Fixed driver side window wasnt droping rite to clear driprail
so had to adjust it... worked after many screw turns

 

I replaced the original plastic thermostat housing with a new cast aluminum upgrade. Also replaced the short hoses that had small leaks and the clamps on the other hoses as well.

 

Changed Coolant Expansion Tank. Got rid of Low Coolant Light. I decided to try to figure out why the overhead console was hanging down. In the process of removing the overhead console I somehow managed to remove the rearview mirror. Trying to put the rearview mirror back on I pulled the ring the mirror mounts to off the windshield. I'm assume that I can glue this back to the windshield. Any suggestions. I did find a broken mount for the overhead console. I bought one on eBay for less that $10 with free shipping.

 

Busy day! Replaced the broken cigar lighter socket. I also replaced every bulb in the instrument cluster. The main bulbs are now LED.
Half the bulbs were burnt out. The other half were old and dim. Now it is bright and beautiful!

My wife looked at my handiwork then looked at the switches in the central cluster and did I need to do the rest. *facepalm*

But she is right.

I also did pool maintenance, went to the doctor and had lunch with my wife at her work. All in all it has been a very good day!

 

WAFlowers, it looks amazing and half of my dash light are out. Care to share which ones you purchased for the project and how many? I need to do this soon!

Forgot to mention last week I remedied the "check rear lights" and "cruise not available" with a new brake switch. Replaced it without removing the bracket, so it was all under the dash work. It wasn't too bad, but it is a tight fit to get under there.

 

You gotta fill me in about those LEDs tomorrow. I don't have any burnt out but like the brighter effect.

 

Thank you.

I bought these:
G-Mall: [5-SMD] T10 168 192 194 W5W LED Bright WHITE Car Wadge Bulbs | eBay

They come 2 to a package and you need 4 total (2 packs). I bought 3 packs so I have spares. I bought them 3 days ago and they arrived today. Great service!

At first I put in 2 LEDs and two new Sylvania bulbs to see which I liked best. The LED was significantly brighter and a nicer color. Incandescent had the panel lighting up blue-green while the LED is more of a pure blue as pictured.

I also have LEDs coming to try for the smaller bulbs but I probably will leave the panel as-is until Memorial weekend. For now I have new Sylvania bulbs in the small sockets.

 

had an extra key made, FLIP STYLE

 

Continuing the LED theme I ordered 2 of these to try for the fog lights. At the price it was worth a chance.
1x Xenon White H1 3-Cell 5050 27 SMD LED Bulbs Fog Daytime Running Light 12V | eBay

i probably won't have time to install and report back until Memorial weekend. I'm going to try to order bright LED bulbs to replace everything in the dash on that weekend!

Oh, and the T5 LEDs for for the small bulbs in the instrument panel arrived. A day late due me to install them.

Isn't that always the way?

 

Just replaced the VVT seals

 

The centre vents had done the usual where the horizontal flaps didn't. Faced with either paying silly money for a second hand unit with the same built-in design fault or dismantling and rebuilding, I opted to repair.

Here's the remains of the culprit:


A cynic might say that the cutouts on the bottom are designed to make the part fail, but I'm sure there's a good engineering reason for them.

Took hours, but I won. Finished reassembly and reinstalled this morning

 

Since I always play music on a USB thumb drive or a CD, the antenna going up and down for no reason bothered me. So, inspired by this video I put a switch in the center console:

 

Fixed the handbrake switch. Easy to disassemble and clean the contacts.



Useful if like me you don't use the brake very often, and then occasionally forget that you have...

 

Had 2 injectors on bank 1 from recently replacing that were not seated good so I pulled them out and did it right. Runs even better now.

 

Eagerly awaiting the installation of my newly purchased re-manufactured transmission after A drum failure in my 1997 XK8 convertible.


Nick

 

today I adjusted my throtthle and removed some slack, see pic on slack from before below.

 

Did some maintenance on the cooling system this week end. Replaced the water pump with an ACDELCO 252800. A bit more expensive than the cheapest, but, once in hand, turned out to be made with a metal impeller. Seemed nicely built, and comes with a nice metal gasket with rubber surrounds. Came with an o-ring, too. The old pump came out fine but the edges of the lip holding the o-ring broke off on contact, so maybe it was time to let it go.

Also replaced the serpentine belt while I was there. The old one seemed fairly stiff, but showed no obvious sign of failure. Could have been original for all I know. With the belt off, hand spun all the accessories to check for worn bearings, etc. All seemed fine, including the idler and tensioner.

Those are the parts of the job I am happy with...

 

Jaguar's factory serpentine belts from this era seem to last for many years. Both of our Jaguars were built in May 2005, both of them are now beyond 100,000 miles, and both of them continue to run their factory serpentine belts with no issues....

 

Mine is still original too on the 04 XK8 and looks/feels fine. I do keep a new belt in the boot for that fateful day when the original one gives up.

 

sharing a pic of the splitter I mounted below the Arden front spoiler - small details make all the difference





front splitter on a XKR with Arden spoiler