Hi,
I’ve been reading information on this forum for a long time know. Thanks to all who take the time to contribute! I have some questions that I’m looking for some help with, to make sure I’m understanding things correctly. Am I correct in thinking that XKR’s from 2000 to 2002 have the Mercedes box and that this is a reasonably reliable transmission? If so, besides chain tensioners for the 4.0, what would be the main weak points to check for on 2000-2002 XKR’s? Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, the XKR or those years has the Mercedes transmission, and with regular fluid changes it is a good one, much stronger than the XK8 unit-of the same YOM, imho. When I was trying to decide which model to purchase, it seems to me, that the likelihood of major transmission service on the XK8 and the attending expense outweighed the negatives associated with the complexity of the supercharger on the R model.

As far as the engine goes, once the cam chain tensioners have been upgraded, the next item on a fix it list would be the water pump and and oil cooler hoses. Again, just an opinion.

My ‘02 XKR came to me with 116,000 miles and a fresh cam chain job . The PO replaced the water pump at the same time. During the 20 months / 32,000 miles of my ownership I’ve had to replace a very few non- maintenance items. Those were:
1). cpu cooling fan (it would squeak/ squeal at start up in very cold weather
2). oil cooler hoses ( they appeared to be in OK shape, just the age of them was worrisome )
3) repaired bad solder joint in the ABS module, a common issue, age related
4). one bad back up sensor
5). Due to be replaced are the idle pulleys

thats all so far, not bad for a 20 year old car.

 

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Exactly what those doom-mongers about this wonderful car should pay attention to. They can be very reliable with predictive maintenance. Thanks for the post.

 

Thanks for the feedback!