Picked up my 1997 XK8 Friday. Wonderful weather up here for a change so I got to drive it a bit.

Anthracite Grey with coffee interior 115,000+ miles...pretty car.

Small tear in driver seat bolster, (I can live with that for now), and the seat assembly shimmies a bit under cornering, (perhaps that is the source of the little black allen head screw floating around the cabin...).

Dealer replaced tensioners at 110,000....five years ago!!!! This car has sat a lot.

Within year: New rotors and pads up front, new rear main seal and transmission cooler lines, (they were stripped by dealer during seal replacement, (or so they say), and replaced free). "Engine tray" replaced in fall.

The local dealer, (a former Jag dealer), has receipts from new..car has been serviced most of its' life by Jaguar. Biggest reason I bought the car

Took it from the previous owners house, didn't warm it up, and proceeded to drive away. The car had been sitting all winter and had not been driven more than 500 mile in the past two years.

First impression, shucks, either a bad bearing in front or cold tire noise plus had a bit of a flat spotted tire thump... Luckily the sound went away that day.

Within a mile I approached a pretty good grade, about 3/4 of a mile long and the thing totally bogged down...I almost thought I had to pull it over but I gave it a bit more gas and it went up the hill but no better than my daily driver. Throttle response I think more than power issue as it scooted pretty well on the highway

The car pulls a bit to the left but not under braking. It had new pans placed under the front as the previous owner complained that the tires rubbed under low speed cornering...they still do a bit.

Front shocks seem a bit dead, thump hard over road imperfections.

Body is 97%, interior is great, (mirror springs are shot??). All electronics work, (RIP Lucas), cruise, trip computer, fans lights all good.

My wife drove it Saturday, confirmed the pull, I had forewarned her about the heavy accelerator pedal. She likes it and feels comfortable in it.

I took it for about a forty mile highway ride Saturday morning and she drove well. The front tires need replacement, rears are 5,000 miles old. Has a shimmey that appears at 68-72, disappears above or beyond those speeds.


All in all a pretty satisfactory first few days...unfortunately we just had 6" of fresh white stuff overnight so the car will sit for a few days

The throttle is very stiff, so that will need some attention..any suggestions? Techron for starters?? Worked on my 96 VDP....


So...

My concerns are to check the front end for ride height and shocks, address the throttle "heaviness", and secure the seat assembly.

I've played with a few MGs in my life and was a Moss Motors and Victoria Parts fan. Is there a similar vendor for Jaguar parts?

Any good source for shock assemblies? Mirror springs??

Is anything I described typical of an older XK?

Look forward to any help here.

Thank you!!

 

Too late to advise a cautious approach to an unknown vehicle that's been standing for a few months!

Sounds like you've got a good one.

On your list, the sticking throttle appears the most urgent. Check the FAQ's for throttle body cleaning.

Graham

 

Congrats on the new acquisition...my car is also a 1997 with virtually the same miles as yours.

You'll work through the issues one at a time, and in the process learn a lot. This forum will prove to be your biggest advantage (as you've probably already figured out).

Regarding the "mirror springs," if you're talking about the visor mirror covers, that is very common and very easily fixed. The little spring clips come loose inside and simply need to be repositioned and carefully glued. It's literally a 20 minute job at most. Reverend Sam (on this forum) has a Youtube channel with lots of "how-to" videos, and the visor mirror fix is included.

Other than that, I agree with Graham - your throttle body needs a good cleaning.

 

The Coupe:

Hey thank you for the heads up on getting me to this forum from Brand X the other day.

The throttle doesn't stick as in stay open, it is stiff on application but throttles back easily...but yes a good cleaning is in order.

I bought the car from the husband of a woman who works for my sister company, they bought it two years ago (beat me to the car by an hour!! and then it showed up in our parking lot a few days later). So knowing the couple I knew they had taken better care than most would have. Still, I did buy it w/out a proper test drive..

As for a cautious approach, it was the only way home..I live in a very hilly curvy section of NYS...(great driving routes), but yes, I should have warmed it up a bit more.....BUT I COULDN'T WAIT!!!!

 

When the throttle sticks on these cars, it usually sticks CLOSED, causing a stall- it can happen at highway speeds, while you're in traffic. That's something that gets your attention!

When it's dirty, there's a ring of gunk around the edges of the throttle plate and around the throat of the throttle body itself. CRC Throttle Body Cleaner is the stuff I used, and it worked well.

 

That throttle sounds like it wants looking at but it's maybe not too surprising with the previous light use.
Otherwise it sounds pretty good, have fun sorting out the niggles.

 

Thanks guys,

I am assuming it is the same process for a "normal cars" throttle body? Remove air ducts etc, clean out gunk w/a rag soaked in CRC, put duct back on. Repeat w/MAFS?

How about lubricating the cable, itself from pedal to unit..anything unusual to look out for there?

 

With that number of miles if you don't have a record of the MAFs being changed then i would just go ahead and change it. Seems to do these cars a lot of good.

 

good recommendation.

Thanks

 

OK Guys! What are MAFs???

EZDriver 2000 XK8

 

MAF = Mass Air Flow sensor....

 

How do I test my MAF to see if it needs replacing?

 

I would try cleaning the MAF with MAF cleaner, read the directions. The MAF is located just aft of the air cleaner box.

The shimmy at ~70 mph is likely tires. I had the same thing. New tires and no shimmy.

Clean the throttle body with throttle body cleaner. It is way in the back of the engine at the end of the air tubes.