So I bought a 2003 XK8 vert with some issue in October 2015. I knowingly bought the car with some problems with the intent of fixing it up. Car repairs are kind of like my hobby. She is a garage kept Florida car with 67k miles that is Phoenix Red. Well here are the repairs I've done so far:
- Repair the driver's seat control switch. Driver's seat would not move. I thought it was the Driver's seat module, based on this web-site's suggestions, but in my case it was the seat control switch. I repaired the circuit board in the seat control switch.
- Repaired the roof hydraulic latch. Sent it to Top Hydraulics for a rebuild. This took a couple of hours to diagnose where the leak was coming from. It was not leaking from hydraulic lines.
- Installed the Gus pressure relief valve.
- Installed new front bumper overriders. One was cracked in half, the other marked up badly. I got the correct bolt size (M6) for the chrome splitter on this website, as mine was not held in with any bolts or fasteners.
- Installed new rear shocks & spring insulator. I had a horrible clunk from the rear end and some rear end bounce. The top shock mounts were disintegrating. Seems like a bad design?! The spring insulator didn't look terrible. Driver's rear shock was blown out, meaning shock fluid was all over the place.
- Installed new rear pads, new rear sway bar end-links and rear sway bar bushings. Might as well do all these while changing rear shocks, all the access is there. Only the end-links didn't look great.
- Replaced and fixed overheard console. Mine was out when previous owner tried to diagnose the green shower leak. They broke 2 of the 3 clips holding the console up. I found a used overhead console on on e-bay and replaced. This also fixed my air-bag light as it must have been on looking for a sensor in the console.

So, project XK8 is going good so far and isn't quite done, but much better than it was. Next it needs new front shocks and mounts, although the front end clunk is not nearly as bad as back was and power antenna gave out under my short ownership period. Already ordered that. I'd also like to get the rims refinished.

I'm not sure how a car like this would be on the road if it wasn't for web-sites like this? I got all my how-to repairs from this web-site and would not have been able to do any of them without this site!! A dealer or mechanic would have charged more than I paid for the car to have all these fixes done.

Sorry for the long post, and thanks for all the repair posts, I needed them!!

Ken
2003 XK8 Convertible

 

Good progress report. Indeed, we all quickly learn that this forum is by far the most valuable tool in our toolbox....

 

+1!

The experts on the forum have saved my bacon multiple times. Friendly bunch too.

 

Good progress for only a couple of months ownership.
Graham

 

Your are ticking off the items pretty well, as you've found it's kinda a rabbit hole when you work on these cars, once your in somewhere (in your case rear end) you might as well..... So that said you might find it easier to replace some of the front bushings (esp anti sway) when you are doing the front shocks, this way you only dis assemble once, but of course there's always the cost issue for parts when doing alot of work over a short period of time.

Keep us updated on your progress..