That car has been for sale for 3-4 months. 260K miles must scare people.

Sounds like the guy just drove the wheels off of it and stopped when it started having problems. I bet he'd take under $2500 if you told him you were going to restore it.

 

I picked up the $9k 2003 Convertible (Listing #2) from the dealer today.

It's mine!

There are, of course, a bunch a mostly little things, and a few expensive ones, that need sorting. First thing tomorrow it's going to my local indy euro shop for a thorough look-over. The brakes are squealing unacceptably and it's pulling ever so slightly to the right.

It also only came with the valet key, so a dealership appointment is in my future.

I'll be starting new threads as I share the love or need advice. Thanks!

 

Wecome aboard. I was able to source an uncut key and fobs via ebay and they worked. I then got a key cut by a locksmith in Richardson but then I had a real key and not a valet key. I can get you that info if you need. Don't know who your Jag guy is but my local guy is Jim's Jag shop and motorman is not too far away.

 

Autobahn Service Center is just a couple of miles from my home, and does great work for reasonable prices. The manager there started out as a Jaguar tech, and I've been taking my jags there since the Motorcars Ltd in Carrollton closed down.

Park Place Jaguar wants $125 for keys and $150 for programming. While $125 is expensive, I like having a master key cut from the VIN. It's the programming charge that sticks in my craw, so I may get a couple of masters from the dealership, and then look for alternative programming, if motorcarman is available for that sort of thing. A nice drive out to Decatur with the top down could be fun.

 

The key thing is frustrating. Many of us a stuck with just one key. Long-winded details to follow:

From what I understand, the proper keys are available on line. For a 2003, you need the key with the transponder/rfid/chip in it. My understanding is that this type of key allows the car to query the key for an id through an exciter ring around the key slot.

Next, the key needs to be cut. From what I gather, the places the sell the keys can cut the key as well for a nominal fee. The key scheme is "TIBBE" and can read directly with your eyes. There are "decoders" online, like How_To_Read_Jaguar_Tibbe_8_Cut_Key_Codes. Apparently, many users have reported that ordering keys from the dealer based on VIN ended up not working at all.

Last, and this is the frustrating part, this new key id needs to be paired to the car. This is a procedure that involves running the factory scan tool and re-pairing ALL keys to the car at the same time. The dealer can do it, and so can some of the locksmiths out there, but it takes a lot of calls to find someone local (I am all ears is someone knows a guy in the Washington, DC area).

So, in short, you could find 2 keys online for fairly cheap, both cut to your car, with new IDs. The tricky part is to have them paired up to the car.

If you do more research, I believe it is possible to "clone" an existing key as well. Somehow, if the ID reported by your keys are all the same, and already paired with the car, no programming is necessary. The hard part is probably to either mail your existing key in to the service, or somehow find out the value of the id in your existing key.

One final note: if you search this site, folks have managed to transfer the tibbe stem and the chip from a key into the newer switch-blade type key fobs of the newer Jaguars. This is a nice hack that gives you a more modern fob and key into a solid unit.

One final final note: the fobs (lock/unlock transponders) can be added to the car with no special tools. There is a (tricky) sequence of steps that can add a fob to a car. Search is your friend...

I hope this helps. Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Apparently, valet keys are only mechanically different from master keys (no electronics involved), and can be "converted": so-heres-valet-key-question-140640/

 

Yep! I've read at least half a dozen threads on this board about keys and fobs. Thanks for the tips, I appreciate all the discussion that's taken place on this topic here over the years.

I do have one working fob, so with that and the valet key I'm okay getting anything done that needs doing. For the moment, anyway.

I'm not making any decisions about solving the key problem until the car clears the inspection my shop is making today.