I am trying to determine the value of my Jaguar. Excellent condition- 17600 miles

 

coupe or convertible?? Service records?? Have tensioners been replaced with the upgraded ones? Low mileage to me - garage queen - will need seals, hoses, etc, inspected/replaced due to dryrot/age. But value is subjective and while KBB may show $5500-9000, you may be able to get more due to low mileage, just depends on what someone would be willing to spend and their intended use.

 

As someone who just last week bought an XK8, in my area ( SoCal ) the rough ( needing small odds and ends, ripped seat, missing trim pieces, etc. ) cars are going for $4000-5000 private sale.

The later model year cars that aren't as rough are going for $6000-7000 private sale.


Personally as a buyer these cars weren't worth more than $4,000 to me and i picked one up for $2k that needed transmission work.

If i were to be looking at purchasing a 20 year old car with that low of mileage, i would tend to agree with sklimii, I may not even consider looking at a car with that low of mileage due to the anticipation that every seal in the car will leak.


You could definitely increase the value of the car for private sale by supplying records of when the last time certain maintenance work was done on the car. Additionally another way to raise the value of the car to a prospective buyer would be to take the risk of driving it yourself for a year or so and sort out any of the unpleasant issues ( leaks ) that may arise from it being garage kept.

One last thing, I see that you are in FL. In my personal experience, which could be completely wrong, cars are worth drastically less in FL than other places in the states. My father and I will end up flying down to Florida and buying a car from that market, and then drive it back home and sell it in our home market and make up the cost of a vacation by the value difference in the markets. Completely anecdotal, but i was looking at doing so last week and had found a couple nicer XK8 cars in the $4,000 price range. Unfortunately they were sold before i could get my hands on them.

 

Even with less than 20K miles, its going to likely need about $2K in work to be roadworthy, even if the tires are newish.

The foam in the suspension is dead, killed by 21 years in an oxygen atmosphere, and the Secondary tensioners are plastic and NEED replacing or it could kill the motor dead, just driving around.

Fix these two things and it might get $15K at an big auction like Barrett Jackson, but in the real world, probably $8K-10K AFTER the tensionsers and suspension foam is replaced.

 

Convertible - what I have done so far - replace tires due to dry rot cracked sidewalls - fuel pump - polyurethane front shock mounts. It is a Florida car never seen snow or ice. Low mileage yes a garage queen. I have my mechanic check fluid levels and things like hoses etc. okay so far.
Thanks for your response
Peter Mckavanagh

 

My experience has been that Florida is a good climate for solid rubber bits in these cars. Not so much for the foam rubber stuff.

Aside from the time bomb prevention of replacing tensioners...

I would change the fuel filter for sure along with oil/air. Then clean the throttle body. Am guessing this car has had 17K miles of intermittent short trips.

Where are you in FL ?

 

The secondary tensioners are a must change on a '98. Even low mileage cars its is a grenade with the pin pulled after 21 years. Even if not visibly cracked, they are brittle and can shatter The Primaries are probably OK for a while, until you hear rattling. A Secondary tensioner change can be done in afternoon with hand tools and for less than $200 in parts.

 

I live in Lakeland. Having a problem finding someone who could do the replacement of the tensioners and I do not want to take it to a dealer

 

Not exactly in Lakeland but have you seen these guys? I can not vouch for them but it might be worth a look.

Visit Guy?s Automotive for Jaguar Auto Repair, Service, Body Shop, Maintenance and Parts in Tampa |

https://charliesbritishcars.com/

 

Your best bet is to locate a thread describing the zip-tie method, print it, and show it to a mechanic (or fax it to them). This is pretty generic mechanical work, there does not seem to be anything terribly complicated or requiring special adjustments, or Jaguar tools. Just buy the latest tensioners (count 2) in advance. The whole point of the zip ties is to lock chain and cams sprockets together and avoid having to re-time anything. Just negotiate a number of hours in advance (so the mechanic does not learn on your clock), specifying it is only for the secondaries. The primaries involve taking the entire front of the engine off and is a ton more work, and $ in parts, unlikely to be required on such a low miles engine. Just my thoughts.

 

just an fyi, i have 47,000 on mine and i can't give it away in northern calif! i have not done the engine work, but allot of other work and tires and brakes, etc...it's in top form, but has a few scratches, and no rust. go figure?

 

I have emailed both so far one estimate $1000.00 ish I am sure the ish will be on the higher side

 

Thanks for the info. I looked at the video it seems easy enough I wish that I had the talent I would do it myself. It is quite depressing contacts so far have not been good the latest one this morning $5000.00 + he claimed he would have to remove the engine. Removing the valve covers seems easier

 

That guy is trying to scam you.

 

I’d say you are in the posession of a future small fortune, if you come to read what insurers like Hagerty are saying. For the moment here is the current value of a low mileage XK8:

https://www.petervardy.com/heritage/...SAAEgIldPD_BwE

Don’t forget that the XK8 production numbers were really low. Just wait 5-7 more years if you can afford and you’ll see what happens.

 

I think in today's market you kind of have to fix everything to get a decent price. We live in a world that expects instant gratification. If a buyer is expecting to have to drop it off at a shop and wait a week or more for parts and repairs before they can enjoy it, then they just aren't going to mess with it. Another issue is that the internet has scared people. Everyone has read a story about how someone got robbed once in a city 2,000 miles away, a year or more ago when they went to meet a private seller. Reading one story like that translates into a false perception of a 50/50 chance it will happen to me (Back in the day with only 30 minutes of nation and international news a day on TV and maybe two or three pages in the local paper, you never heard about even a fraction of the bad stuff you read on the internet today). So now people tend to prefer to go to a car dealer even though they know they will have to pay more. Sellers too now will rather take the huge hit of a wholesale price rather than take the risks of meeting strangers, accepting bad cashiers checks or deal with the frustration of no-shows, tire kickers and joy riders. Another problem I think is how so few people have any money anymore, mostly living paycheck to paycheck, and not being able to come up with $5 or $10K in cash. Most buyers would have to go through a dealer anyway for financing. Some might go through a bank, but back to the "instant gratification", its just a lot quicker to get the loan at the dealer and maybe refinance later if they think they can get a better deal at the bank.

For such a low mileage car though, you are looking for a "collector" who probably isn't going to put a whole lot more miles on it anyway. The last classic car I sold I consigned to a dealer of classic cars. It sold quickly, I got what I wanted out of it and they handled everything, advertising, pictures, the showing, test drive, communications, shipping to a buyer who lived out of state and I believe they even financed it to him. Sure I could have gotten a few thousand more if I'd sold it myself, but it would have taken a lot longer and a lot more effort. So I figure it was worth it. My main issue though was I was starting another restoration, about to the pull the body off a Corvette (which means one car suddenly takes up three bays, chassis, body and boxes and boxes of parts) so I needed the space ASAP. I saw a lot of value in their storing the car in their warehouse while it was for sale.

I'm trying to sell my Xj8 right now but its kinda not quite the sort of car they deal in otherwise I'd let them do it. Your XK8 though, especially with the low mileage, is much more in their wheelhouse. Another thing the manager told me was that he could sell cars in the sub $25,000 range all day long because there were enough ordinary people who could justify to their wives spending that kind of money on a toy. But getting up past $30K, the cars tended to sit there for months or even years because there's not enough wealthy people to buy expensive toys. You might want to consider if there is a consignment dealer of classic cars near that you could use as I bet if it were at the same place I used or one like it, it would sell very quickly.

 

Guys got back to me indicated that replacing the tensioners only would be around $1000.00 ish. I checked Guys rewiews not that great. Charlie’s British Cars just sent me an email. They claim that the tensioners can’t be changed just by themselves
, all the other parts would need to be replaced as well. The guide rail blades are also plastic, and get brittle.
The timing kit they use has updated metal parts, tensioners, guide rails, chains , etc. just for the timing chain job, with no additional parts replaced would cost approximately $3400.00 with tax. Does not include belts, hoses, etc.
I am trying to make sure for now that I do not blow my engine so replacing the tensioners at least would take care of that.The feedback from members indicates that could cost $800.00 to $1000.00. I could handle other issues as they arise. I am considering selling or storing the car for a number of years keep the mileage low some members indicate that could increase the value.
The car is running fine at the moment I know that I have to do the tensioners regardless of what I decide to do. I would appreciate your comments.

 

There are better engine specialists than me on this forum, but my take is that you MUST replace the secondary tensioners ASAP as their failure would likely lead you to replace the entire engine. As I mentioned above, the primary chains/tensioners/guides also wear out and eventually need to be replaced, but at such low miles, can easily be postponed. Again, replacing the secondaries with the zip tie method is not that big a deal and could be trusted to a less experienced shop. It is hard to believe a buyer for your low miles car would give you a hard time for having the original primary parts still in place. To my knowledge, once the valve covers are off, it is possible to peek inside the primary area and check for the condition of the guides. If you need to know for sure, the bottom oil pan can be removed and checked for broken off plastic parts from the primary guides. Just my thoughts.

PS:
PRIMARY tentioners push on (plastic lined) chain guides to take off the slack in the long chains from the crankshaft to the intake camshafts

SECONDARY tensioners take off the slack in the short chains between the intake and exhaust camshafts. These are plastic from the factory and must be changed to the metal part from the later 4.2L engine.

 

I personally would be very skeptical of anyone saying that storing a car and waiting is going to make it a valuable asset in the near future. There are going to be storage costs, and even maintenance costs involved with storing it. Factor in that this is not a valuable car to begin with, I would keep my money in less risky investment strategies.

The people who are just doing the work to replace the bridge tensioner may be doing a halfass job. If those are failing early and everything else is in perfect condiiton, so be it. But if you are committed to doing the best thing for the car, the best solution would most certainly be to replace any worn guide rails and tensioners, and chains if need be.

If you cannot afford to pay someone to do it, there are tons of good guides on this forum on how to perform the work yourself for a very reasonable cost.

 

Thanks for the information. It’s encouraging that my car could be worth more than other feedback that I have been getting. I have considered storing the car with the thought that keep the mileage low it could be worth more, the only disadvantage would be rubber and plastic, hoes and seals, etc. would have to be replaced. I have been advised that the secondary timing chain tensioners should be replaced to generation 3 tensioners. I do want to replace the engine. I could ship it to Glasgow, I think shipping would blow that idea.
I am originally from Edinburgh.
Again Thanks
Peter McKavanagh