Pretty car Xenophobe.

 

very nice

 

Thanks guys! For a 14+ year old car, I can't believe how many heads still turn. I know it still turns mine. I even have to go out and look at it every once in a while just to make sure it's still there!

 

Mine is an '03 but the body style is nearly identical to yours. I regularly get stopped by people who want to know what kind of car it is. When I tell them it's an '03 they are always very surprised. They think it's a new car.

Yesterday I was leaving a fast food restaurant with the top down. Another car drove by, and the passenger, who had his window rolled down, yelled "Nice Maserati!" He was gone before I had a chance to correct him.

 

nice car xeno, and don't forget to tuck that convertible boot cover into the body, or else it may make some marks on easily scratched black paint. (you may have just did that for a few pics) She looks freshly detailed!

 

Beautiful car - identical to mine. Get used to people commenting on how pretty it is, I get compliments almost every time I'm out.

If you haven't already, buy a mid range code reader and a bootleg copy of the JTIS manual off eBay. Also, there are some excellent .pdf's you can download from the Fourm for free.

As the saying goes, "I'd rather push my Jaguar than drive most other 11 year old cars."

 

As quoted by Rev. Sam
Yeah and it's real rough having to deal with people asking if your driving a new car.
Last fall a gal asked me the same question and couldn't believe it was 10 years old.
Doug
2001 XKR Silverstone

 

Thanks guys.... yeah, she is a beauty. Hell, I can't believe it's 15 years old. The features are just incredible... I was backing up into a spot, switched to my right mirror, lowered it so I could see the paint line... when I shut off the car, the mirror went back to normal position. I mean, what the hell? Who thinks of this stuff and actually implements it in a car... that long ago? Just... wow.


I took her to back to the service guys... I thought it was a dealer, turned out to be Hill Motors. They were very friendly, didn't mind me hanging out and asking a ton of questions and were better with prices than I had imagined. They also knew the car and went through the service records with me.

Bad news: On the way there one of the coils died, so I had to limp there.

Good news:

Coolant leak at thermostat housing corrected.
Replacement metal water pump already installed.
Metal thermostat housing already installed.
3rd gen. secondary tensioners already installed.
ABS unit completely rebuilt.
Transmission rebuilt with reinforced snap ring with 25k miles on it.

So that really leaves me with replacing the corroded headlamp lens with a new one and the shop suggested that I use the resistor to reduce the voltage to the convertible hydraulic pump.

The suspension bushings should be replaced, however my tire wear isn't really uneven and it handles great. I'm going to have to think about this one, it's not cheap. I guess I need to start shopping quotes if I decide I'm gonna keep her for the long term.

So, that's about it for now short of having it waxed and detailed. I'm completely happy with my purchase and just love this little car to death. I guess I got lucky, but time will tell.

 

Actually I didn't know that until I was looking at some other pictures. This is my first convertible and I don't have the manual, so I had no clue. lol. I do tuck it in now.

And no, it's not detailed at all yet. She's just really clean. Once I get the detail I'll put an effort to take some better pictures. But, I can't promise that, I'm having way too much fun just driving.

 

Congratulations on the maintenance history! Especially the transmission and tensioners.

You do need to address the hydraulic top operation issue. Review both the pressure regulation and the resistor solution and make your own decision.

The suspension issues will eat $600 of tires in a few thousand miles and these cars have a history of front suspension issues. That needs to be fixed.

I think you won the lottery!

 

Good deal, and go get your manual here (in PDF form, but better than a kick in the crotch)...and find all sorts of good information to download to your computer while your reading.

 

From another '97 owner, that's looks great!
And another congrats on the maintenance history. I bought mine because the tensioners and transmission were already done.
I will add that after being worried about the top hydraulics, if you'll search for the poll on what years were prone to failures you'll find zero '97s on the list. May have changed since the last time I looked. Just sayin', there are good things about a '97.
Blue skies,
Mike

 

Yeah, I think I won the lotto too! It's nice to know most of the major issues have already been taken care of... the suspension is gonna be a tough decision, but I'm already leaning towards full bushing replacement.


I didn't actually see the manual there. There's the 2 pdf sales literature, but it seems like it covers most of the stuff I need to know.


Yeah, I noticed that. I think I'll still do the resistor method though. The guy at the shop said there was a huge debate on which method to use, resistor vs pressure regulator... the easier and cheaper method is probably best if it works.


Wow, still thrilled about my new purchase! Glad this forum is here and all of you are friendly.

 

Good to hear it turned out ok

I kind of did the same thing last summer, buying my first Jag without enough knowledge about these issues. Sure, I had read a bit on the forums about the tensioners and the waterpump, but the seller wasn't sure if those had been fixed. He only had the car for two years and wasn't really an enthusiast. He just wanted a good looking car. I got a nice price reduction that would cover the cost for getting the parts replaced so I bought the car.

At the garage, they took off the valve cover and saw that I had the latest version of the tensioners, and the waterpump and thermostat were already replaced as well. Saved me a bunch of money Spent some of them on a service of the gear box instead since that can be an issue as well.

But I do have the issue with the suspension up front being worn. It pulls a bit to the left. Gonna take care of that this year. It also seems like the car has had some damage to the body work, in front of one of the rear wheels. You can in certain light conditions see that the paint below the door differs a little bit. There's no dents, but something has been done there.

Another concern is the fact that the car has had 15 previous owners, forgot to check that part before purchase but I suspect it has changed owner within the same family a few times for insurance purposes. Not too uncommon with certain insurance companies that don't allow you to change the insurance type when it's time to put the car in storage for the winter months. If the car changes owner you can get a new cheaper insurance.
Besides, the car is in such good condition that I have no doubt previous owners took good care of it.

But in all, I think I got pretty lucky with my purchase. The car runs great, looks great and is a real pleasure to drive. Haven't had any issues at all with it. Now it's up to me to make sure this black cat get as good treatment as possible

 

Xeno,

I can promise you it works. Maybe you saw this already, but here's a resource: www.scorekeeper.com/jaguar/jaguar02.htm

One point to add: be especially careful with soldering and/or assembly of crimp connectors. The only problem cases we've had were traced to troubles in those areas.

Several guys here have done this job. Help is a post away should you need it.

Best,

 

Xeno, the hydraulic top fix should be at the top of your list of things to do. I took the electrical route and installed the resistor, but that's because I'm an electrical guy and I was comfortable doing it. It was also about $290 cheaper, and I'm a tightwad. Ideally I would have preferred the pressure relief valve because it's a more elegant solution, and it looks to me as if the pump was designed with a port for the return of oil from the pressure relief valve. But, I couldn't justify spending the money when I thought the resistor would provide 99% of the benefit for 3% of the cost. To each his own, however. I still might switch to the valve eventually when I run out of other little projects to do on the car.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend that anyone install the resistor solution based only on cost, if he felt the technical approach was not as good as another. After all, this is an expensive system we're modifying.

On the technical side, the resistor method involves a minimally invasive, easily reversible install, and lowers the workload on the pump motor. A disadvantage is that it uses a less direct method of controlling pressure.

Looking at BMW, Saab, MB and a few domestics hasn't turned up a convertible top hydraulic system using a relief valve (maybe missed one, of course). Some of these use Powerpacker pumps, as do our cars. At least one design (MB) may now be using voltage control of the pump motor, based on the presence of an "ECU" co-located with the pump. (The resistor solution is sort of a poor-man's ECU.)

Saab, I think it was, seems to use a clutch between the motor and pump, but I have only a dim memory on this. Those guys at Saab are anything but conventional.

 

Welcome aboard from another old Mopar aficionado (1968 Barracuda fastback and 1970 RoadRunner). The original XKE's were the very first car I recall falling in love with, and finding my 2005 XKR a couple of years ago completed that dream. Others here can attest to the amount of soul-searching and research I did before making the decision. Basically, I chose to ignore practicality and really just decided that the quirks were minor compared with owning a piece of rolling artwork and timeless beauty.


Doug

 

Yeah, mine has a slight pull to the left as well. I'll have the tires rotated in the next day or so to make sure it's the alignment, as one front tire is more worn than the other... not due to uneven wear, but probably due to the last owner not having the tires rotated soon enough (there is another tire on the back with nearly identical wear).


Oh, thank you for that link. That's better than the previous one that I looked at. If I can find the connectors, I think I'll make the plug in solution. I'll go to the electronics store today. With luck they'll have the connectors as well.


Being comfortable making minor mechanical or electrical modifications, I feel the resistor method is better for a number of reasons. It's simple, elegant, easily reversible, and cheap... as mentioned.

As for which works better? In the end, the pressure regulator will prevent critical overpressure while the resistor won't, but with the resistor you'll most likely never reach that point anyway. The resistor would require less observation and maintenance. The pressure regulator would need to be regularly monitored and fluids, most likely, needing regular inspection or maintenance. I'm not sure if I like the idea of installing an overflow tank, or having the overflow spill onto the road. I'm not sure if that issue was addressed though, I only briefly skimmed that portion of the topic.


I've always wanted an XK8, but hadn't given it much thought in the last decade. I did recently look through old muscle cars and coming to the conclusion that I wanted an SRT8 Charger... Then I ran into this beauty. At less than 1/6 the cost... it just seemed like I was getting too much for my money. I still feel like that, but the suspension upgrade is likely to change my perspective a little.

My first car was a 69 GT Dart 340. After that I've owned 73 Challenger 340 and a 1970 Plymouth Belvedere. Also a 78 280z, Porsche 924, 70 Mustang fast back and a few others. Out of every car I've ever owned, this one just feels a little bit more special. Can't quite put a finger on it, but I don't need to, I get a s**t eating grin every time I look at it or drive it.

 

xeno, check this out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1997-...item230e961b28