale and only 3 2008s. Other than the problem with the AC which seems like a simple fix (though expensive for unblocking a hose), is there something else wrong with the 2007's that's causing so many people to want to sell them (and hold on to the 2008's)?

 

I'm not aware of any nightmares afflicting 2007 cars specifically - the A/C issue happens with 2008 cars too. Just guessing, but perhaps it's a warranty-expiry thing. I know you folks in the US can get an extended warranty, but I expect Jaguar stops offering it beyond a certain MY; maybe 2007 is out but 2008 is still in?

 

The 2007 (2006 in the UK) is a very reliable car that does not have the first model year issues that many cars do.

This is my observation:
-There was pent up demand for the new model and more 2007's were sold than 2008's.
- The 2007's have the 'Taurus' front grill, which was discontinued after one year. 'Taurus' grill is really a misnomer, because it really originated on the E-type Jaguar, but Ford emulated on the Taurus and tarnished the uniqueness. The grill can be easily updated however for a few hundred dollars.
-The interior of the 2008+ is slightly better embellished

 

As an 07 owner, I'm on board with WhiteXKR.
We are blessed with a very reliable platform from day one. The AC issue transends model years, as does the thermostat failures.
The only negative to an 07 that I am aware is the external antenna (gone on the 08), and of course the lack of real power that came with the 2nd generation (5.0L) engine.

However, with the recent rash of water pump failures on the 5.0, seems newer folks now have to worry about loosing a whole motor in a flash where the ol' 4.2 just soldiers on!

Vince

Wow, this thread is old... Can we lock it or something?

 

Thanks again for all the thoughts and advice. I skipped the water damaged one and bought one with a clear title. I pick it up Saturday. Silver with a black interior and top.

 

Good to hear it! - all's well that ends well. Enjoy the new wheels...

 

Good decision. Wish you good luck with the car and welcome amongst the Jaguar owners.

 

Good decision; fabulous vehicle and many excellent miles ahead. Enjoy the ride.

 

You are prophetic. The silver one didn't work out in 'final negotiations' so I got a different one, a black on black with an ivory interior instead. I had it home one day when the thermostat went. It's a 2007 and there were a bunch of little things that had to get fixed. I have a '06 XJ with the same 4.2 engine that I've coddled and haven't had a thermostat go bad on it yet.

 

Jaguar XK/ XKR's have enough electrical gremlins as they are. Don't just think about replcing ungodly expensive modules, connectors and components. The diagagnostic time will be an absolue killer as things manifest themselves while residual moisture causes corrosion. I would bite if I was looking for a $25K Lawn Ornament.

 

I've got an annoying chirp somewhere in the dashboard that sings softly, but discernibly at start up and intermittently thereafter. Once the car is fully warmed up and has been running for 10 or 15 minutes, it seems to stop. It sounds like a fan that's hitting its housing and at some point either the fan stops or seats itself back into the housing without detectible contact after a while of driving. The strange thing is that it chirps most insistently when I'm making a left turn and silences itself when making a right turn.

It sounds like it's to the right side of the center unit where the navigation system/display...almost behind the left part of the glove compartment...then again, I'm partially uncertain of it's exact location since echos bounce in crazy directions in the car.

Upon further investigation, I found that it's the Bosch fan behind the glove compartment right in front of the AC reservoir. There are two little screws on the bottom, I wonder if I adjust one or the other, it might silence the chirping.

Anyone else hear this? Is there an easy solution?

 

Fyi if a can only got wet in the floor boards it can be salvaged and ok only if
1, the carpets, seat and modules are removed within a couple days and all connectors are blown out and spray with contact cleaner protectant. Any module that ever gets wet has to be replaced. Whatever they have on the circuit boards grows fungus and quickly. Regardless of what kind of water. So keeping that in mind those are the only parameters i would ever consider buying and fixing a wet car. Period
and yes that only covers interior items. You still need to flush and service everything else on the car, engine, trans, diff, alt, starter etc