Hi,

I'm new here on JaguarForums and this is my first post...

I've recently just purchased a '99 XJ8 4.0. Early days, but so far it's mostly been a pleasurable experience!

However, I'm experiencing a couple of issues and would now appreciate some advice.

My first question relates to engine starting: the engine always starts first turn of the key - hot or cold - but unless the engine is already fully warmed up before (re)starting it will not rev on the accelerator pedal for about two minutes. Instead the engine just sits at a slightly lumpy fast idle (c.1400 RPM) and pressing the accelerator pedal has absolutely no effect. After approximately two minutes the tickover falls back to a normal idle and the accelerator starts working again. Until today I had only experienced this symptom upon restarting the engine when it wasn't fully warmed up, but this morning I also got the same effect starting from cold. On one occasion there was a strong smell of petrol, but usually no petrol smell at all. There are no warning lights showing on the dash. I don't make a habit of using the car for short journeys, but occasionally I only need to run the engine for a minute or so - eg. when moving the car out of the way to get my wife's car out of the garage. Is this a known characteristic of the X308, or does my car have a problem?

My second question concerns rear wheel bearings. The O/S/R bearing is noisy and I want to replace it. I think I read somewhere that a special tool is required. Is this a job I could entrust to my local garage, or would it need to be done by a Jaguar specialist?

All advice appreciated. Thanks.

Kind regards,
John.