Hello guys, just a note to say I took my 1999 XK8 in for its test 3 weeks early just in case there was something that needed to be attended to. I dont believe in leaving things to the last minute. Well he sailed through, with only an advisory for front pads which I will order this week.
The area which I was concerned about for rust was just the top layer of rubberized underseal ( under the front seats ) which I used a rotary wire brush to get back to shiny metal and coated in Black Rubberized waxoil paint. It looks great, or at least I think so and so do the guys at the garage.
Was MOT'd at my mates place and he let me have the use of a lift to underseal the beast.
A great days work suppose I say so myself. However I ruined a tee shirt and got some on the seats but it came off quite easily.
The tester kept the engine running for a long part of the test and the fans were going for most of the time, it was a very hot day. When he switched it off for about 15 minutes the fans kept running for a long time. Tried to restart, the starter tried but died after a couple of seconds. The green charged light showed on the battery but the tester thought it was a duff battery as the starter had tried but then died. The temp gauge never left the center line so I doubt it was overheating. 15 mins on the charger and I tried to restart, it fired up no problem and drove back home without any issue. Hope it stays that way.

 

Arty,

Pleased to hear your XK8 passed the MoT.

I thought you had removed the battery and kept it on trickle charge at home over the Winter?

Graham

 

Graham,
Yes I did remove it as you said, that is why I could not work out why the car failed to start even though the indicator light on the battery was showing green, which means good charge. Ive been getting good use out of him since April on a regular basis, I feared the temp gauge had failed and the motor was cooked, however that was not the case, thank the heavens. Was wondering if anyone had come across this type of issue before ( after long stationary running ) ?
Thanks for the reply.

 

Sorry, but what is MoT? Just curious.

 

Ministry of Transport periodic inspection required to permit vehicle operation on British Roads.

 

Thanks.

Sometimes I wish we had something like that here. I try pretty hard to keep my cars safe to drive and am amazed at the awful shape some of the things ( I refuse to call them cars) my fellow human beings think are safe to drive on the roads with me.