Newbie here, seriously considering buying a 1999 XJR locally with only 86k miles. It's in the color I wanted, red with beige interior. Exterior is in very good condition except for a small 6" dent and scratch on bottom of passenger side door. Interior is also in very good shape with only a small tear on driver seat but the rest of the seats are in excellent condition. The only downside to interior is the headliner cloth is dropping in the rear, right above the rear seats.

As for the tensioners and nikasil, owner does not know of the pass history. He only had it for about a year and is the 3rd owner. The only service the current owner did was oil & filter, new battery, and fuel pump replacement. I got a carfax on it and 1st owner was lease for 3 years and 2nd owner had it the longest for 9 years. Only 2 service history for 1st owner with thermostat replacement, alignment, and regular maintenance. But the strange thing is with 2nd owner cause there is no service record on carfax except for only smog inspections and a single oil & filter change right before 2nd owner purchase. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Also, the front grille is chrome and is bothering me. Didn't all the XJRs come with color matched grille? Is this a sign of body damage to the front?

Owner is asking $7,900 but I got him down to $6,000.

Thanks,
David

Here are some pics of the XJR.






Sorry I couldn't find a pic of the dent but you can barely see it in this pic. It's right on bottom of passenger door, it's the small whitish spot right before the front tire in the pic.

 

These area brilliant car and there are very few cars of similar ilk that will hold a candle to it....BUT......it concerns me that it has no sevice history.
Being an XJR means it has probably had a hard time during it's life because of the performance available.
The fact it has a ding in the door, tear in the seat and dropoping roof lining makes me wonder about it's past life.
It's quite simple to do a few normal checks....unusual growling from the suoercharger, clattering from cold start up, whine and rumble from the diff on power and over-run, saying in the suspension, clonks and rattles over rough surfaces.
Does the auto engage without clunks, does it change gears smoothly and kick down response should be immediate.
Take the oil filler cap off at idel and check for blow by.
This is all and above the normal checks for any s/hand car.
You maybe lucky to be able to pick this up for a good price and get away from doing very little to it.
If the price was right, i would take a chance ;o))

 

Take the chance at 6K? Americans are so lucky! Only thing I have to offer is the sagging Headlining was the cheapest thing I have had repaired.Same year too.Here in Australia I could spend another 10K on this without over valuing it.Due to privacy laws we cannot check all the previous owners.But a car that is 14 years old and still appears in good condition some-one must have been caring for it so if it drives well it's probably better than your worrying about.Buy it,fix it and love it.

 

Oh,and thanks for posting the Pics.I am now convinced I need the mesh grill!

 

No service records from the 2nd owner worries you? None of my cars have service records. Why? Because I am the committed DIYselfer. I don't take my cars to the dealers to be serviced, and they get BETTER service, and BETTER care overall than any other car.

A problem with a car is just a job for any mechanic. For us enthusiasts, it's a puzzle to solve, and we don't do it for money,.....we can't sleep (literally), until the problem is solved, fixed, and the car is perfect. To most people on the Earth, a car is a possesion/transportation,....to us it becomes a family member, and we take care of it as such. Mechanics get paid to fix cars as fast as possible, and they DO cut corners. I know, I've seen it. When I work on my cars, I go slow, and every nut and bolt is torqued to precission.

No service records would not worry me at all. I know cars well enough to check them before I show my money. As a matter of fact I just bought 03 XJ8 for my wife, with no records, no history, sagging headliner, scratched hood, scratched trunk lid, damaged grill, FILTHY inside and out,.....but with brand new tires, running like a champ, no interior damage (except the headliner), 102K on the clock. for 3500USD.

I spent the whole day yesterday cleaning/detailing it. As a former owner of a car wash/detail shop, I have a knowhow, and materials. I am sure I could sell the car today for about 5-7K. But I don't need money,....I need my wife to lay off my VDP! So I will go and get a new grill today, front bumper chrome, and my painter will look at the hood and the trunk. It will cost me another 1K to make it PERFECT.

If YOU don't have a knowhow to check the car before the purchase,.....you simply have to pay someone to do it. Records don't mean much.

 

Thanks for the input everyone.

I couldn't check the clattering since car was already warm when I went to see it. Car did idle very nicely with no sounds and shaking. What does blow by look like when I open oil filler cap? And does car need to be running and at idle?

The current owners are middle aged couple who rarely drove it with only 4k miles in the year they owned it. They said the previous longest owner was an older lady and the dent was already there when they purchased the vehicle. As for the dropping headliner, they never fixed it cause no one sat in the back seats. As for the grille, I really like the color matched grille surround and don't really like all the chrome. I'm just curious to why it has the chrome grille.

In the end I'm gonna go for it. I've looked at 2 other XJR available locally and they were cheaper but in bad shape. They both were for sale at $5k obo and I could see why with seats badly worn and paint that was badly faded. They were also owned currently by younger males and one when I opened the door, it had a certain type of aroma from a certain type of medicinal plant. He even had the nerve to tell me that it was never smoked in and when I opened the ashtray in the rear doors, I found some left over ashes from a joint.

 

People upgrade the grilles all the time. I recently bought the same car, 2001 model, and same color (love the color!) and discovered after I bought it about the knocking on start up.

Previous owner always had the car warmed up when I came to see it. You can do a search for my posts and read up on it a little.

I paid $ 4,300 for mine. Overall good exterior and interior. 144K miles.

Once I got the car home and the engine cooled I noticed a very pronounced knocking on start up. This would go away after the car was fully warmed up.

Took it to a very, very independent Jag shop. Owner/head tech says it's a couple of bent valves and a bad VVT (variable valve timing) solenoid. It's going to cost about 2K to get fixed and probably another 2 hundred for service issues.

I am still glad I bought the car. I love the drive, color and interior.

I am considering updating my grille to mesh OR going with a Vanden Plas fluted grille (lots of chrome).

Best of luck our new friend!

 

David, you might want to read this thread. Especially my last post today (1/14/2013).

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-member-87491/

 

Thanks for the head up!

Before I finalize the deal, I'm going to check for any engine noise from a cold start.

 

The wheels and chrome grill are add-ons. I'd look for oem original wheels for cheap money, doesn't matter what condition as long as they're round and true, you can get them powder coated for $30 per wheel. The grill can be painted body colour, don't recall the paint code but the colour is carnival red.

History is only important to a buyer - I've always found top money for cars with provenance, there's no guessing or question marks with a full service record. Bottom money for a car without reflects this fact, and is important when considering re-sale. If the car's a keeper then it doesn't matter.

It is possible to pull at least some history from the Jaguar main frame, it's finding a kind soul that will make the inquiry of the VIN number and print it off for you.

There seems to be a few of these cars changing hands with engine problems on this forum atm - read through and get an idea of the noises and issues, but don't get too hung up about it, the more info you've got the better decision you can make.

 

Took a longer test drive today and sad to say but I gotta pass on this XJR. I had all the cash in hand ready to buy it but the engine just didn't sound right to me.

Told seller to not run car so I can test the cold start for tensioner, but when I arrived I put my hand on the engine and it was warm. Drove car around for couple of miles and came back and opened the hood to find oil fumes and smell coming underneath and rear of engine. He then informed me that there might be a small valve cover leak. At the same time I could hear a distinct strange oscillating sound coming from the supercharger. Do the s/c on the XJRs make a sound when at idle? I had a Ford Lightning with S/C and it made no sound when at idle.

And finally I opened the oil filler cap with engine running at idle and I could see some smoke coming out and I had my dad give it a couple of revs and more smoke came out. Is this what everyone is referring to as oil blow-by?

Here is a short video I took of the test for the oil blow-by and you can also hear the s/c making the strange sound I was hearing. Towards the end of the video I moved my phone closer to the s/c so you can get a better sound of the strange noise.


In the end I was pretty bummed cause I really like the color combo and was so ready to buy it. But I was just scared away by what I saw and heard from this engine. Guess my search will continue on.

 

I thinok you are making the right choice to pass. That sounds like some cylinder/cylinders are not working correctly. The smoke could be from a bad exhaust vavle too. That would account for the chatter.

It can't be done but I bet a compression check would show something amiss.

The blow by can also be noticed at the exhaust pipe. You can hold a piece of paper up the the exhause pipe and watch it's movement. It should be steady and not bend more at times when the blowby occurs. Most blow by occurs as the spark plug fires and the explosion "blow by" the ring. I personally have not got quite so much smoking when the exhaust valves are burnt, bent, etc. Tho I am not saying it can't happen on these cars.

Also, as you have read my posts, the fact the guy always has the car warm is a BAD, BAD sign. The warm engine often times makes the tolerances less and the engine will run better.

Keep searching. Glad you caught this.

 

Definitely pass on that car - the engine and supercharger should not sound like that

 

Slightly different opinion here.


"Smoke coming from the oil fill cap, while engine is running" would not scare me. Temps were very much down in the Southwest last week or so, and some "smoke" (more likely steam) is normal. So the S/C pulley is making some noise? Maybe it needs a new pulley, or bearing? No big deal. There should be no blow by with this kind of mileage. Nicasil engines died long before they reached this mileage. Valve cover leak? Maybe,.....I would verify it with a flashlight,....a little valve cover leak is no big deal. This car WILL need tensioner upgrade, and the new valve cover gaskets will have to be installed. Some people see a little leak, and they crank more on the bolts,....they need to be properly torqued in the proper sequence. The car might even need another valve cover, but that's not a big deal either!

You didn't mention what did you see on the scanner? Or did you plug one in at all? I NEVER go shopping for a used car without it.

In short,.....the guy is MOST LIKELY hiding the tensioner noise (by letting you test drive the warm car), based on what the scanner would tell me, I would point all possible flaws, and make an offer. My first offer would be about 3/4 of what I am really prepared to pay, and I would start the negotiations. But I have certain knowledge about cars that you might not have.

In your shoes,.....I would take the owner and the car straight to the Jaguar dealer, and I would pay for a complete inspection. Whatever the estimate would be, I would back off my offer for that amount. I would proceed to make a deal, and have MY mechanic fix whatever needs to be fixed for 1/4 of the dealer's price.

As a matter of fact, I did all this just this last Friday. Drove to San Diego, and bought 2003 XJ8 with 102K on the clock for $3500.-

The owner did not know a SQUAT about these cars. I showed up in my MINT VDP, scanner in hand, and made a deal. I need to put another thousand in it, to make it cosmetically perfect (for my wife), but it's mechanically perfect as it is. (of course I didn't tell that to the seller!). I didn't tell him that this car has problems either (that would be unethical), but I did point out EVERY cosmetic flaw, and talked about "potential problems these cars are known for".

This car is NOTHING to be scared off. If the seller IS scared of it,.....that's your opportunity!

 

Thank you everyone for your input. I called and discussed my findings with a friend of mine who is a Jaguar mechanic and his advice was to walk away. His main concern was also the increase in smoke from oil filler when we rev the engine and the noise from s/c. He knew quite well about the nikasil problem since he had to deal with it when he worked at a Jaguar dealer.

Also on my longer test drive, I tried pushing car harder but it just didn't feel that strong and quick. Aren't the xjr's supposed to have a really nice torquey feel on acceleration when pushed hard?

As for the price, his wife was very firm on the $6k. They paid $6, 600 about 1 year ago from a used car dealer. It's a little strange though they want to sell so fast after just 1 year and right after a big service with door actuators and fuel pump replacements and all. I'm wondering if they found something out of ordinary that they don't want to say.

 

Dunno where you are located I bought mine in similar standing with no service history, more miles but no rips in the interior, zero dents, mine is a 2000 with Navi. In black with oatmeal for 4,250?? I would shop around a lot of these things for sale for cheap but if its the color you want go for it. I know there is one, starting price is 6K on CL around the SF Bay Area that has been listed forever same color.

 

A healthy XJR should feel very strong & quick-especially in the cool winter weather where the air is denser. Mine scrabbles for traction in 1st gear, sport mode-especially on poor road surfaces when the TC light is flashing away

It's possible the tesnioners might have jumped 1 tooth, which would allow the engine to run but the power would be down. This may be the reason for the cold-start noise, as the tensioners are failing & slack chain has jumped a tooth. If it jumps another tooth then pistons meet valves & your wallet meets it's maker

If you specifically requested hearing the engine start from stone cold & instead they've 'warmed it up for you' slightly, then that should ring alarm bells for starters.

As should the fact that they want to offload it so soon...

A year ago I bought a Bentley Turbo R from a trader for well below book price. It was up for sale as the previous owner (number 5!!!) had apparently bought the car a month previously, suddenly come into some money & wanted a newer car.

So he kept it for a month & then sold it again-that story rang alarm bells, but the price was well below book & there was a big wad of history, bills & receipts etc. So I took a calculated risk & bought the car-although it did have a misfire from cold...

Sure enough, 6 months later the misfire from cold turned into blown head gaskets, which I knew was a weak spot on the later Turbo R's. So I pulled the top of the engine apart & spent 3 weeks cleaning & rebuilding everything.

So you have to keep your wits about you & do your homework beforehand-and also take the seller's word with a pinch of salt.

The XJR is a seriously fast car so if it doesn't charge away from the lights like a scalded ferret, then something's amiss...

A good XJR is a car you'll want to keep forever-you'd only want to offload it quickly if you knew there was an underlying fault which you couldn't afford to repair, and you wanted to get rid of it quickly before it goes pop.

Still, it was in a nice colour though

 

David,

Go here https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...r-87491/page3/ and read post #42.

 

You spoke from my heart, Sir.

 

"To most people on the Earth, a car is a possesion/transportation,....to us it becomes a family member, and we take care of it as such."

Family member, huh? I have always preferred the (albeit sexist) term mistress. Or at the least, seductress.