I'm looking into purchasing a 2001 XK8 convertible with under 40k miles. According to the owner it has a salvage title for supposedly rodent damage. He stated that their is no visible damage. The motor turns over by jumping the starter. It will not turn over or start with the key. The battery has been disconnected to try and reset the electronics. I am going to check this car out soon and wondering if anyone has any suggestions.i plan on looking closely at it for flood damage which would short out the electronics.

 

Hello, Jim,
Someone will be along shortly to direct you to the correct section where members will give you the very best guidance.

Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Thank you Elinor

 

Never heard of a salvage title for rodent damage, but its surely possible. I'd been parting out Toyota Supras and a couple years ago I was called to excavate a couple from an old horse barn where they'd been stored and sunk into the dirt floor. After digging/dragging them out, I didn't get much off of them because I wasn't ready to go full HAZMAT. Just pulled underhood components (engines were already gone) and forward body panels/crash parts. The interiors were completely filled with rodent nesting materials and droppings. Its amazing how much damage they can do when cars are left for a long time.

A mouse got into my XJ8 once upon a time and surgically cut 17 wires in a harness under the left front fender behind the wheel. I drove it to my brother's house one evening. I wondered why my power steering seemed to have very little assist and when I was leaving to go home after dark, I realized I had no lights on the front of the car. I got a ride home and went back the next morning to drive it home in daylight. Sure was nice of Jaguar to use the same gauge and color wire for several different things in the same harness. It took a lot of hours of probing to figure out which ones to connect back together and quite a lot of disassembly to gain access. It would have cost easily a thousand dollars at a specialist auto electrical shop. Then of course there followed a major campaign to find where the little bugger had chewed into the building, plug his exit and then kill Mickey, Minnie and the whole Disney clan. I can see how, left unchecked for more than a few days, a rodent could do many thousands of dollars worth of damage.

Given the reason for the salvage title, I wouldn't touch that one with a ten foot soldering iron. No visible damage indeed, the mice do their damage in the deepest, darkest recesses where its very hard to find and even harder to fix.

 

Given the reason for the salvage title, I wouldn't touch that one with a ten foot soldering iron. No visible damage indeed, the mice do their damage in the deepest, darkest recesses where its very hard to find and even harder to fix.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for all that information. I did go look at the car after lunch. The pictures were deceiving. Both the hood and trunk had minor hail pucks all over. The inside of the car wreaked of mice. I couldn't see any visible signs of wire damage anywhere. Like you said, they can eat them in the hardest to get at places. The back carpets were wet. It smelled musty. The underside of the car looked really good with no damage or rust. This car has been sitting for years based on the rust pits in the rotors. I passed on it. If the price was $500 I might have bought it. The title said Comprehensive Total Loss as the reason for salvage. The seller told me it was rodent damage. He has my number if he gets desperate.

 

Welcome aboard Jim.

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Not one for me either.

Good luck.

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!

 

At $500 you would still be wasting money and time.

There are plenty of XK8’s and XKR’s for sale at reasonable prices . Buy one of them and start driving the same day.

Z

 

Agree. You will do well to find as pristine as possible example with documented maintenance. Low miles on the odometer is not necessarily a bonus. A PPI is also highly recommended. Welcome to the forum!

 

You will never get the smell out!

 

You are right