I'd buy it in a heartbeat!!! Yeah it may need a bit of work because it's been a garage queen but 8.5 years ago - I paid 10k for my 2000 XK8 with 91500 on the clock - before I even knew what a forum was. in those 8.5 years - I've learned a lot thanks to this group, done a lot myself and farmed a few jobs out just due to time constraints You've got an advantage because you're already here with access to the best tool in a Jag owner's tool box!

 

Completely agree, this really is a great community and far more helpful and good humored than the forums for most marques.

I recently picked up an Aston Martin and can say that I found a similar tone in that forum. It's a smaller group and somewhat less DIY than here but there are still a few that wrench on their own cars and everyone is friendly, willing to help and similarly jovial about what a PITA everything is.

Maybe it's a British car thing? We can all revel in our shared misery?

 

I have an '01 Silverstone with 25K on it. Did the upper tensioners years ago..The one you are looking at may have been done already. Its only a 2 hour or so job, no special tools and is really the only weakness. I also fixed one where the tensioner and chain had broken on one side. No bent valves so wasn't a big issue either. Owner was lucky.


You can tell which size chain it has by looking through the oil filler cap. The two types of chain are very different. Top is 8mm.



I am just doing an XFR now, both head gaskets had gone.

 

1) Bogus codes are common. These cars are very touchy electrically. Replace the battery with an AGM, and have your OBD reader handy to clear the codes.
2) Lots of XK8 and XKR on eBay. I got my 2001 XK8 for $7k and it is like new.

 

A couple years ago I ran across a 2001 XKR that the owner had parked in his yard, with the windows down (!) and let the weeds grow up around it. I guess it threw some codes and he just abandoned it. I have a 2002 XK8,so I am a little bit knowledgeable about the unique challenges these cars represent. I offered him $1000 for it as it sat, and he took it. The main problem that I found was both fuel pumps were seized up. Probably from bad gas from setting. I bought 2 new pumps from NAPA and , it was a major pita, but I replaced them. Then I sprung for a new battery and it fired up. The check engine light was on, but when I scanned it, it showed no pending codes, but needed to be driven to clear the old codes. I got an offer of $3500 for it if I could get it to pass smog here in California. They would pay for any further expense to make it pass. So I took on the job and after about 100 miles of varied driving it cleared. I sort of hated to see it go, but I did not need 2 XK,s, and my XK8 was in better overall shape. About 6 months later I got a call from the new owners telling me what an awesome car they have and thanking me for all my efforts. That felt better than the $2000 or so that I made on the deal.

 

Those are some great pictures on the differences between the two chain sizes!
I had not seen that before and it is easy to tell which one you have using your pictures.
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Hey, Lanny, good to hear from you!

The new owners story: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...le-xkr-219604/

 

All of the ideas about the amount of repair this car will need are great. I think the real question to answer is, how much do you want this car? Would you be very happy having it around to stare at and driving it even if it ended up costing you $15 - $18k - $20k before it was "perfect"? That's the real question you need to answer. It is an older car and although my list of cars owned is long, all the older ones have needed more $$$ than a new car, but less than a new car loses in depreciation. I've only owned one new car. My theory is I could buy and repair 2 old cars for the price of a new one, and the old ones are sooooo much prettier.
I have a '97 XK8 Conv. I paid either $7k or $9k in 2015 (I don't remember which) with 55k miles on it (now at 85k). Although for decades I built, maintained, repaired and drove my own FP Spridget, my back is too old to keep up those activities, so I go to the guy who was one of my best competitors for repairs. I learned to trust him on the racetrack, and trust is the most important parameter for a mechanic.
After purchase repairing: oil leak (it's a Jag) from the back of the motor (xmission out); all new susp. bushes, shocks, spring isolators (ergo new suspension save springs); 3 mass air sensors (and counting); radio repair and then new radio with install kit from the motherland; and lots and lots of little stuff, I probably have $18k (maybe $20k) in the car. Do I get at least $18k of fun looking at it, owning it, puttering with it and driving it? Yes indeed I do, it's nice fat and round and smooth just like me. Do I care what it would sell for? Not at all. However much I "lose" over what I have invested will have been well amortized by the fun I've had owning and driving it. We all pay for our fun, FUN being the most critical word in owning an old car! What would I replace it with if it died? Another XK8 convert., probably 2003 to when they started putting edges in the bodywork, and an XKR is what I'd be buying.
I would add, having a car not driven much, or sitting around, is very sensitive to the environment in which it sits. Are you near the ocean or big lakes (humidity and salt in the air), in an area with industrial pollution, very hot (like FL), etc? I personally think sitting around unused is a secondary or tertiary issue. It just means the repairs come sooner.

 

Thanks for all the responses Guys, I very much appreciate it.
After a quick inspection, (thanks Kansabrit, I've followed your progress on the XF forum)I now know my XF at least has the 8mm chain which will be cheaper to replace when I have to. IS there a similar two chain option for 2000 XKRs?

Still waiting to hear from my friend, as I mentioned his health is very bad and I will let him take his time to get the battery replaced, it gives me more time to surf this forum and become educated about the XKR.

The upper tensioner job looks pretty simple to do, not so much for the lowers as it requires a lot more disassembly. If I buy it, I will probably replace the upper tensioners, the water pump and although I am loathe to do this job so quickly after doing it on the XF, probably replace ALL the hoses, pipes and belts etc.

One thing I noticed after going to my favorite parts suppliers webpage is that some parts are now unobtainable, the thermostat housing for example. That's a little worrying.

Regarding the tensioners, the OEM parts seem to be $170-ish each, but I've seen aftermarket parts for peanuts - under $40 each, are they any good?

The XK8/XKR portion of this forum may be even better than the XF side!

 

[QUOTE

Maybe it's a British car thing? We can all revel in our shared misery?[/QUOTE]

I fully agree with your line above. I owned Brits most of my adult life and at one point I swore off British cars, no more I said ( well, still bought Land Rovers but no more cars). Went over to the dark side and bought a Corvette. It was fun, handled great and would outrun most other vehicles, modded it with a 383 stroker. But ya know? Something just wasn't right. Took the Rover in for service one day and there sat a British Racing Green 1998 XK8. Bye bye Corvette, hello Jag. Back to sharing misery with other owners (glad I found this forum) but the grin is back.
Back to the original intent of this thread, get the Jag and share your frustrations with the rest of us. The grin while driving makes it well worth it....

 

$49.99 ebay set works flawlessly in my 308, supposedly made in japan and comes with the shortened bolts. Otherwise buy the FoMoCo branded secondaries for $45 each and add a spacer on the bolts. Use the Fel-Pro valve cover gasket kit for the Lincoln LS, supercharged cars don’t have VVT.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/173051386756


Thermostat housing for supercharged cars is no longer avaliable because there’s no demand for replacements, it’s already metal. NAs have a plastic one and aluminum replacements start as little as $35. The most concerning NLA part currently is the lack of diff pinion seals.

 

OP, here are my thoughts to your questions.

A "vague offer of $9000" is, to me, no offer. People like that who says things like: "well, maybe I'll give you nine for it after you get it running, all of the codes cleared, put new tires on it, maybe freshen up the paint and recover the seats, if I don't lose my job and you'll let me pay you next year" annoy me. Give me eight now, as is, or go away.

If you want it, buy it for what it's worth. Don't try to do your friend any favors, unless you think he's really doing you a favor. It doesn't sound like it to me. Friends are great until it comes to money.

My best friend, who I unfortunately don't get to see very often (he lives in VA now) had lunch with me back in July. He was wearing some stupid cheap "smart watch" and I asked, where's the Rolex? Ah, he says, I stopped wearing it a while ago, think maybe I'll sell it. Really, I ask? He turned me on to Rolex many years ago, and I've bought and sold a few. I think wife #1 bought him the watch and wife #2 doesn't care for it, for that reason. He says, "what can I get, maybe 2K for it?" It needs a service.

I said, I'll give you three for it right now. Actually, what I said was, "it's probably worth around 7." Then I made the offer, jokingly. I offered to sell it for him, and I did, for $6800. He asked me what I wanted for commission, and I said nothing, you're a friend. I honestly still expected him to give me something, but he didn't, but that's OK. I value his friendship more than money. I can get money. Good friends are harder to find. And he's closer to retirement than I am, and that divorce cost him most of what he had. So I'm happy to help.

So, my advice is, if you want to help your friend financially, offer to fix up and sell the car for him. You can decide how he can reimburse you for your time and effort, if at all. Or you can just make him a fair, honest deal as you would someone that you do not consider a friend.

Be real, he can't sell that car for anywhere near 9K in that condition. I agree that it's worth far more than 9K in good, working condition, but that's not where it is now.

 

He also told me "Carfax will give me $9K for it" (as well as the vague offer which I guess was a vague "match" offer). I told him, "Did you mention it's throwing a "restricted performance" warning and therefore won't pass smog?"......"Um, no". I think he still remembers paying $80K for it, and can't believe it's worth very little.
I figure I'll have to spend $1K on hoses/pipes/water pump and have to do a gruesome job for the second time in a short period PLUS I'll have to do the upper tensioners which, although not terrible, or expensive, is still no fun. Plus what else will I find?
In addition I see cars on ebay going for $3K - $5K. I figure I'll check the codes, and negotiate. $6K sounds more fair than $9K, that way it should be roadworthy for $9K or less.

Well, what I pay is all speculation until he has a battery installed and calls me I guess (yes, I did offer to install a battery, but he said, "No, I've got AAA")

 

Guys I've seen so many posts about the tensioners. I have a 2006 XK8 with 112K miles is this something I need to be concerned about or did they fix this issue with the 2006's?

 

No it’s not a problem on any 4.2

Water pump isn’t a hard job at all, remember that working under the hood of a 100 or 308 really isn’t anything like a 5.0 XF. Might just be me but it’s fun to work on these cars for the most part. If a 0/10 difficulty job like the upper tensioners feels like chore to you it might be best to stay out for the sake of your blood pressure.

 

Thanks xalty! Just one more thing I don't have to worry about. Would you know of anything about my 2006 XK8 that I need to worry about?? Timing chains?

 

Roadworthy cars with no driving issues that I’ve seen on eBay SOLD in the $4,000 to $6,000 range for the XK8’s and $8,000 to $15,000 for the XKR’s.

of course “roadworthy” is a term that some sellers like to stretch beyond credibility.


Z

 

Agreed, the water pump is a piece of cake, once you've removed a bunch of junk. But the whole coolant job is soured by the plastic rear crossover pipe - at least on the 5.0 XF where there is basically no room for any tools back there and it has to be done by feel. The N/A motor is probably worse than the 5.0 S/C because of the profile switching solenoids being in the way too.

 

You might want to clear your brain control module’s adaptions. Seriously though, wipe your memory clean of the XF. They both have a growler on the front of the hood and that’s about it.

 

With that low of a mileage? Unmolested? Unheard of. Make your best deal with him and BUY IT. The guys in here are great and can walk you thru ALL the bugs in time. We all been there most of us anyway. Get a can of silicon lube spray and shoot all the rubber under the car, especially the sway bars and end links right away. It will ride like a new one. Use a leather conditioner on the seats. Doesn't matter if stored inside, it needs that regardless. My 01' XKR convert has 95k and only did the top tensioners maybe 10k back. All 4 shock tower rubbers and shock bushings 20k back. Did change the top hose radiator tank at around 70k, as well as SC oil, SC boots and fan belts. Couple other issues that could have been very expensive, but made all those repairs myself so not into it for that much money considering what the car is worth. I think 9k is too low. More like 15 to 18 to me for a low mileage like that one has if it even runs at all. If you not willing to do the work yourself seriously, buy a new one instead with extended warranty, and let the dealer have all the fun. Nobody believes my car is almost 20 years old and still looks and drives as it does. But then again, I been a mech for 50 years already too. That and all the help from this forum is what keeps it that way.

BTW I did incur a no crank condition again weeks after I replaced my starter and the starter relay as a PM. Problem seems to be a relay connected to the canbus system probably. Just touched those relays with my finger and she was able to crank up. My clue is the shifter interlock wasn't clicking as usual as I went thru the trouble shooting procedure. Not related to heat soak, Did this when cold.