I have a 2004 XK8 with 68000 miles. Great car, but it has a few bugs. I was hoping someone out there might know the cause. Here is problem #1, my tank was empty, so I went to the gas station to fill up. As I was leaving, I noticed that the gas gauge still read empty and the warning light remained lit. I tried tapping on the lens, banging on the dash board, no luck. Problem #2, side marker lights and license plate lights out at the same time. I thought all exterior lights are on the same fuse. I replaced license plate bulbs and still no go. Any ideas???

 

you need a new fuel sneder in the tank, and no theyre not all on same fuse. check rear lighting fuse and then check for broken wiring at the trunk hinge inside the harness cover if you dont have power/gnd at bulbs

 

You were right, there is a harness that powers the license plate lights, trunk release and third brake light. 3 out of 4 of the wires were broken. I plan to solder new pieces in tonight. Thanks Brutal.

 

Regarding the fuel sender, guess I have to pull the tank right? IS it a separate piece or does the entire pump need replacing?

 

unfortunatly jaguar likes to sometimes take easy cheap jobs and make them expensive. the sender used to be mounted in the back of the tank and took 5 minutes to replace with 1/3 or less. Now theyre inside mounted to the pump outer housing, and you may want to consider installing a new pump while in there since its a PIA job to do once. Much less twice.

 

Is your car a Coupe? My 2000 XKR Coupe has the "Easy to Remove" Sending Unit on the rear face of the tank.

I don't know if Jaguar changed this on newer Coupes.

 

On my 2002 XKR it's top of the tank mounted. And I did just go through it twice in the past couple days, first to replace the pumps. Then again the next day to re-attach said sending unit, because I knocked it loose attaching one of the pumps.

This resulted in readings that were either completely full, or completely empty depending on how I drove the car.

 

Does anyone know if the fuel pump in an '04 xk8 is used by any other brand? I am sure Ford didn't custom design the pump. the dealer wants $640 for a new one

 

According to rockauto.com, the 2004 XK8 uses a fuel pump assembly module, that is different than 2002 XKR replacable pumps I just dealt with.

The price on Rock auto is $639.79, so the dealer price isn't far off.