Been in the market for a used "business" type car. Scored a screaming deal on a 99 XJ8 with 100K light footed miles, FREE. Figured I'd rather spend a couple grand on fixing her up then make payments on a new car. It belonged to my father who keeps his cars immaculately clean inside and out but he has the mechanical skills of a golden retriever. Car began to have issues with starting and rather than take it back to the very expensive and only Jag shop in town he just gave up and bought a Honda. He parked the Jag in the driveway and it sat covered for 2 years. Exterior and interior are in great shape but a family of rats made the engine bay their new home. When I popped the hood I was greeted by a very angry rat the size of a small cat. I've been working on cars of all types since I was 15 but this is my first Brit. I've fixed just about all there is to fix on a car including engine and tranny rebuilds but I knew this was going to be a challenge simply because parts are not just down the street at Autozone and they are NOT cheap.

So far I have done the following:
-Cleaned out all the rats nests under the hood.
-Cut and replaced all the wiring they chewed up.
-Battery was dead so i replaced it.
-Discovered the fuel pump was dead so I replaced it.
-Transmission was slipping so I drained and refilled the fluid. Talk about a PITA! Why make a tranny without a dip stick?!?!
-Changed the oil
-Many of the fuses were blown from the rats shorting the wires so I replaced those.
-Bank 1 Knock sensor was throwing an error so I replaced it.
-Plugs were in bad shape so I put all new ones in. Pleased to see no discoloration that might suggest a leaky gasket or running rich/lean.
-Alternator bit the dust and I'm still waiting for a replacement to come in.

There are a number of issue that I still have to fix and here is where I would very much appreciated your help.

I'm getting a C1165 code which is a right rear speed sensor. Very pricey to replace and despite cleaning it, it is still throwing the error code. Does the speed ring also need to be cleaned? I noticed that it looks very dirty and a little corroded. Is it worth the effort to pull it out and lightly sand the peaks to expose some of the metal? Because that stupid sensor costs so much I think I might just check out some junk yards and see if I can find a 98-03 jag and pull a couple.

Next issue is a mysterious code C0500. I can not find anywhere what this code is. Any thoughts?

Next, the speedo does not work. It just bounces at a consistent rate between 10mph and 15mph if I'm in park or doing 90mph on the highway. I read that there is no physical cable to the tranny but its read through the speed sensors on the wheels. Is this true?

Last issue is a slight shaking at idle and shuttering when above 3000 RPM or under heavy load. Its like the engine just refuses to put the power down. I know this issue just screams "BAD COIL" but I'm not getting an error code for it which is odd. I swapped the coils around to see if I could force a code on another cylinder but nothing. While parked, I pulled the connector on each coil one at a time to see if the rough idle remained unchanged showing me which coil was bad. Every coil I disconnected made the idle worse so that test was a bust. Not a great way to test for a bad coil but worth a shot. Anything I can try to narrow down this issue without dropping $130 on a new coil and spending hours moving from cylinder to cylinder? Would the bad speed sensor cause this by putting it into some kind of limp home mode?

Sorry for the super long first post, but I've been working at this for 3 days non-stop and I'm running out of ideas.

Thanks for the help.

 

Welcome to the Forum. You've taken on a Herculean task.
Rats and electrics are not a favourite combination.
Please take time to visit
New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
and introduce yourself so we can all say 'Hello'.
Google says
C0500,"Układ wspomagania kierownicy, elektromagnes - usterka"
which I'm sure you find as helpful as I did.
If you've got variable power steering it could be the pressure sensor for that.
The speed is derived from the wheel sensors, I don't know which one in this car.
It is worth cleaning the sender wheel - if there's metallic crud between the 'teeth' that may confuse the sensor.
Have you changed the fuel and replaced the fuel filter?
A blocked filter may be the cause of your running problems.

 

I think the right rear speed sensor is also the reference for the speedo. You may have to check that the rats haven't chewed that wire also. You can check whether the sensor is ok by comparing its resistance to one of the others. If the computer doesn't get a proper signal from the sensor, it will probably put the car into restricted performance mode, hence the rough running, especially at 3000rpm. Should show up on dash display.

 

Thank you so much Steve for the response. Yes, its a big task but I LOVE having projects. I work at a desk all day so getting physical and dirty is my idea of a good time.

I didn't replace the fuel filter or the fuel. That is a very good point and I should have known better. This is exactly the type of advice I was hoping to get. Another set of eyes is so helpful. I'll put that on my list of things to do ASAP. Unfortunately the tank is filled to the brim and I don't have anything big enough to hold 20 gallons. Maybe one of those large Rubbermade storage tubs?

I just took apart the alternator right now and found a few of the metal rod connectors on the rectifier completely corroded away. Looks easy enough to solder new ones on so I'm going to give that a shot before I buy a while new alternator. The brushes look good and the bearings are still smooth as butter.

 

Interesting. I'll pull the left side tomorrow and compare the ohms. Thanks so much for the tip.

 

If the tank is full you may be OK - see what come out when you do the filter - maybe just run a gallon out because any gunk/water will be at the bottom of the tank.

 

Two year old ethanol gas is definitely a problem to be addressed. Go buy 3-4 five gallon containers and pump it out. An open container of gas is not a wonderful idea.

. . . and welcome to the wonderful world of Jaguar!

 

If the tank was full -even with ethanol in the mix - I'm not convinced it would absorb a significant amount of water even though the lifetime is said to be a few months.This
Order Quik Check Solution
at $10 is cheaper than 20 gallons of petrol.

 

Where are you in CA? I may have a couple sensors I could send your way. (involves moving things in the garage)

 

I wouldn't worry about the gas. Change the filter. When u take the filter loose gas will continue to run out of the line so have a bucket ready. Easy way to drain the tank if u choose to do so. Also rough idle can also be sign that the maf sensor is dirty and maybe throttle body need cleaned. Clean the part load breather hose connection on both bank. Completely clean the air hose going to the throttle body. Look for cracks in it. Make sure u don't get a sucking noise like air leak. After u clean it and the maf etc un hook the battery for hour or so or do a hard reset. Should take care I ur rough idle issue. Speed sensors are cheap on eBay. The speed ring doesn't need sanding. Check the connectors. Are u getting stability fail or traction control fail? How did U refill ur tranny? There are posts that tell u about shifting thru the gears while adding fluid and all etc.

 

man...i hate to say it.. but I'd almost run away from this problem... maybe even do the unthinkable and put in a corvette engine. Rats in cars is never a good thing...

 

I'm in Santa Cruz. Not really local unfortunately . I'd be more than happy to cover shipping if you are willing to drop them in the mail. I swung by a couple junk yards this morning and none had a XJ8. Damn things are so easy to remove. I saw a XJ8 in a local store parking lot and figured I could have that thing out in 30 seconds . J/K, not that type of person at all. I firmly believe that there are two things in life you never touch..... a guys woman and a guys car.

I ended up draining the tank. Might not have been necessary but its an easy step to take when ruling things out. I used the fluid transfer pump I bought to fill the transmission and pumped out the gas into 2 ten gallon tanks borrowed from a buddy who races dirt bikes. I also replaced the fuel filter. I like to use 2 small vice grip pliers on each end of the filter hoses to keep the gas from pouring out when disconnected. Works great. The car is running a bit better now with the new filter. I think i'm going to pull the fuel injectors in a few minutes and give them a good cleaning.

The car is running much better now with the new filter but I still have a bad alternator. If I hook up the jumper cables to my other car, the Jag runs like a champ. Idle is smooth and throttle response is peppy. When I remove the jumpers the idle gets rough but it will continue to run for 5-10 minutes until it just stalls. I hooked up a multimeter to the battery and could just watch the life being sucked away. The Alternator seems to be the main reason its running rough and why I'm getting a lot of random codes. The low voltage is triggering many of the sensors to report a error. Today I remove all the corroded solder points on the rectifier and re-soldered them with new copper rods. Reinstalled the alternator and no dice, its still dead. Can anyone tell me the best place to get a repair kit for it? My guess is I only need a new Voltage Regulator but would like to buy a new Rectifier and Brushes as well just in case.

 

Run away? I love challenging projects. I kid you not, when I don't have a project of any kind in the works I will drive to the auto parts store and Home Depot and walk the isles looking for something to build. I need to have something to work on at home when I'm not at work or I go crazy. Sitting behind a desk all day is 10x harder for me than spending 12 hours under the hood of a car. I actually don't have A.D.D., quite the opposite actually. I was just brought up in a home where we always were working. "Unproductive" is not in my vocab.

I am sooooooo close to having this car mechanically complete. All I need is the speed sensor and alternator. New Stereo system goes in tomorrow after work. Talked to a paintshop today about painting her a dark Gunmetal gray . Not sure if its worth the money yet but i'm thinking about it.

 

Try EBay for the alternator repair kit, though I remember Plums saying he managed to get them from his local car electrical specialist.
We get ours from EBay UK.

 

As far as injectors and valves, run few tanks with Lucas injector cleaner through the car (I add Lucas to every 4-5th tank). This stuff works, and the car loves it.

 

Hat's off to you. I love these Jaguars also and would do the same actually with a Super V8.

 

Found a shop online that deals with foreign auto parts (foreign to me). $60US for a salvaged complete alternator with a 6 month warranty. Not a bad deal.

Too late. I already pulled, cleaned and reinstalled them . I wanted to see how hard the process was and the answer is not at all. In fact its probably the easiest i've ever worked on. I like to use seafoam myself but i'll have to try a bottle of Lucus one of these days. Thanks for the tip.

I've always heard Jags were a pain to maintain, especially in the electrical department. This might be true but I will give Jag credit for making an engine/car that is very easy to work on. Everything is basically accessible and in plan view. There is also plenty of room to work. The newer American and Asian cars are the hardest things to work on ever! They make the engine as small as possible then try to cram as much into it as they can. More room left around the sides right? NOPE, we will make the car smaller too so only people with hands the size of a 5 year old boy can service the engine. Whatever engineer thought it would be a good idea to put all the spark plug ports in different locations and angles of the block should be shot! There, I said it. It needed to be said.