My 2007 XK has 27,000miles and well maintained. - what kind of problems should I anticipate over the next year or so. I have seen mention of chain tensioners, and the like.
And of course there's always electronics?

Appreciate any thoughts from all you experienced guys out there.

Thanks

 

The 4.2l is solid. Timing chain refers to the early 5.0.
Thermostat likes to go early. Be sure to use the correct coolant.
Drain tube for A/C is easily plugged, causing wet floorboard, and cabin fan to short out.
Glove box door "soft open" tends to break.

Biggest worry by far is that dedicated parts are becoming scarce considering the car is now 13 years old.

Pretty much the common stuff that I can think of.

 

Thanks so much for your advice - I have already had the issue with the AC drain - twice. I have some leather problems on the dash which need attention.
I have replaced the convertible top. The video control screen has been a bit touchy - but I think it is another component sensitive to the battery status.
Any concerns with the transmission? Suspension?
Exhaust is stainless - so it should be OK

I am a bit surprised about the parts - I previously owned a number of Porsches including a 1973 911S - had good access to parts for a 25 year old car
Assume there is a network of aftermarket/used parts?

Thanks again

 

I have an 07.

Suspension bushes wear out early, age not just use. Suspension boots deteriorate early but can be replaced by themselves if the joints are ok. Many of your 07 suspension parts are also found on 06 Lincoln LS, Jaguar S-Type, Thunderbird. (control arms, links, tie rods, etc are shared Ford parts). Exhaust is solid.

Transmission is NOT sealed for life as is stated in your owner manual. ZF changed their recommendations in 2012 so look at the sticky @ the top of this forum page.

If you haven't yet, change coolant (every 5 years), flush and replace brake fluid (every 2 years but buy a tester for 5 bucks and look at the water content in your fluid), transmission fluid, drain and fill or full flush (your call but it is overdue), differential fluid. Coolant is OATS type and CANNOT be mixed with any other type. It's commonly sold as Dexcool here in the U.S. but drain and flush. GM had many lawsuits over the problems Dexcool caused.
Many coolant parts are plastic. They don't age well but I suspect much of the deterioration is due to heat more than age and with so few miles, you should be OK.

Yes these cars like battery maintainers. 12.6 volts resting voltage on your battery. If it's less, replace it.

There are some threads on issues and repair in the stickies section of the forum page which includes a fix to the A/C duckbill drain issue.
Yes the leather dash pulling is a PIA and can be an expensive fix is it's gone too far.

I don't have an issue finding parts so I can't speak to that. I have a coupe, so can't speak to any issues with the ragtop but many guys here can.
Antenna is crapola. There are threads on it as well.

 

Thanks Sean W - appreciate your advice

 

As Clevername said, timing chain issues are related to the 2010 onward 5.0 liter engines as is anything you read related to direct inject engines, e-differential and water pump. They are unrelated to your model year.
You do have a Valley Hose if you read those threads. You just don't have the supercharger sitting on top of it so it won't be a huge PIA if you have to replace it.
You share the same engine as the X350 and the S-Tyoe (4.2 N/A) so you can get a lot of info off those forum threads too.

Welcome and have some fun with your new ride.

 

Some of my problems with my 2007 XK convertible:
My convertible top seems to have shrunk, causing the rear window to tear away and become unsealed from the top. My local mechanic (Jimmy Boffo) steamed the top to stretch it, then used Permatex to bond it again, but it's a short term fix at best.
In 2013 the right front was damaged when a car backed into the side as I was passing by (Monterey, CA) … got replacement fender, door, and windshield (separate rock damage), but even then the parts had to be drop shipped from England as they were not being stocked in the USA.
Had to wait for a third brake light to be shipped from England in July 2019.
I have similar problems with a touchy nav/radio that occasionally decides on its own to not turn on.
Had to replace the glove box push assy. Cheap plastic part with tabs that break off retails for ~$325 (It's a Jaguar, so everything costs more).
Major problems with poor glue not holding fascia leather in place … local shop checked and found it was still wet and sticky in 2018 … leather pulled away from near windshield and developed a big ripple, mostly on passenger side, but now also in driver side … actually broke the speaker grill in two places … bad leather shrinkage behind both driver and passenger on flat top surface … appears to be pressed into place with no trace of adhesive on the fiberglass to hold the leather in place.
This was a California car for 4 years, then spent 1 year in Phoenix/Las Vegas, which is where I bought it with just 32K miles on it and drove it around for a month and then home in 2011. Made several long distance tours across country. It ran (and with 84K miles it still runs ) great, but there's an occasional computer sensor problem (radio/nav, forward auto braking) and once it locked the transmission and refused all efforts to start when I forgot to set the brake before exiting and the car rolled a few inches … on a hot Saturday afternoon in Arches National Park I sat with my laptop open to the XK Shop Manual … eventually managed to rock it backward slightly and free up the shifter, then put it into Park and it started right up TBTG.

Regards,
Tom

 

Sadly, no.
Jaguar is the sole manufacturer of 95% of the parts on our cars. By US law, they are required to offer parts for a limited time (5 or 7 years, I don't recall which, and 10 for emissions after the cars date of production). The exceptions we find and cling to are matching parts from more common Fords, or the ingenuity of this forums members.
The other 5% are the normal wear items, which can be had. However, even there, your choices are far more limited.

A lot of the issues with pulling dashes and early suspension wear is directly related to the southern parts of the US. Here in Washington State, our cars hold up well.

 

Right; “what is this ‘air conditioning duck bill problem’ people speak of”... asked the Washingtonian... facetiously.

Other items:

The power antenna (aerial) is lame in all ways. Unattractive and unreliable is my experience. I replaced the failed original unit with aftermarket and the cheap ones don’t last. Been there, done that and the time spent replacing it wasn’t worth it as it failed within months. I wasn’t going to spend $500 on the OEM replacement since I don’t like the look. I have a couple options I’m trying; I have a hidden remote antenna that will work OK and for the heck of it I currently have installed a 3 cm stubby antenna.... which really looks better than I thought it would. I’ll post a pic later to see what others think.

...here it is:


This stubby isn't really much bigger than the original support structure of the electric aerial. I couldn't see spending substantial money on bodywork and paint to cover the hole so even if I go for the hidden remote antenna I would have the support nub stuck in there filled with some sealant. Paint rarely matches, so unless I sprayed the whole car it was going to be a visual compromise. The cars paint isn't going to win any shows but I would consider it "very good" driver condition paint.

So, all that considered, "stubby" is what I have going for now. I doubt anyone but an XK "x-pert" will even notice. It won't have the reception of the original 3 foot long monument to Marconi but certainly it wins in the maintenance reliability category. If anyone was considering their options with the aerial, like the look or not, at least you know what this option looks like.

 

I'll agree that your stubby looks better than I thought it would.
I had considered, when I first got the car, based on comments elsewhere in this forum, to pull the antenna fuse and use a marine antenna place around the interior of the trunk (which I bought but never installed). But the 'fishing pole' has grown on me, and I find it unique. How many other cars sport that throwback technology nowadays?
But then there's also the fact that I rarely ever turn on the audio system, as I prefer the full bodied sound of that beautiful exhaust.

 

Exactly! I use the audio system as much as the air conditioning. They are both nice to have but I'm usually focused on the top down, beautiful engine sounds driving experience.

 

How did you have duck bill problem twice?

 

can you post a link to your specific antenna?

 

??

 

Happy to but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this specific antenna. It is just a standard 3cm China made stubby you find on Ebay, I paid about $13 for it and there are several sellers that appear to have the same or similar "universal" item. It is not plug and play. I had to MacGyver the connections and mount to get it to work and fit the way I wanted. It was mostly an exercise in seeing how it was going to look and then I surprised myself by actually making it function! : )

 

OP said he had the duck bill issue twice.

 

Ahh, got it. I thought maybe it was something I said.

 

The first dealer fix failed again. hope they did it right the second time. They discounted the price alot the second time

 

Did they pull the dash and remove the rugs?

 

They removed the dash both times - not sure about the carpet