Hi Everyone,
As I am a new owner I have a few questions. I have a 2001 XKR Silverstone with 6k miles on it.

1) I know the secondary tensioners need to be replaced and I am planning to do that before the summer is over. What other problems should I be looking into?

2) How do you was you car with hood louvers? Does a bunch of soap and water get into the engine bay?

Thanks,
Mike

 

Congratulations on your low mileage find!

Unless the car has been professionally stored and maintained with that few miles you can have all sorts of problems with lots of things, especially fluids, filters, seals and electrical connections. Even if it has been well taken care of you can have these problems. Hoses and belts, as well as the tires need to be changed.

I would start by replacing all fluids, including the fuel in the tank. Not by driving it but by disconnecting the fuel line and pumping it out until dry. The ethanol gas mixture does things that did not happen before. Alcohol is more like water than gasoline in terms of rust and corrosion as well as affecting rubber parts.

I have a 30 year old car under restoration with 25k true miles on it. So far it has required a new fuel tank due to rust, new pumps due to the fact that rust is difficult to pump, new fuel distributor because rusty fuel is hard to distribute, new injectors because the original ones rusted on their own, new fuel pressure regulator because rust filled the regulation chamber and, of course two new filters. Oh, and a new O2 sensor because it didn't work anymore.

In addition, fuses were corroded to the point of being erratic, relays the same, thermostat rusted shut and probably some more issues that escape me at the moment.

Bottom line; low mileage on an older car is often more damaging than a car that that has been used and well maintained.

Good luck and enjoy your new car. By the way . . . there is no relationship between plastic tensioner failure and miles.

 

You can wash your car normally, but avoid opening the hood and washing the engine with a hose or pressure washer because water can get under the coil covers and into the spark plug wells causing misfires. It may also penetrate some of the electrical connectors.

 

+1 to what Testpoint said

The only thing I would add is that you should get the battery load tested or just replace it outright. These cars are finicky about voltage and old batteries are a cause of many strange problems. With so few miles, I'd bet that you have the original battery, which would be long past its prime.

As to question #2. The stock hood vents don't let too much water though, but there will be a little bit. Can't say as I have worried much about it but you can wipe down the engine bay down enough.

Be careful about spraying a hose under there though, there are a number of electrical connectors that can get water in them which will cause you a litany of faults & error codes.