Hello all,

Considering buying a 2004 XJ8 tomorrow. About 130k miles on it. There are a few problems that make me hesitant, so figured I would ask here before going through with it.
As a preface, car seems to be (mostly) in excellent condition. Leather is great, outside is fine with a few exceptions, all the electronics seem to work flawlessly (moonroof opens and closes, lights work in all modes, both headlights/brakelights/interior lights, etc.) it handles like a dream.

Here are the problems:
1. It idles slightly roughly
2. Misfires, on occasion
3. Coolant low warning, even though the coolant is full.
3. Not too noticeable slight knock from the right front side.
4. Radio display does not work
5. Center console does not open
6. Passenger headrest needs replacing

Obviously, the first three are what concerns me the most. The rough idle and misfires are intermittant, as I drove it , and noticed very, very little of this (but it still happened for me). It seemed to handle driving up to 45 mph just fine, the steering is smooth, etc.

I know this is a gamble. It could be as simple a fix as spark plugs or o2 rings, or as complex and expensive as a full rebuild. The car is about 2,000 dollars. Is this worth doing?

 

Get OBD readings for sensors & fuel trims, read up on them, it'll save you tons of time.

 

Do be careful, that dream, could become a nightmare real fast.

 

Hi Kasakir,

The knock from the right side is the one that concerns me the most. Without further diagnosis, you can't know whether it's something simple like a belt-driven component, or something more serious in the valve train, a rod bearing, etc. My first impression is that you would be happier spending more on an example without the knock and misfires.

In the Jaguar world there's an old saying along the lines of, "The most expensive Jaguar you can buy is the one with the lowest asking price."

Cheers,

Don

 

 I love it! Thanks for a good laugh, Don.

 

The asking is price is low so you could justify this if you imagined spending a few more $$$ on a dream car originally -- now you can just put it into the likely repairs. Can't say with any authority what this one will need but I had a used 2006 xj8 which drove like a dream for 8 years until it started developing all sorts of minor faults (leaks, sensors, engine mounts) with predictable regularity. I took care of these without too many complaints until the last repair estimate for doing everything the tech thought would be needed came to as much as the car was worth. Even then, I stuck with it for a bit longer as it was cheaper than buying another car but I felt the old girl was entering the phase of life where I would have to commit more bucks every year than I wanted. Even then, I still view the ownership experience as positive all round, every car needs work, but I was starting to worry about the jag's reliability and didn't need the hassle.

If you love the car, and have a solid mechanic for it, I'd have them take a look at it and give you sense of what it will cost to attend to any important issues. A car like this is an adventure for sure but my years with the XJ8 were great fun and I still miss her.