hello friends, I've been leeching getting answers and ideas from threads for a while now without an account so it's about time I made one.
This will be a bit of a read, no obligation to read it, but it feels incomplete to me to not tell the full background story.

1999 xk8

last September, I was able to get a 1999 xk8 convertible with a solid service history as my first car. black exterior and interior. I have been a jaguar enthusiast since I was a small child, been reading about them, drawing them, and watching videos on them for years now. my dream jags were the 1968 series 1.5 2+2 e-type, or a black on black on black xk8 coupe. obviously the xke was not realistic, i'm not rich, neither is my family. I had been searching across craigslist and facebook marketplace with my free time looking at jags dreaming for years now.

so, when the opportunity came late last year, with dad helping some to find a car with the budget I had to work with (to go to and from community college when i start), I was obviously elated. initially my budget was smaller, I was looking at volvo 240s realistically, I have a soft spot for them too, but dad was going to help and I actually had a budget to find an xk8.
I was going to own one, one day or another, and I am incredibly lucky to have gotten it as a first car. The budget was in xk8 range but still limited, my goal was an xk8, in obtainable distance (I figured most of florida, south georgia), was hoping for a little under 100k miles, maybe above, absolutely needed to have timing chain tensioners done with some history, black coupe was the dream but I definitely wasn't being picky on looks, more service history. There was a good amount of iffy cars, the better ones tended to be far away, at one point i found a light grey 2001 xk8 in tampa FL, chains done, but needed work on cats, but when the time scheduled to look at it came, (it was 3 hours away, with me being in north florida), some drama came up at home about the trip, which led to mom suddenly being shocked about dad helping and not wanting him to. she can be like this at times.
anyway I cut my losses, was disheartened that I came that close but went back to looking at lower budget things.

One day later, on a sunday evening, like a gift from heaven, a beautiful black on black xk8 convertible appeared for sale in my city, It had 82k miles, timing chain tensioners and guides done, plastic to metal bits like the thermostat housing i believe, and some other work.
The car had a rebuilt title, meaning it was actually in the obtainable price if dad helped, I researched the vin and found the auction pictures, it had sideswiped a deer, crumpled front left fender, hood a little and bumper, no airbags or frame damage.
I did the best I could and got mom to be ok with dad and I getting it again, the proximity and promises to earn some of the assistance back helped.

After going back and forth with the seller some, we went and looked at it. It was beautiful, good tires, everything worked as described, some minor cosmetic things as also described. shifted perfectly, it was surreal. He had slowly rebuilt it himself, buying parts as they came up, but needed the money for his business. respray at the replaced panels was not the best but it was perfectly presentable, zero complaints, I wanted a drivers car after all. only deviation was the foglamps being LED as he could only find one original, I forgot to pick up the single foglight he had, but I would like to find a set in the future as they look a little out of place.
Two days later, it was in our driveway looking beautiful, still felt like a dream,

fast forward soon after, dads car had issues, and he wanted to find another car in the future, but he is very busy and had to commute with the xk8 for the next 7 or so months, amassing a total of 6,000 miles.
Over this time of my limited use, my dad fell completely in love with the car, I kept it clean, it remained dead reliable, never left us stranded, only issues were me needing to reset the windows, battery not charging (replaced battery, it remained so pretty confident alternator needed soon) and occasional rich start, I think maf sensor needs cleaning.


transition to the 2008 XK story from here

dad needed another car at this point so I could get mine back, he gave me his budget to work with to find one, his last car was polar opposite to the jag driving experience and he reallly wanted another jag for himself.
(he once had the chance to buy a BRG e-type ots with a hardtop when he first moved here in the 80s for $5,000, he really liked it but it was wrong place and wrong time, he still kicks himself over it.)
dad has always driven bad cars since I was a kid, growing up the finances were very bad, a lot part due to the recession, but he also has a tendency to not really want to reward himself. He has worked a hard life and is near retirement so I helped convince him to get something nicer, as much as he liked the xk8 he has the tendency to not want to actually pull the trigger on something nice for him.

I wanted to find a mint xj8 or xj6, lower miles, an XK was a little above budget, but for him it 100% had to be local. I looked a while, found a nice black 4.2 XJ8, had a bit higher than hoped miles (130k) but was local, nice condition, good history, but major turnoff was the air suspension looked like it was going out in person. Kept looking for a long time until a matte grey 2008 XK came up very very close, it had 104k miles, but decently priced (still above budget, seller was on the used car market trend)

unless it was a coupe, another X100 was a bit out of the option because I wanted to find him something he could get in and out of a little easier. We looked at the XK, did not have an extensive test drive but it shifted well and braked good, the ad was bad quality but meeting the seller in person was nice and he was professional and selling privately. I got the service records from him and did some research, the records during his ownership were extensive, he was honest about that.
cosmetically the car needed some help, it was a drivers car from the outside, some small dings under the wrap, but fine underneath. inside needed a little help too which I noticed more and more after us buying it, but in my research I saw that 44k of the miles were put on in 2 years, from 2014-16 which added up to the good bit of highway mileage claim.
The seller maintained the car well and used it little, the owner before that however, did some questionable things like hastily gluing the glove box shut. we went back and forth on the price, agreed in the middle, and bought it.

The car is better and worse than the xk8 in some ways, I wanted something "better" than the xk8 for dad, a step above, it is newer, has bigger seats, easier to get in and out of, initially thought the trunk was bigger but its about the same in cubic space, however, the interior has some flaws, small scratching on the doorcard and over the interior, seats are good aside from one inconspicuous repaired but unpainted area on the drivers seat which I didnt notice at first, shitfter area is bad but thats normal on most x150s, it whistles at low RPMs, (seems like air intake into cabin splitter), the car is a bit louder than mine, suspension less smooth and soft, but steering less boaty, new brakes squeal.
I do feel a bit bad to be honest, he isn't complaining but I want to make the car better for him, but on the plus side we will probably rotate cars (if the xk8 makes it, more on that later) since we really like each of our cars
on the list is un/plastidipping the wheels and having them painted, sorting out or plugging the interior intake hopefully without dash removal, fixing the horrific glove box mess (thanks for giving me a path to that, forums) to really clean up the interior, it started sagging and the door fell off, (I hope the top screw isn't stripped) I bought a leather restoration kit to work on some of the doorcard scratches and refinish glovebox door, and I want to get the new brake squeal sorted out soon too.

Back to the xk8, bad news and big reason I'm here

after dad got the X150 home soon to be registered, my X100 would be back in my use, so I scheduled an appointment with a local specialist about some minor concerns, oil change and a general checkup. wrote it all down, printed it and left it in the car when dropping it off during the shops off hours.
I knew the alternator may need to be done because of the battery not charging codes, although no other indicators, but figured that would be the worst of it, and my other question was relaying my dads story that twice lately, the car had a slight delay while reversing, essentially the car would not make the reverse noise when put in gear, but it would as soon as the gas pedal was pressed and reverse as it should. happened twice, thought fluid may need to be changed, had some other questions about sourcing parts like a window seal and the lights, no huge deal.
The specialist calls me the morning after dropping it off (left it at night when the place was closed) calls me minutes after the shop opened, (I know this was immediately after reading my note, absolutely no time to physically check anything, just based off of my word. I called him back and he says the car needs transmission rebuilt, quoted 5,500, my heart sank.
he later emailed that he "wouldn't be surprised if the car needed 8 to 10k of work" but when I asked him what specifically was needed for reliability and use, he said the issues were transmission and alternator. don't know how the prices jumped there. My parents went to pick it up in the XK and bring both of the cars back as I wasn't able to make it when he said the car needed to be picked up, no work was done on it. Here's where it gets worse.

Apparently when my parents picked it up, the independent specialist went on about how bad these cars are, how they're all cans of worms, how bad of a car it was for me to buy as a first car, and that I should have gotten a "honda and then maybe moved up to a toyota", (I am a responsible driver and I did not buy this car to break traffic rules or speed) he doesn't drive any jags, seems to have a lot of distain for them, and told my parents that the car is not worth fixing and that I should sell it as is.
I was completely sick when dad told me about this, he was too, and also felt a bit insulted. The worst part is, my mom was right there to hear all of this, and you can imagine the grief I got about it after that.
The car has been in limited use since then, just moving it around some. I planned to keep this car extremely long term, my whole dream was getting my own jag that I have my attachment to, and keeping it, eventually rebuilding engine or trans in the future but not expecting trans to go out this early. I wanted to do the work I could do myself, but leave the things I could not do to professionals so I don't make it a bigger mess. The rebuilt quote not counting alternator is extremely expensive, I never expected it to be a corolla and accounted for that, but being quoted this much off the bat is a shock. even if we got the money together, it would be really hard getting around mom.
This is a big reason I'm here, I will make a separate thread later about the transmission delay and gauge the options, I really wanted some second opinions. I have some already, some people have said the A drum needs replacing, which is a bit less, or its the F clutch plate, or that a full rebuild for longevity would be better than fixing just A drum, or that the rebuild should not cost that much in the start. I don't know.

A little time has gone by, obviously don't want to sell the car "as is", and dad agrees. I would rather let it be a beautiful lawn ornament and nuclear swap it in 30 years than capitulate to selling it because of the jag specialist/critics' "advice".

The plan is: I want to have the alternator done, and engine/transmission fluid, maybe have it tested more extensively than strictly based off my note. I know something's wrong because of the delay which has happened a couple more times, but maybe I have some time, maybe the transmission fluid will show metal which will give a more solidified answer. My issue is that I don't have a real lift so the alternator job would be hard on my own, I want to find a professional shop to do this all, but I don't want to bring it back to the jag specialist I wrote about.
For now the car is on limited use until i find a place, I don't want to drive it being a little overdue on oil change, the jag guy could be right about the issues, good chance trans needs rebuild, but the whole ordeal was just bad vibes, his view of them and bashing makes me not want to return.

my luck is that the exact day dad registers his car and gets it on the road, I get this news




XK with a fellow jag


1999 xk8 4.0
2008 XK 4.2

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums JeremiahLovesJags,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

welcome to the forum - sorry to hear about the XK8 woes but I would try to find a transmission specialist that works on ZF transmissions and see if fluid/filter change resolves the issue. Yes these earlier year XK8's have known issues with the A-drum of the trans, but first step is detailed diagnosis. Hopefully it's not as grim as the shop told you and you can get her back on the road and enjoy!!!

 

Hello, Jeremiah,
Congratulations on your First Jaguar! And,Ooo, What a First car that is!!
And it's BLACK! My Favorite!

Welcome to the forums from ElinorB.
(';')

 

Welcome to the forums JeremiahLovesJags,

Great Intro. Sorry to hear about the woes with the XK8.

There's two ways to run Jaguars - get rich or get dirty. Getting into DIY is going to save you a mountain of $$$ apart from the huge satisfaction of learning about an issue and fixing it yourself. Replacing an alternator is not difficult and the cost saving on removing/refitting a transmission yourself and sending it to a specialist for a rebuild is enormous.

I expect you've already found your way to the X100 and X150 forums so there's no need for links to them from me. The 'HOW TO' threads at the top are a good place to start for information on regular issues. You can also use the US Lower Atlantic Region forum by following this link https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/u...r-atlantic-66/ to find other members in your region.

Please read the guidance for new members ( https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/n...ned-up-241802/ ) which answers many of the most frequent questions about getting started.

Enjoy the forums.

Graham

 

Welcome aboard.

 

thanks for the welcomes all,
you won't have to worry about more of the long stories, just wanted to have it all there as a place to start

 

thank you, yes been going back and forth with that idea, if I had access to the equipment for transmission removal I would go for it, with the alternator I may try to do the vertical air intake method without the full lift, I just don't want to get too deep into something I may not be best equipped for, but I will probably try that,
I plan to do what I can do myself, DIY is definitely the answer to owning these.

 

thank you sklimii,
your xk8 is a big inspiration to me, I hope to reach that kind of mileage, definitely don't intend on selling it and trading it for an old honda no offense to old honda owners, have grown a deep attachment to the car already.
I was considering several options, an A drum replacement would be more affordable, but at that point maybe it would be best to have it entirely rebuilt if problems will crop up soon ahead, after all I plan to keep this car, had no intentions for resale so I would like it to last.
I definitely need a detailed diagnosis, little disappointed the shop didn't offer that to me, essentially told me to pick it up because they needed the space.
For now the plan is to do a fluid and filter change and see what diagnosis I get
thanks for reading.

 

Welcome Jeremiah, your story just goes to show that most of us here have a deep emotional attachment to our cars. That' why we got them in the first place! As you have so painfully learned, it is very difficult to find someone that will work on our older Jags. Even many specialist shops don't want to mess with them. Many will make all sorts of excuses but the standard is that they won't work on cars over a certain age, usually twenty years old, but often younger. You can run into a lot of negativism about the Jaguar marque and for some reason, many people will not hesitate to share their opinions, even when you don't ask them for it!

Your XK8 is really a beautiful car, it will be well worth the effort. As others have said it will help if you can cultivate your DIY skills. This forum is invaluable to your journey. Welcome aboard!

 

Welcome to teh Forums.

Like Graham has mentioned, I went the "get dirty" path in 1968, and never looked back.

I maintain NO ONE cares for your car like YOU.

Good luck.

 

Welcome to the forums, I’m with Graham and Grant. Get dirty.

 

Thank you, they are definitely cars of our hearts, maybe more of a hassle to own than hondas but life is too short to drive something you don't care for.