Evening all,

New guy here, second post so be easy on me. LOL I'm looking to purchase a 98 XK8 with 225,000. I know that's a lot, but I typically drive a car till I get more that 300,000 some have gone farther.

My question is more along the line of what to look for in particulars for this model. The claim is that it's has been dealer maintained with all receipts for everything ever done. The fellow I was talking to bought the car from his brother in law but never took it to be registered. Md inspection was done when he bought it. To pass it had all kinds of front end work done, what I don't know we didn't go too far into details.

The paint looks good, tires look good, interior looks good with the usual slight wear on the driver seat upper bolster. With that many miles I would expect to see @ least one timing chain replacement? Maybe 2? What else would/will squeak by a novice buyer for this year and model.

Your opinions and comments will be a greatly appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read and help if you can!

 

Welcome! Here are a couple of links to check out. Come back with miore questions after you review these.

I’m buying a used XK8/XKR, what should I look for?
Link 1 | Link 2

 

Thanks for the quick info. I knew my question was redundant @ best and yes I did search with a poor result. I've glance @ the links provided and it looks like all my general questions should be covered. Appreciate the addition effort of gathering those links WhiteXKR!!

 

Welcome, I am down in the Indian Head area myself. Just hope that with the age and the miles you are getting an extremely good price. As is the case with the high miles, the engine and suspension come into question. No matter how well the engine is taken care of there is only so much metal on the cylinder walls, rings and crankshaft before the overhaul just won't do any good anymore. But do what your heart says, they are great machines to drive.

 

I went to look the car over yesterday afternoon. I was more interested in the paperwork associated with the upkeep. Of course the fellow didn't have it in hand so I looked the body over again and started the engine. Sounded great and it went into fwd and reverse without squawking about it. No tags so the test drive is out of course this doesn't mean I wont find a way. LOL

There is a small tear on the drivers door hand hold and wear on the the drivers seat bolster other than that the interior is 9+. Top opened and closed as advertised and appears to be either brand new or in amazingly excellent shape for its age. All the windows work well detenting and closing as the doors where opened or closed. Dash board and the wood trim look perfect.

Of course the ABS light and the trac. not available caution where lite up. I did so research here last night and found this to be a pesky problem that has many cause and can be fixed for less than 3.00 no labor included to a costly ABS module rebuild or replacement. (100.00?) I'm not to overly worried about this problem.

Talking with the "now" owner he didn't think his BIL had the engine replaced so..... what's the odds of this engine making it 231,799 miles down the road without a cylinder liner failure? Looks as if the thermostat housing and filler replacement had been done so.... I wonder if the waterpump had as well.

Looking forward to getting my hands on the paper work and reviewing the history. I'll go lay down now hopefully the feeling will go away. LOL

 

What's the asking price for the car?

 

5,000

 

Just a thought...there are several very inexpensive XK8s listed on cars.com right now, with far less miles. Some might be worth checking out, if you haven't seen them already.

Sometimes you can really get a great deal. I landed my 1997 for $ 5,800 earlier this year, 109,000 miles.

 

I've looked there the XK's right now look a bit ragged and I don't see the black on black. I'll take pics of the car this evening its a bit dusty but even through the dust it looks great.

 

I got a chance to go look the car over again today and came up with a laundry list of small items. Even being small I think that a few can cost some fair amount to get squared away. Body had a few chips and a little rub rash on the bumper, but the biggest hit was a 5 x 5 area under the LH tail light that had some blistered/bubbled paint. Obviously corrosion is setting in. I didn’t jack the car to look @ the under carriage, but plan on it after I get the maintenance records. Gas cap door didn’t want to open and neither did the trunk with the fob. It did open with the inside release so I recon that disqualifies the valet feature as the problem. (?)

All the lights work but I found a cracked driving lamp lens and it looked foggy compared to the other side. All the interior electrical controls appear to work as advertised. The drivers and passenger window drop when the door handles are moved but never go back up after the door is closed. I thought this function worked the other day but I maybe wrong. Also found a cracked RH front marker light.

The interior for 231,799 miles looks pretty good with only a few worn areas. Drivers bolster, driver door handle, the center console has a small tear on the passengers side and the rear seat belts are a bit faded. They look reddish. Pesky ABS and traction control lites where on.

The rear tires are worn past the wear bar with all the wear toward the inside of both rear tires. Maybe needs a 4 wheel alignment? Front tires are about half worn but are even.

Oil filler cap won’t come off ratchets to the right but won’t budge to the left.

I fumbled through lower the top the other day so I thought I’d try it again. Hit the switch the rear windows came down, no tone for the top moving or could I hear the pump. Released the button and hit it again and it retracted this time. I also got a message that the top wasn’t latched after it was done stowing. Is this normal? Going back up was no problem.

As far as the engine goes, I paid attention on the cold start listening for timing chain rattle. Having said that and not actually knowing what this engine is supposed to sound like, I think there is a slight slap/rattle. With slight acceleration it didn’t sound real good. As a matter fact my wife made a comment on this. After it warmed up, subsequent restarts sounded better so did slight acceleration. No smoke just a bit of steam that disappeared after warming.

Things up in the air: Under carriage condition, front end components, brakes, transmission servicing. Dealer receipts are on the way to the original owner so hopefully I’ll be able to put some uncertainties to rest beginning of the new week.

Please I’m open for comments and opinions. I’m on the fence with this car with most of my legs staying put. LOL


Thanks for taking the time to read this ramble
Dave

 

The cars are certainly capable of going 300k and I think the fact it shows 231k MILES tells me it was actually cared for prior to the present owner. It is miles, right? Not km? Behind the steering wheel at the 1:00 position is the trip computer control and you can switch between metric & US. Check that.

You're like me in that you enjoy making a car go the distance. Without taking this for a drive and getting your hands on the maintenance documents though I wouldn't be willing to go more than $2-3k. I paid $8900 for my '97 with 120k miles on it, including a new transmission, chain tensioners done, etc., and a nice looking service record. 44k and two years later, so far so good.

Good luck,
Mike

 

With that milage I would make sure I had a couple of extra K's in the bank just in case. This forum has self helps if your handy enough to tackle some of the projects yourself. This will save you many $$$. If not you had better have many extra K's standing by just in case. Jack

 

I've read thru the owners manual and looked over numerous post here and I'm still not certain what the association of the amber and the red warning lights are on the speedometer. I'm guessing they indicate the severity of any messages that post to the info center??

 

Exactly, Amber "take the car home and check it out" Red "safely stop the car and turn it off now".

 

Thanks for the confirmation!

 

I've pretty much came to the conclusion that the XK is not for me. With bad hips it's just to hard to get into. I'm now looking for a nice XJ possible an R around 2004-2006. Plenty of cars listed some close some not. Just gotta find the right right car with the right accesories!

 

Sounds like you have researched yourself a pretty good education over the past month! Good hunting! The best one is still out there.