Hi all. I am thinking about buying a X308, and have been looking for quite some time. I am not in a rush, but recently found one that piqued my interest: 1998 with 83,000 miles. The current owner has had the car in storage ( Pacific Northwest region) and is unable to get it started: "Engine wont start but ran before storage. Transmission fault". He's selling as a project or parts car, but it looks to be in very nice condition both inside and out. I am able to "turn a wrench" as the expression goes, and currently own a 1980 XJ which I maintain myself.

Noting how sensitive the X308s are to voltage drops, could this be an undercharged/undervoltage battery? I have read that this could cause no starts and various codes like transmission fault to be triggered?

I am aware that Nikasil deterioration may be an issue, so intend to check the air filter and tube running to the throttle body for oil residue, but if the car was running before storage, this is unlikely to be the cause.

Other possibilities: flooding that washed the cylinder bores dry of oil? Loose engine to chassis earth (ground) strap?

Lastly, if the consensus is that it's the battery, how important is is to preserve the codes when replacing? Does the 1998 have the radio codes that will be lost? And will the reset to the engine and trans ecu's cause havoc?

Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks!

 

Datrachs,

It seems you are pretty much aware of the x308 issues.
I guess it all depends a bit on the honesty of the owner, but if the car really ran before storage, it might indeed be something small like the battery.
My battery was not the best for 2 years, and died in span of 2 days, with indeed all warnings going off as mentioned in this forum.

Besides, I don't think a transmission fault should prevent the car from starting.

On the other issues, the general consensus is that, if the car runs fine by now, the Nikasil engine is ok.

Bore wash can always an issue, there is an other recent thread of someone solving it by pressing the accelerator pedal for a while to throw some oil around and restore compression, without going to the process of adding oil through the spark plug gaps.

The earth straps are always good, but unless the car is stored in a very wet environment, I should put that away for now.

I think most US cars did not have a code, not sure on Canadian ones.
If they have, you might find a code in the instruction manuals, the gloove box, or written in the engine compartment.

If the original battery is not dead already, you might keep 12V during the changing process through some jumper cables, to prevent temporary power lose.
However, performing a 'hard reset' (disconnect the negative pole, and touch on the positive for 10-30 sec.) will reset all systems, is not bad for the car (but you will indeed loose the radio code if it had one), and might prevent you form other erroneous messages later.

E.

 

A lengthy time in storage would strongly point to an undercharged battery, especially since all seemed fine prior to the car being stored.

My 1998 had no radio code issues even with several battery disconnects and "hard resets" during its recent rehab.

 

There could be several things going on here...

One is the fuel, obviously old and needs completely drained along with a new fuel filter. The fuel pumps aren't the most stout in these cars. In fact just over two years ago (11/2013), I bought a 00' XJ8 with 21,430 miles on it. The 82 year old original owner woman I bought it from had just under 1/8th a tank of gas in it and instead of filling it with gas, I had it towed from her house to the shop I work at and promptly replaced the fuel pump and filter. It's not just the age of the pump, it's the lack of use is why these pumps fail. We get low mileage/hardly driven cars that need fuel pumps quite often.

Two, as you already know the tensioners is the heavy concern. Even if it's not broken, you know they will be soon.

Three, was the storage. Being NW states, I'd say high humidity. You could have ground corrosion or the positive cable junctions that can also corrode.

Hope that it is only a battery and some fresh gas to at least start it. Or if the price is too good to pass up.

 

An early model will have 2 major fail points (you can probably rule out the Nickasil issue by now ):

Gearbox failure.
Tensioners.

If the gearbox has not been sorted in the recent past its only a matter of when not if, unless you are very lucky.

Tensioners can be done quite cheaply (secondary ones) but would advise doing this ASAP.
If it was me the gearbox would worry me, the cost of a reconditioned replacement runs into the thousands.

Also early models had dodgy throttle bodies so I believe, another quite large expense.

I bought my MY2000 X308 based on the fact that it had a recon gearbox fitted - I had to lay out for tensioner/thermo housing replacement together with normal age related repairs (major front suspension overhaul, wheel bearings etc), but I knew roughly what I was buying at the time.
I suppose it depends on the asking price and your attitude towards spending money on it !

 

It might be something simple. I think you might need to reset the inertia switch. You might also try a different key (if they have more than one key). Jumper it with a good battery: see if it starts. If not, assume bore wash (it has been awhile since oil has been pumped), hold the gas pedal all the way to the floor and crank it (this shuts off fuel but allows oil to pump) for a few seconds, then again, then let up and see if it starts.

After that, maybe some corroded relays or fuses.

Once it starts and drives away, all of the other issues can be addressed as necessary.

 

You can also mitigate the gearbox issue completely if you purchase an XJR over an XJ8. The XJR has the Mercedes 5 speed and is bulletproof. Plus the odds are the tensioners will have been done on any car that is still running.
The Nikasil issue is related to high sulfur fuels, which we never really had to worry about in the states. My XJR has them and they are in perfect shape. Premium fuel is a must.
If you do purchase one, ask about any overheating in the past, and have the entire coolant system checked by Jag as soon as you purchase it.

 

I think you are giving very bad advice suggesting that any car running can be assumed to have good tensioners. There have been at least 8 to 19 reports of engine failure in the last few months due to tensioner failure. Two or more this month!

 

I said the "odds are", I would never assume. When I bought mine it had the second gens on there. Since I ended up with most of my motor apart anyhow, I replaced them with third gens with the shorter hex bolts. DCR now makes a fourth generation kit as well. Not really sure what the difference is supposed to be there.

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If the car has been maintained, this should have been done already. It is such a major issue, that if it hasn't been taken care of, there is no telling what else has been neglected.

 

Thanks to all you you for sharing your knowledge and experience. What I'm hearing is that the later cars are an improvement over the 98's. I do know that Nikasil was abandoned in summer 2000 ( I have the date on my iPhone somewhere), and I have read that some 2002 cars had the third gen (metal) secondary timing chain tensioners installed during manufacture. And yes, I'd love to find a nice XJR with the Merc gearbox, but they are very hard to find in the Northwest. One went up for sale in Vancouver with 150,000 miles on it and sold within 24 hours! Mileage was a bit high for me to enquire. I shall continue to look. Hopefully something nice will come up for sale in the Spring.

 

I'd like to add that I subsequently chatted to the current owner, who has tried jump starting (good battery in parallel to the undercharged one) and also removed the plugs and added a small amount of oil to each cylinder. This should have taken care of any bore wash as well as restored compression enough to start. So this would seem to point to bad gas or probably plugged up or failed fuel pump; or bad gounding or some other electrical gremlin. Either way, I'd probably be better served by starting with something that runs and attending to tensionsers, thermostat and housing, waterpump, cleaning the throtle body and replacing trans fluid.