Hello guys,

Am new here, and i would like to take your opinion on that issue am having.

I found an XKR 2007 with 56K miles as it was stored for years (they are very rare where i live, probably 5 cars only in the entire country, however, the XK is popular).
As i was finalizing the purchase, the owner called me saying that when he tried starting the car in the morning, there was no response. He took it to the Garage and they found that water is mixing with motor oil.

Preliminary inspection is that the head-gasket is leaking and it need to be replaced.

My questions on that matter are:
1- Is this an easy fix? and if done properly, will that problem vanish for good or it will keep having this issue every now and then?
2- Since XKR is a rare car here, will the XK head-gasket fit into the XKR? - or should i order it from the UK?
3- Can the cylinder head be affected by that and will it need replacing as well? and if it did, will the XK fit?
4- Shall i proceed with the purchase and drop the price down / or this will be a headache and unnecessary risk? I really like the car but am not sure what is the full scale of the damage and the owner is unwilling to fix it and will sell it as is without fully inspecting the issue.

I found couple of garages that are willing to fix it, but they always work on XK, but never an XKR.

I would really appreciate your feedback and expertise on this.

Thank you.

 

Something doesn't sound right here. A car with 56K miles on it should not have a bad head gasket unless it was overheated. If that is the case then it is difficult to tell the extend of the damage until the head is removed. The 1st question I would ask is was the car overheated before it was stored. Also I suspect you will have to replace both HG and if the car had antifreeze in it I would be concerned that the bearings have been "washed" and may need to be replaced. Then how long was the water in the oil . I would think you might be looking at and engine rebuild/replacement and not a HG replacement. Unless the owner takes off a large amount I would walk away. Just my opinion

 

As per the owner, when he took it out of storage, first thing he did is changing the oil and it was running smoothly and there were no leaks. And the night before the incident he was using it and it did not overheat or gave him any warnings. The next morning, that happened and he has no clue what is the reason!

Could it be something else other than the HG that caused the leak which can happen without overheating (maybe due to storage for a long period of time)?

He took it right away to the garage and they flushed the water, and they put some sort of liquid to seal the leak, and changed the oil. After this, it was running normally. However, they said, this is a temp solution and it will leak again soon unless he addresses the issue.

The original price for this was around USD 8K and after this incident i think it will be around USD 6,000.

 

Had you driven the car? Could be a cracked head. Could be a lot of things. That engine block sealer additive is not good. I put it in a BMW and didn't work. Tore the engine down and I couldn't believe how it clogged up all the water galleys. It looks cold out in the pic. If this sat for years there is no telling if it froze the engine at one time or another. If you can get it really cheap you may spent a bunch on that motor. I accually saw a whole xkr engine on ebay the other day for 500.
Good luck to you. They are nice cars.

 

Welcome to the forums Moe Eid,

I'd would walk away from that regardless of how tempting the prospect of ownership.

Jaguar V8 engine rebuilding is very expensive in parts alone and labour costs will be enormous if you can't do the work yourself. The lower cost alternative is a warranted used engine. It would be an expensive fix for me in England where it is relatively easy to source a replacement engine but could cost you a fortune to do this in Kuwait.

Graham

 

idk how much it cost but just take it to the dealership and let them fix it.Seem like this guy was only selling it cause HE KNEW it had this problem and wanted to sell it to the next unfortunate soul to take the problem he have with it off his hands smh don't no car on earth break down just by sitting in the garage unless the battery goes dead and that don't seem to be the issue.XK and XKR is all the same underneathe the hood except the XKR is supercharged

 

If you can't fix yourself, and enjoy doing it, walk away. Or tell seller you'll buy it when inspected and repaired by a shop you trust?

 

No I haven't yet, as this issue happened on the same day I was suppose to take it for a drive!!

And the weather here is not cold at all. This is the middle east, where temperature exceeds 120F for half of the year.

Also getting a motor on ebay would exceed the cost of the car itself (I once order a front bumper from the US, its cost was USD 200 and shipping was around USD 500) so imagine a whole motor shipping cost!

If I decided to go with it, i'll search for an XK motor in town and if someone would be willing to re-attach it with the supercharge.

 

You're right, the cost for just opening the engine and check what is the issue around USD 600.

I need to calculate the entire cost I would pay if I went through with this and take a rational decision about it.

 

I went to the dealership yesterday (I didn't have the car) and I asked a general question about that issue. They said if its just the gasket, then its an easy fix. However, if something else in the engine is broken, they don't have new spare parts and they need to make a special order from the UK (which I would imagine how much that would be).

So, it all depend on what is the scale of the damage, which we won't know unless the engine is taken out from the car and inspected.

 

Yea I won't be able to do it myself.

I'll ask him to do this, otherwise, I will walk away.

Thanks

 

I doubt the owner is going to try and fix the engine. I don't see the economic upside on his part to do so. Sounds like it's headed for the crusher. Would be a good candidate for a manual conversion if you had a drive train available. Would be easier to import a US car or from UAE.

How about this one?

https://www.dubicars.com/2007-jaguar...cs-391106.html

 

The engine probably does not have to be taken out of the car to determine if it makes economic sense to fix it. The results of a compression test and an oil analysis should give you enough information to make that decision. Internal engine damage always costs more than initially estimated.

If the seller isn't willing to pay for those tests, walk away. The repairs may cost more than the car is worth. If you buy it, know that you're buying a can of worms that won't stop eating your money.

Be smart, not ...

 

[QUOTE=Barry Leftwich;2356477]idk how much it cost but just take it to the dealership and let them fix it.Seem like this guy was only selling it cause HE KNEW it had this problem and wanted to sell it to the next unfortunate soul to take the problem he have with it off his hands smh don't no car on earth break down just by sitting in the garage unless the battery goes dead and that don't seem to be the issue.XK and XKR is all the same underneathe the hood except the XKR is supercharged with a different programmed ECU

 

There’s a lot more than just a supercharger. Metal vs plastic thermostat housing, compression ratio, etc.

 

That is legit come to think of it

 

(Post #6)
(Post #14)
[QUOTE=Barry Leftwich;2356766]I'm puzzled. What's the difference between your Post #6 and Post #14? Why did you quote yourself?

 

.

 

I think this one is an XK not an XKR,right?
Also, the mileage is too high (220K Km = almost 140Mi).
There are a lot of XKs where i live with mileage below 80K same model, but the XKR is more fun

The problem is importing a car is not an easy thing here, ughh.

 

What are the issues on importation? Does it need more than being GCC spec? Certainly an XKR has more going for it. You could consider a 5.0L XK which has similar performance to the 4.2 XKR, but a little tidier interior and few other detail differences.

I am amazed at how low prices drop on older cars in the Gulf in general.