Hi,
I just bought a Jaguar xk8 1999 67K. I have always wanted one on these beautiful ladies but after studying their history for a while found they had inherrent problems pre 2000. After looking around for a while i found one that had 4th generation camchain replacement, new water pump et al, brakes, disks, flushed with new oil gearbox and a host of other on the warning list replacements. The car is finished in the beautiful Antigua blue launch colour with oatmeal coloured interior. what a lovely combination. The compression is spot on so no inherrent nikasil issues there. I must say this is my first Jaguar and the build quailty is amazing. The doors have dropped but so did every other one i looked at and the corrosion is considerably better that most of the other examples i have looked at. Reading Nigel Thorneys guide to the car there are quite a few limitations on the electrics and charging the car when the battery is flat. I wish to add an amp with a subwoofer as the car has only the standard sound system. Is it ok to connect up a sub and amp or is there pre wiring for a sub in the middle of the rear seat? great site by the way

 

Welcome to the forum,

Good to have you with us.
It sounds like you have all the bases covered.

You should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.

 

Welcome,

You've certainly done your research before buying. All the usual weak points covered.

Head to the XK8/XKR 1996-2006 section for all the info and to the Audio/Visual Electronics section for even more ideas to spend your ££.

Graham

 

Hi, welcome to Jaguarforums, good to have you here with us

If you add your car details to your signature it will help others to help you much more quickly.

A really great mix of information, camraderrie and fun

In the meantime I've manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the whole site and all its features
so jump on in and enjoy

 

Gentlemen,
Many Thanks for your warm welcome. I have a couple of questions that I am hoping your expertise on these cars may assist me. Firstly i noticed the alarm went off during a severe hailstone storm. Nothing usual there as other car alarms went off too. However it went off again this morning. I do have a solar charger attached to the cigar lighter and it happened around dawn. I use the charger as the car will not be used again until October as I have a Summer car and dont want the battery to discharge. Is this related?, as the previous owner had reported battery discharge problems. The car has a new battery and the ammeter always shows 13 amps which suggests to me the alternator output is as it should be. Also I have read in a number of reviews that the cars do not take kindly to non use. The car is stored outside on shingle.

thank you in advance

 

This tech question should go on the XK8/XKR 1996-2007 section but as you've asked .................

As you suspected, the alarm triggering in hailstorms / thunderstorms isn't unusual.

The cars are also very sensitive to battery condition. Many forum members only use their cars at weekends and also store them over the winter. They have frequent problems with spurious warning lamp illumination and fault codes. Those of us who drive our cars all year round have few of these problems.

Can you run something like a CTEK charger to the car or is it too far away from mains electricity? The solar charger may be giving a spike as it kicks in causing the alarm to trigger.

Graham

 

Thank you for your reply,
First of all apologies for not posting in the correct category. I will endeavour to make sure my future postings are where thay should be. I am still getting used to the site. In the first instance i will use a lower ampage solar charger and see how i get on as the ctek charger may have issues with the boot closed and possible wire damage. The storage thing i guess i will have live with. does the car need to be started or driven to prevent the warning light problems? I had a Peugeot 406 3.0 V6 that had all sorts of problems after leaving for 6 months in the summer.

Kind regards
Oliver

 

Oliver,

It does take a while to find your way around here! This link will take you to the right place for posts about your 1998 XK8:

XK8 / XKR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

To add vehicle details to your Signature, go to the User CP button at the left of the main black menu bar on the main forum page.

The car certainly needs to be started regularly and run long enough to warm it up. Every fortnight preferably but certainly once a month if possible. Ideally it should also be driven sufficiently to warm the transmission fluid but this isn't so important.

If this can't be done, you just have to live with the possible consequential warning lights and fault codes. Nothing that's going to cause major expense but annoying to rectify nonetheless.

Graham

 

Welcome to the forum.

Good to have you with us.

Check out h20boy's threads on installing audio in his XK8, you will learn a lot.

(Norri, even for you, that pun, is baaaaad) LOL

 

Graham,
Many Thanks for your reply and valuable information. The car can be started and fully warmed at least every fortnight, so I do hope that may possibly head off any potential warning light problems until when i use the car sort of regularly in October onwards. Unfortunately I have a company car which tends to be used most days of the week for work, so if still may be only weekend use, although having got the car recently I had found every excuise under the sun to drive it every day as it was such fun!. I will repost my other questions in the correct category to conform to the site standards.
Thank you again
Oliver

 

Richard,
Many thanks for your response. I will check out h20boy details on the audio installation. Thank you again

Kind regards
Oliver

 

Hi, have i completed the new member details and signature correctly?

cheers
Oliver

 

Oliver,

You've got all the details showing in your 'garage' for the Escort and the XK8 but no details showing in Signature. Model and year info there helps everyone see immediately when reading your posts which Jaguar you have without having to open your 'garage'.

Graham