While my mechanic was repairing my coolant system, he dribbled some coolant on the engine and went to clean it up. When he did he noticed that one of the coil packs was cracked. I didn't have the time and mindspace to work on the coolant system myself, but I can handle the packs and plugs. Which leads to a few questions that I didn't find in the forums.

While searching for the coil packs, I ended up on eBay. (1997 Jaguar XK8 in Ignition System | eBay) where coil packs are about $30 each. This is about $20 each less than others. Has anyone tried any of these successfully?

Is it useful or important to change all the coil packs at once? Can I just change the packs as they need it? What are the concerns?

It looks like people have used the IridiumIX plugs with good results. Any comments?

Thanks in advance

 

I haven't had to change coil packs yet, but here is a link where a member has tried three different types, along with pricing and his results. Hope it helps.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...l-packs-86501/

 

I changed all mine at the same time. Now I have a lot of spares. They stay in the trunk.

I paid about 100 ea from the dealer. They matched the price quote I got from Car Quest.

Why change them all, they all get hot they all cool and they were all the same age. If one goes its not long before they all MIGHT go.

 

Stay away from aftermarket coils via Ebay... unless you find OEM Jaguar on Ebay...

 

Just for reference when i am up there, Who is your mechanic in Flag or do you get your car repaired in phoenix?

 

I use ACE Automotive over on West Route 66 near The O'Reilly Auto Parts store. They've worked on my cars for the last decade or so. They saved me 800 bucks on some front end noise on one of my Subarus. Saved my son about 400 bucks by explaining to him how to drive (No, I wish I was kidding. He expected too much out of a manual transmission).

When I bought my Jag, they went over it very nicely.

 

Can you expand on that a bit more? Why stay away?

 

I got 8 orignals off ebay from a man breaking his engine £50 the lot they all work ok only used one so far

 

Why stay away? Because aftermarket coils (most of them anyway) are inferior to OEM coils - built to inferior standards in China - hence why they are cheaper than OEM - most of the time these cheap replacements cause more issues in a short duration.

And the most problematic aftermarket coils that are cheaply produced end up on Ebay to sell to unsuspecting owners... we know better than that here on the forum.

Like I always say "You get what you pay for".

Just my $0.02

 

After going through multiple suppliers, Jaguar finally got the S-Type factory coil packs right by the 2005 model year. You see almost no discussion here on the forum of failing coils from the 2005-to-2008 S-Types....

How about the XK8/XKR factory coil packs? Were they finally right by a specific model year?

 

Ok, thanks.
I did replace one coil pack (Rockauto) two weeks ago and I don't see why all of them have to be replaced at the same time.
Kal

 

I have an early XK8, 1997. It's on the cutting edge of the A26 engine. So, if there was a fix to make them better, mine is most likely early.

 

A customer supplied a full set to me, they cost £70 delivered around $100, obviously not OE but so far so good. His XK is running fine, makes them a serviceable item at that price, not sure how happy I would feel about them in my own car

 

Inferior standards are not unique to any country.

In reality the inferior standards are set by the importer since they set the price and quality that they will accept. They then go looking in low cost countries to fulfill those standards.

And countries can span both ends of the spectrum in quality. There is a premium grade triple beam laser level sitting on my desk from the largest "manufacturer" of industrial levels in North America. It was made in China. The reason? Manufacturing cost. Same thing, higher price point.

 

Had a coil go bad prior to joining the forum, dealer tried to sell me on replacing all the coils. Had them replace the bad one, that was 20,000 miles and 2 years ago. Just resently retired a Dodge Intepide with 198,000 mile, changed 1 coil on it and it failed at 32,000 mile. These are plug and play items when one fails replace it. Drop the top and enjoy. Jim