Just bid on a 2000 XKR with 40,000 miles on BAT. One of the comments is that the XKR engines were designed so that the cam tensioners were not a concern. Would like to hear if people here agree with that statement.

Thanks in advance.

 

I may be wrong but I believe its the year of the engine build, and they did not "resolve" this inferior tensioners problem until after 2002. There is a specific engine number after which installed are metal tensioners. So no its not an X or R , it's all.

 

Aye, I doubt the design was meant to fail. Just unfortunate that the execution was rubbish until gen #3.

As Mark says, it's the same part in both motors.

 

Yeah, the tensioners failed on my ‘02 XKR @ 115,000 miles (previous owner had it then).

the BaT description is wishful thinking or downright deception. Take your pick.



Z

 

My XK8 has almost 232k miles on it. I am assuming if the tensioners were to fail they would have by now?

 

still a risk, an avoidable risk, imho. I wouldn’t know how to quantify the odds.


Z

 

Thank you all for your informative comments. As you probably know, the car sold for $25,000 which to me would be a reasonably fair price if the top hoses and tensioners had been replaced.

 

You'll read all the normal stuff, my advice is look for the supercharged XKR 4.2. I had a 2001 XK8 and loved it. It was immaculately maintained in and out but offered me some small projects which kept my mind occupied during a time that was important. But, I thought it was slow. I didn't feel anything under my foot to excite until the revs came up. I was going to check out a couple simple things but it got rear-ended and of course they totalled it. Very easy to happen with these, it doesn't take much. So, I would recommend insurance with agreed value from a collector insurance, Hemming, Grundy...even Geico uses a 3rd party. They can be very strict with rules and whete you can't drive it but balance it out. My 2004 XKR 4.2 about jumps out of its skin. Night and day difference under foot. Highly prefer the Supercharged 4.2. With the convertible your going to get an hybrid rear speaker system. Suffice to say, the premium sound amplifier sends only sub woofer signals to the rears, but guess what the rears aren't true sub woofers. They play the spectrum of frequencies, I found it annoying but in the process of trying to upgrade them I found the amplifier was partially bad with rear frequencies so I replaced it from ebay. Then I ordered new subs but after a fitting issue I called the company and was advised the factory amp will not drive the new speakers and the sound will be worse. So just a heads up on thst across the board.
I would pay close attention to the condition of the drivers seat. The leather to me, tends to wrinkle and crease and generally look worn pretty quickly and easily if a lot of care has not been taken to protect and preserve. (The black seats show it less). Dash lights in my opinion are insufficient for day time top down and in some cases with top up. The gagues right in front of you speed particularly sit down in a tunnel/hole. I purchased a pack of new LED lights for next to nothing and replaced them all. WOW what a difference and the gagues all just look much better.
The center dash comes with 3 gages or Navigation system. My first xk8 had the gagues but they are basically idiot lights with a needle pointer. On my first start up test drive I noticed the oil pressure needle didn't move at difference revs. Even the coolant temp "gague" in the driver console is not a real gague. It is made to appear to be rising in temp as the engine warms up but it just sits there after. You will see a change if something happens, no oil pressure, overheating but if your looking for real working gagues there are systems you can install and replace. I prefer tge look of the 3 center guages over the small Navigation system. Its basically worthless anyway unless your only driving is in an area they precedes the year of your systems last update. There are some update disc out there but many don't fit and or don't work. My 2004 has the Navigation screen and I wish I had the 3 gagues. But, you can replace the Navigation with the 3 gagues and upgrade to real gagues at the same time. The downfall is you have to replace the center wood and the grain will no longer match, plus the color is likely to be different. But you could replace all 3 wood pieces from the same factory install if you're lucky enough to find the package.
Be aware the rear antenna mast is up hugh while the entertainment system is on. I don't reccomend using a car wash, but there are other ways to get it all mangled up. I hope my thoughts are valuable. Good luck!!!