Hi all,
I'm new to the forum and new to jag ownership. After wanting one since I could drive I finally bought a 2007 xj8 l a couple weeks ago with 62000 miles, ebony with mocha interior and barley piping. Gorgeous. I bought it from a dealer in Michigan who had purchased it from the original owner way up in nova Scotia Canada.
The Carfax is very, very thin on service records. I can't find any problems other than some blemishes and corroded side marker light. Dealer replaced brakes and rotors, oil and filter and did safety inspection that's it.

Any suggestions on what service I might want to do or have done now just in case? Maybe spark plugs, etc?
Any wisdom would be well received. Also the Tokyo open road tires on it sound like a tractor. I'm leaning toward continentals as an upgrade. Thoughts anyone?

 

Hello Jim,

I too am new to Jag ownership. I bought my "dream car" less than a month ago. I just replaced the tires on my XJR a few days ago. I went with Nitto Motivo tires in size 255 35 20 (this is the standard size for the 20" Sepang rims). I got them at Discount Tire and paid $157 per tire. With tax, installation, disposal, and certs the total was $867.

I looked at the Continental DWS tires, but they were closer to $200 each so I went with the Nittos to save a little money. So far they seem quite good. The road noise is good and is about the same or a little less than the Bridgestone Potenzas that were on the car (and are way more expensive). The Nittos also had a 60,000 mile warranty and that sealed the deal for me.

As far as other maintenance, it's about the same as other cars. I'm a big believer that preventative maintenance will help to avoid more costly repairs later. I had the rear dif. oil changed on mine since the mechanic said it was really dirty. I've also changed my own oil. I'm going to do a coolant flush in the near future.

One other thing to consider is the transmission fluid and filter change. Search on here for that and you will see that it is quite the hot topic and a serious point of contention. I lean towards servicing the transmission and using only the ZF LifeGuard fluid. This is expensive, but you can save yourself some money if you do the work yourself. All the stuff needed to do this service yourself can be found here: Oil change kit for 6HP26/28/32

Congratulations on the new car!

 

Same to you Mr.white and thanks. The dealer also "checked" the transmission fluid but I honestly don't know what that entails. I came across the original owners info in the glove box and am tempted to shoot him a post card and ask for info. Good call on the differential fluid.

 

Off the top of my head:

Transmission fluid & filter.
Coolant flush and renew (and use rainwater or demin water, not tap).
Brake fluid (unless you know for sure it was recently changed).
Engine oil & filter (if you aren't sure of the service history).
Fuel filter (ditto)
Spark Plugs (ditto)
Air filter & cabin filter (ditto)
Power steering fluid.

And maybe change the piston ring in the suspension compressor (Bagpipingandy kit) and the dessicant.

Get the aircon checked by an aircon specialist.

Get suspension bushes checked, especially the damper bushes and bushes in the lower suspension arms, and get them replaced if they show much sign of wear.

Check all the rainwater drain tubes are clear.

 

Not often a Canadian car ends up in the US. Does having a metric speedo reading take some getting used to?

These cars don't need much prior to 100K miles, certainly not plugs. At 62K miles it's just barely broken in.

 

That is what I like to hear. Actually the speedometer is the same, both miles and km no mental math necessary. The dealership is the biggest in Michigan and apparently does a lot of buying out of Canada. They told me the Canadians don't use nearly as much salt on the road. I don't know if that is true or not.

 

A Canadian car will have the KM/HR numbers on the speedo in large font and the MPH numbers underneath in much smaller font. A US car will be the opposite. We see a lot of US import cars here- it's a dead giveaway when car shopping.

Horsesh*t. , especially the Maritimes where your car supposedly originated.

Most likely the car was stored over the winter.

 

What? Are you suggesting a car dealer would inaccurately state a fact? As for the speedometer. It is a standard U.S. speedometer. The KM is smaller. Looking at the car fax and the import paperwork helpfully left in the glove compartment, the car came in through baltimore, was shipped to the Jag dealer in Cincinnati then sold to the gentleman in Canada. Lived there until 2015 then purchased by the Michigan dealer then by me. Now it's back in Ohio where it belongs. Maybe that is why it has the larger miles markers. Interesting though. I thought the no salt thing smelled a bit pasture like. Though there appears to be very little rust on the under carriage or under the door frames, etc. Given the mileage, it may have been stored in the winter. The "home" location was still programmed in the nav system and it was way the heck up there with lots of blue around. My guess is he drove a dog sled in the winter.

 

It sounds like it's a US car by birth that one of my fellow Canadians took back home.

I only take my sled out on really bad days. With all the silly Algore global warming stuff it's hard these days getting enough seal meat and whale blubber to feed the dogs.

 

Well your countryman sure took good care of this cat. He did leave a remembrance poppy sewn into the underside of the sun visor which I like. I just wish the car fax had more service records from newfoundland. Other than registration its very thin. I do wonder why the fellow would buy the new jaguar from a dealer in Cincinnati and immediately register it in Newfoundland.

 

I thought it was Nova Scotia?

Buying 'grey market' cars and other high cost items can be cost effective depending on currency exchange rates and local marketing practices. At one point it was cheaper for Canadians to buy Canadian-built cars (Camaros for instance) in the US than it was at home.