Can some one tell me a good place to get good repair books no not mind buying them I got a 1998 xk8 today and not running and would like some good Manuel’s to start on it 1st of week.
I have had some range rovers that I keep going for 25 years so I do know my way around autos. This is a project car I plan to work on with my grandson and may be years before we finish.

 

DO NOT BUY A MANUAL - you can download a great deal of info in the stickies at the top of the XK8 section although the mediafire links no longer work but those can also found and downloaded from the listed websites below

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

https://en.jaguar-club.net/manuals?ddlb_model=11

https://archive.org/details/jaguar-x...%2002%2014_87/

 

Figured that but thought I would ask. When I had my rovers they had a rave cd that contained all the info I needed.

 

The engine is an AJ27*, which wasn't introduced until MY99 - What are the last 6 characters of the VIN?

Welcome to the forum and good luck with the project


*VVT in cam covers, '4.0' legend on engine cover...

 

If "rave" is a diagnostic-type program then for a jag as well as the workshop manual, Electrical Guide, etc, you might use IDS/SDD.

 

Agree with Don but I try to get any and all manuals possible.
For less than $15 you can get a service CD on EBay.
Here is a quick search and you can see there are a few to choose from.
XK Service Manual

Now I always post this bit too. The manuals from JLR are terrible and repeat useless information dozens of times. This creates huge PDF documents with 8000 or more pages. So be prepared to do a good bit of searching to find what you want.

Next there is very little text in the service manuals as JLR does not publish manuals in different languages (Although you can run SDD in many languages). This means they use pictographs with a small amount of text. It sometimes takes a while to puzzle out exactly what Jaguar is saying to do.

Thanks for the picture of the car and be sure to post more pictures too!
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Rave was a cd based repair tool for land rovers great tool to have if you had a rover it covered everything from maintenance to engine repairs to electrical. What is IDS/SDD?

 

033461

 

033461

 

OK - so you actually have a MY99 car rather than a 98.
Quite a few differences - particularly the engine.

IDS/SDD is Jaguar's proprietary diagnostic tool.

 

Tag on door says 10/98

 

That's build date.
Jaguar often introduced the next MY mid-way through the current year. MY99 began with VIN 031303 in August 98..

See attached Heritage document.