A few on here have seen what happened with the 2015 XK I was getting. That fell through I had a backup car I liked, and that one is on the transport, I just have to find out what day it will be delivered. That said, I'm making a list of things to do right away. Whether the oil has been recently changed or not, first on the list is an oil change and all fluids checked, along with a check of the brake pads and all the usual. I just read through the thread about the gent who's engine went on him just a couple months after getting his XK. My condolences and sorry he had to experience that. In the thread they weren't sure yet what happened, but I have been reading other threads about the timing chain tensioners being a potential problem. What needs to be done to have them checked to make sure everything is fine?

I have my truck, the 944S is my project car, and I just sold my C3 Corvette (that was my nightmare car!), the XK is the dream car I never knew I wanted until I first saw one! So the XK will be maintained as best I can so it doesn't become a project car

 

Congrats. I just got mine delivered this morning. Things to do today (or tomorrow): Oil/Oil filter, new battery, program various things. My car only has 18,000 miles and had a 6 year full service at Jaguar a year ago so not much needs to be done. Im doing the oil and battery as a baseline but the battery was low when I bought it. The seller was supposed to replace the battery before transport......never happened.

Depending on miles and age, I would do fluids, filters and check brakes. Other than that enjoy the new ride. BTW FCP Euro had my filter in hand in two days. They are really good with shipping.

 

Have fun it's a great car.
Last year I bought my 2010 Vert w/ 50K and had a good CarFAX History,
I live in MI and car came from FLA, took it to the local Jag Dealer and had all fluids changed and new battery installed, the had a pan drop transmission done.
Runs great, but there is this nagging feeling I have about the Water pump.
No signs of trouble, no water leaks or smells, but after reading this forum it's always on my mind. When I had it at the Jag Dealer last year I asked them to look at the water pump and tell me if it was original, or a replacement, they said original.
So it''s in the barn now for the next 5 months and I'm debating if I should just change it next spring, they gave me an estimate of $800. I may just do it for my peace of mind. I've been hesitant to take it on trips, and that's the fun of owning such a car.
Good luck with yours.

 

I didn't think about the battery... how much did a new one cost (I can look it up too, but if you have that info handy or the best place/price that would be great!)

 

Same here, been reading a lot and the water pump, battery and timing chain tensioner seems to be the biggest concerns. Unless the guys here tell me different, if my pump is original, I was thinking of proactively having it replaced, same with the battery. Not sure what type of check is needed for the tensioner or if there is any upgrade or preventive actions for that. Question- did you install a battery trickle charger? If so what brand and where did you get it? I'm hoping it's nothing major to install.

I decided next schedule maintenance service that calls for a coolant flush I will replace the water pump at that time. I haven't heard anyone mention this, but any time I replaced a water pump in other cars I always changed the thermostat too.

 

$160 at NAPA with 3 year warranty. 10mm socket and 10mm stubby wrench will be your friend. They say they come charged, but they dont, so you will have to throw it on the charger for a few hours.

 

That's not bad. My 944S has an odd size battery and nobody local carries it. I've been having problems with it holding a charge, so when I get a new one for it I'll get a trickle charger for that car too. I'm clearing out the other side of the garage now to get ready for the XK I have to say I'm pretty excited. I really hated the C3 Corvette. I love the body style, but it had NO performance, and working on it was a nightmare! ANYTHING I worked on required practically taking the car apart to get to anything.

 

One of the main reasons I bought an XK was the reliability. My wife has had an XK since 2015 and I haven't had to do anything on it except oil changes and a battery 2 years ago. Word on the street is that if you engage the parking brake and double lock it, it shuts down most of the things that drag the battery down. But yea, you can find the battery almost anywhere. Oh....besides the 10mm holding the terminals on, there are two battery 'hold downs' with two 10mm nuts each (one on the side and one facing you). The one facing you is partially covered by a removable brace, partially blocking the two nuts. But, if you have a short 10mm wrench, you dont have to take off the cross member/brace. 10 minute job if you put a blanket on the spare, climb in the trunk and just sit down to save your back from the reach.

RE water pump, hers was a CPO and had the pump changes by Jaguar before delivery because I saw evidence of dripping. Big thanks to this forum as I did some research. IDK if mine is the old version or not, but its a 2015 with 18k miles, so Ill kick that can down the road.

Things I bought while I was waiting: Quality sunshade, Cigarette phone charger with built in voltmeter ($10 Amazon), CD cell phone holder. Car came with a Bovee cord so I found an adapter to go from Lightning to USB C (android). Lastly was a trunk organizer thing to hold some 'on the fly' cleaning products etc. I already have an ICarsoft for the Wifes XK so its going to live by the spare tire in mine. Lastly, I downloaded the Torq Pro app and bought a $30 OBD dongle to take a peek at things like coolant temp, oil temp when running. All in around $100 besides the free bovee cord and Icarsoft which I already had.

 

I say this with a smile... reading through some of these threads can be a bit scary! One thing is for sure, I have a lot to learn about this car, far more than any other car I have ever owned. For instance changing the battery requires a reset? I see references to SDD and am not sure yet what that means. These cars seem to need a trickle charger, but someone mentioned the dealership did a software update that seemed to fix their battery issues... It is going to be a fun learning process though

 

If your new to you XK is not going to be a daily driver. It is strongly suggested that you invest in a CTek battery tender along with a CTek extension cord for around $100 on either Amazon or Ebay. Install the CTek and the cords permanently and plug the car into the charger when not in use and you will have eliminated at least 90% of the potential problems on your X150. By the way, hooking up and unhooking the CTek if properly installed (which only takes 15-20 minutes) adds no more than 30 seconds to either coming or going in the car. Welcome aboard and enjoy your rides.

 

Yeah I agree Ralphwg, this definitely is not intended to be a daily driver, but I also don't intend for it to sit in the garage for months at a time either Definitely not going to see any snow or rain It's going to be purely a pleasure car for dates and special occasions. My truck is basically my daily driver, but since I work from a home office even that is only driven once or twice a week. I just saw in a thread where someone permanently connected a CTek and put a weatherproof outlet hidden in the back and I think that's what I'll do. I see you have the Mina exhaust. I also plan on adding that as soon as the holidays are over.

 

I just changed the battery today, no reset.

 

After owning mine for a year and after the new battery went dead this summer after sitting for a week, I bought a C-TECH battery maintainer and permanently installed it, rests in my tire well, chord can easily stick out of trunk when lid is closed.
It's plugged in for the next 5 months, and if I know I will not use it for more than two days, it gets plugged in while in the garage.

 

Forgot to answer.....SSD is the Jaguar Diagnostic interface software. From what Ive read here its the actual dealer software used to talk to everything on your car. Apparently you download it on a windows 7 laptop and then do some magic to get it to work and presto! Now you can do the same things a dealer can do. Its on my list to things to do down the road.

Like I said, this thing likes to drain batteries if certain steps are not taken. My wifes 2013 XK is driven once or twice a week for short distances with no issues but we live in a warm climate and she locks it every time. I have a new battery as of today that is fully charged. Its going to be my test mule with the 'Double Lock with Parking brake ON' method as its going to be my airport car sitting for days on end. With all that said, I like to hedge my bets thus the cigarette lighter volt meter and I always throw in a cheepo set of jumper cables for me and others. But I dont foresee any battery issues based on my wifes driving habits. Or, do as many others have done, and hook up a CTech style battery tender and run the cord out the trunk when needed. Many ways to skin this cat.....pun intended.

 

I have SDD, don't recommend it for a new owner. SW is really unintuitive, complicated and unusually ugly for the most common cracked version (V130). Unique interface device to ADD is expensive: $290 for https://www.diagnostic-associates.co...thru-interface. Other one is the Mongoose cable, also unique, also expensive for real version.
.
You want to be able to access JLR codes, monitor some data points, and do some basic testing. I'm a fan of Autel's HT200 (AP200) for new owners. Bought one a few weeks ago, and now save SDD for the tough stuff. $49, simple, most JLR codes, a few useful tools and monitors. First download with unit is permanent license, other annual. Move to SDD when you have something that other diagnostic tools don't do, and you have the many hours available to learn it. Also, always remember to remove whatever OBD interface you use when you shut down the car, or they will slowly drain your battery.

 

The water pump was never redesigned. I’ve had new ones fail too so if it’s not broken I’d leave it alone. Some members here swear they’re on the original after as much as 10 years and tens of thousands of miles. At some point you’re going to have front and rear coolant outlet/manifold pipes fail along with other bits and pieces in the cooling circuit, when that starts to happen, you’ll only want to do this once and have EVERYTHING replaced. Parts are chewp
but it’s a massive amount of labor.

 

See the General Tech help forum sticky for all about SDD. Very entertaining write up.
You also need a substantial power supply (not a battery charger). Not for the faint of heart as others have said.

 

Thanks for all the great information everyone.
I read on this site about the Priority Start. Good idea, bad idea... not necessary? As far as battery drain goes, I seem to have this in my 944 S as well. I just chalked it up to an old battery, but the shop tested it and said it was fine... I still say it's really old and not holding a charge. I'll know when I get a new one. 944's can develop some finicky wiring issue too over time, so I agree everything isn't 'Jaguar's' fault, it's just what happens with old cars. Wanna talk about nightmares... get a C3!

 

I just got a call from the transporter that my car will be delivered tomorrow morning around 8AM!

 

Don't be this guy....