I'm getting ready to order some parts to add to my spare parts collection and want to get some feedback on which brands to avoid, and which to prefer. I know the Jaguar branded parts are usually the highest quality, nevertheless I'm thinking there are other quality name branded parts that are as good, or better.

which brand is preferred, and which should be avoided, for :

Serpentine belt & supercharger belt ?

Spark Plugs

fuel injectors

ignition coil-on-plugs


thanks,

Z.

 

Not the most helpful comment, but if you are thinking about replacing the injectors, I'd look into getting them refurbished instead. I got some eBay injectors off of an XJ8 for my car for like $40 for 8. They were absolutely shot, filters rusted and everything. I sent them to a place a few hours away from me (via mail), and for like $150 they came back basically brand new.

In this instance, the guy is retired and I think just does it to stay engaged. He completely disassembles and refurbs them, replacing everything that's old. I've had them in my car for a while and they've been great.

In any case, that's an option if you want to stay on a budget while maintaining OEM quality.

 

I expect that you will get a wide variety of answers. It's akin to asking what is the best flavour of ice cream

For example : I personally use Autolite spark plugs and would not put a Bosch spark plug in a lawnmower but I bet there are guys who love Bosch and think Autolite is garbage.
I have used Gates belts for decades on many sorts of autos, from 60's American muscle cars, Mini Coopers and Cooper S and now the XK8.

I see that you are in the US. Try Rock Auto. If you buy their "daily driver" , "standard replacement", or "heavy duty/racing" types of parts you won't go far wrong and they have a surprising selection for the XK8 / R

 

these parts will all be spares. The existing parts on the vehicle are all currently performing in an outstanding fashion, so I'm not looking to replace them per se, at least not soon I hope. I will try to locate a set of original injectors and have them refurbished as you suggest, so they will ready to install should the occasion arise.

LOL, I think Autolites are swell, but have a mistrust of Champion Spark plug products, just based on experiences of 50 years ago. Not really rational on my part. The people making Champion plugs now likely weren't even alive back then, I shouldn't be associating them with yesteryears products. Old habits die hard.

Z.

 

I think you may be over-preparing by having a set of injectors refurbished and to hand. If you have money to burn, then fine, but I just can't imagine needing a set of injectors in an emergency. I had a set of injectors refurbished from a BMW that I own that had something like 150k miles on at the time. The pre-refurb test showed that they didn't actually need doing as they were all flowing well with good spray patterns.

 

If you need a rec for where to send the injectors, Hurst Injector Service (Fuel Injector Cleaning | Hurst Injector Service ) did mine. That said, if you are keeping spares, then I would buy the used injectors and then wait until you think you'll put them in to get them refurbed. The guy (I think his name is Paul?) advised me not to wait more than a couple days before putting them in as the valve at the bottom will start to stick if not put to use. Although he might've had some advice on how to store them so that they stay fresh--probably worth asking him (or whoever you end up using).

 

If you want to stockpile, a better consideration would be to hoard parts that you won't likely be able to get in a few years. I know there's parts I've already had difficulty finding for the X308. Generally the stuff that's necessary for propulsion and stopping will be available some way, some how until there are too few cars left on the road to maintain. Once a car depreciates into the hands of poor people tho, they don't bother to fix anything except whats minimally necessary to keep the car on the road. I.e. no market for cosmetic stuff, interior and exterior trim, various components associated with the luxury features, electronics and "crash parts". Those are usually produced in limited quantities only while the car is in production and then inventory sold out within the first ten years.

I wanted to be sure that I would eventually be able to restore my 1985 Toyota Supra to showroom condition so back in the mid 90s, I started buying spares of all those sorts of things. I was ordering two or three parts a month from the Toyota dealer for several years as my budget would allow. Already by 1996, a lot of parts were already NLA. Sadly I just missed being able to buy a brand new dash pad (at nearly $1,000, I kept putting that one off till it was too late.) Then I got into buying several crashed Supras, dismantling them, selling most of the parts but I kept the best pieces for my personal stash. I've also bought rare parts off ebay and participated in every "group purchase" (limited production runs) organized by our club. I did finally after fifteen years of searching and several online purchases that turned out not so great, score a perfect used dash pad from the cloudy Pacific Northwest which I now keep in climate controlled storage.

Some people may think I need psychiatric treatment like those people on a popular reality TV show, but I have everything neatly organized on shelves and at least I'm not hoarding stray cats. If you are intent on hoarding spare parts too, research what's going to be the most difficult to get going forward, maybe low stock already and focus on those items.

 

 

Since my XKR is my daily driver I'm at first concentrating on maintenance parts or parts likely to fail from age, etc. Any breakdown is going to impact me differently than those whose XK is a 2nd or 3rd vehicle in the garage.. I'd rather have a set of injectors on my parts shelf to be ready to go than have to send them off for rehabilitation when they fail.... I'l likely get a spare alternator and some of the coolant hoses in addition to the parts already mentioned.

thanks for all the thoughtful responses.

Z

PS I'm really fortunate that the previous owners did some of the heavy lifting in regards to the known Achilles heels these cars have. The cam chains and tensioners, water pump, all 4 (correct) shocks, and the shock damper mounts, were ALL replaced within the last 4,000 miles the car traveled just prior to my ownership. The only items I've had to replace that aren't strictly maintenance are the oil cooler hoses. And even those can be classified as a maintenance item as they age out of reliability.

 

Gates for belts, URO for seals and hoses, NGK for sparkplugs (no reason to use any other as prices are similar, get the iridium), Beck-Arnley for coil packs, Mann for fuel filters, AC Delco makes the best air filter.

i would find a replacement radiator and set it aside after checking it for defects. while they can always be made, why incur the expense and delay.

to preserve fuel injectors immerse them completely in straight fuel stabilizer, not ethanol protection product. use something like regular Sta Bil.

look around on eBay and purchase parts from breakers such as emissions purge valves, ABS sensors. some of these items are hundreds of dollars yet can be had for small change when a car is being parted out.

 

Maybe I have been unlucky, but everything I ever bought that was made by ÜRO failed. I now avoid them like the plague.

 

I was never happy with the URO upper radiator hose I installed into my previous 2005 S-Type 3.0 in the summer of 2015. I was told that the current owner eventually replaced it with a better-quality hose. Wise decision on his part....

The URO coolant expansion reservoir that I installed into my wife's 2006 XK8 in September 2017 has not leaked and continues to hold up. However, I check it every weekend as a part of my fluids & tire pressures checks I perform on all four of our vehicles. We have all learned that regardless of who made any of our Jaguar coolant reservoirs, we had better be checking them on a regular basis....

 

Zray,
I would also add to the list some small electrical items, like the lamp fittings. Just like the old Bakelite problems, these fittings will prematurely age due to heat in use esp. the headlamp fittings.

 

Chocolate. Since Barry mentioned it.....

 

I once read that a well know manufacturer of dairy products once made its chocolate ice cream by scrapping up all the spilled milk mix off of the floor and adding it to the chocolate ice cream batch. Only the chocolate flavor was strong enough to mask the taste of shoe leather. LOL. True or not, the visual is interesting,

Z

 

Another vote for Rock Auto, FCP Euro, and Amazon

 

Parts Geek also has a good selection of parts, actually better than Rock Auto from what I’ve seen.