Hi,

I've just purchased a Jaguar XK, it's a 5.0 N/A and is in fairly decent condition. It seems over the years the exterior has been neglected a bit so I hope to fix that along with some other minor issues.

The car has no issues mechanically or electronically so that is certainly a good starting point. It has a questionable service history and while that would have normally put me off the car is in perfect working order, suggesting either the previous owners didn't care about the history but did get it serviced and fixed when needed.

I've come to forums to document my ownership and ask about fixing certain issues. See the problems my car has below;

Exterior-

Misted headlights and taillights*
Window chrome trim has faded*
Corrosion on boot and doors
Paint scuffs and dints (soon to be fixed)

Interior-

Aircon smells awful and the windows often mist up* (re-gas + aircon bomb)
Glove box crashes open* (gas strut?)
Headliner has sagged*
Drivers side seat adjustment has lost most of it's chrome* (new unit £150ish does the door card need to come off?)
Speedo has dried condensate on the inside of the glass* (how to remove the speedo?)

Servicing-

Service history is blank between 2013 and 2020. Due to this I will be doing the below checks/ maintenance.
Timing chain + guides, check condition and change if necessary
ZF gearbox service
Spark Plugs
Brake fluid (should be changed every 2 years!)
Water pump (it was done post 2012 but the service book is not dated, it just says "water pump".)
"Double locking" causes the alarm to sound after 5 minutes or so.
Full "health" check

Some of these items will be taken on by myself, I've marked those with an asterisk. Any help or tips particularly on those items would be greatly appreciated!









Thanks,
Jim

 

What do you want tackle first?

 

Doesn't look neglected and driver's seat bolster suggests not high miles (?).

Could be the angle of the photo but the shut line between the bonnet and LH wing looks like it drops at the front.

With condensation problems in the interior (misting and the Instrument Pack), the AC drains could be blocked. Plenty of posts about this and an AC 'bomb' should then take care of the sour smell.

Missing history is annoying and DVLA are now of zero help in tracing previous keepers. I'd do a full service (every item in the Maintenance Schedules) to cover anything that's been missed and give a baseline for future schedules.

If you have access to SDD (Symptom Driven Diagnostics), a scan for stored and pending codes will tell you more about the vehicle than any PO or dealer. There's usually quite a long list. Recently cleared codes (little or nothing listed) would be suspicious.

Graham

 

Pretty sure I should tackle the Speedo issue first. When the sun hits it right I can't even read the dials making it a pretty hefty safety issue.

Can you advise me on how to remove it?

 

Yeah the photos really don't show the amount of parking dints and other minor issues. But I suppose given the age of the vehicle I have to expect that to an extent.

The wing and bonnet don't quite meet perfectly, I noticed this before buying and have also found masking tape in the passenger door shut. It would suggest the wing was sprayed at some point, the plastic side skirt/ sill cover is also dented just behind that same wheel. Again it suggest there was some kind of incident.

Is the Aircon block an easy fix or am I looking at a full dash out job?

Yeah I've already planned the service, it should be done next month once I've sold my other car. But I agree I need that baseline starting point.

Sorry for the ignorance but is the SDD a tool I need to buy and plug into the OBD or is it something I can access via the car? I don't currently have access but I suspect the garage I'm planning to use will.

On that note I will plan to use Elite & Performance Jaguars in Derby for all things that are above my "pay grade". I presume some users on the forum may have experience with them and I'd like to hear it wether good or bad.


Edit: Mileage 73,500

 

Welcome @JimmyH . You can find a lot of great info here, including haw to address the A/C drain

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...enance-227403/

Also, yes SDD is Jaguar software. You can read about it here - lot of sarcasm in that post and it's a very long read. The long and short of it though is unless you have a lot of programming needs and do all your own work, you can use a different OBD II reader. You'll want one that reads engine, chassis and body codes such as the Autel AP200. There are a few others, Foxwell makes one as does iCarsoft.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/g...d-truth-32683/

You might want to start separate threads on the headlights and taillights misting.

IMO you don't need to change out spark plugs until 100,000 miles unless you're having issues so I would personally drop that from my to do list.

 

Day 2 of ownership my key broke! I decided to change the very tatty key and obviously change the battery while I'm there. After doing this the key looked great but all of a sudden it didn't work! I was pretty much perplexed and spent plenty of time outside with the alarm blaring much to the upset of my neighbours.

Once I came in my partner said the cat was playing with some metal, at which point I realised the positive battery contact for the key's motherboard was in the cat's mouth .

The following day I got it fixed for £30 "with great difficulty" at a local motor factors, either way crisis averted!

 

Ok, thanks for the info Shaun. I'll leave the spark plugs then! I'll start a thread for the lights once I'm ready to tackle the job

 

JimmyH... While you were replacing the thermostat and housing, did you consider changing or notice any other plastic hoses that might require replacing? How did the front crossover look as you were right there?

 

I haven't yet replaced or fixed any of the issues above. But when the water pump is getting changed I'll get them checked

 

The alloys were reworked before purchase, I've just dropped in some new centre caps to finish them off!

 

Since the AC smells weird and mists up, maybe you have a tiny leak in the heater core???? Is there a very faint smell of antifreeze/coolant?
I venture to say yours is a 2010, so less likely to have a clogged duckbill.

 

SDD is dealer service software. I bought a laptop on ebay with it pre-installed and an adapter. It isn't the easiest to use but it works well enough

Regarding your fogged lights I'd recommend sanding them to 1500 grit and then using a 2k clear spray can. I had one good headlight and one fogged one on my XK. The cheap kits never worked. The clear coat spray was like magic.

 

Try to get some UV protective clear though, it'll last longer.

 

It's an '09 MY, I'm not sure how that effects the duckbill but since putting some large desiccant bags all over my car it seems to have solved the problem. Annoyingly I can't find any leaks or damp inside the car.

The car does smell of antifreeze particularly after long (5min plus) periods of idling. But it doesn't smell inside the car, this is more likely to be a small leak elsewhere in the cooling system.

 

I should clarify the headlights are fogged from moisture within the light, not from hazing of the exterior surface.

 

I'm following your thread now my friend. I'm in a somewhat similar boat as I have a new to me Jaguar and very little personal mechanical knowledge (YET) but I do like to tinker and fix things. I've just never had the car to put too much time into it before this. My cat only has 32k miles on her as an 08 so there's not a lot of wear, but I'm paranoid now that if I don't anticipate and catch everything possible I may be at the mercy of others who will want to be paid for things I can do myself. As you said when I find things out of my paygrade, I'll seek help - a friend does have a shop, but we haven't had that conversation yet. I think he'll support me in my DIY goals and be my backup, but I as he's a business, there will be a balance.

I haven't yet got the OBD2 or the CTEK yet, but it looks like there is a ctek connector already installed so that's halfway there.
Poked around under the car other day and inspected some things - not much corrosion, one rear CV boot looked a bit worn, the rear axle seemed rusty by comparison to all the other parts. I really don't know enough yet about what I'm looking at but i'm going to get there.

___________
Jaguar XK 2008 Convertible 4.2L

 

Glad to know some people are following, my personal mechanical knowledge is fairly good but tools and space will often limit my capabilities at home. While my mechanical knowledge is good my car electrical knowledge is fairly poor which are the true "scary" bits on these cars. I'll have to poke around a bit more especially now my car is the daily driver.

 

So I've finally got around to fixing the misted up gauges. It turned out the marks were on the outside which I can only imagine they have come from a very strong cleaner being left on the plastic (such as bleach).

Night-time before:



First I tried some polish and cutting compound but unfortunately this didn't work. So I reluctantly wet sanded the plastic with 1000grit paper, after that I went to town with the cutting compound. The results speak for themselves, I should say it is not perfect but it's close enough and certainly a huge improvement!

During:






Night-time after:



Daytime after:




Perhaps this will serve to help others in the future but I seriously doubt many cars have a similar issue. The previous owner must've been an idiot to think using bleach on plastic was a good idea. A few words of warning, don't close the boot when the battery is disconnected, a minor mistake but one I won't make again. Also don't open the door because the window won't drop to allow it to close properly, I learnt both these lessons the hard way while it was raining *facepalm*. Aside from that the gauges come out easily, lower the wheel and bring it all the way forward (disconnect battery now) then remove the wood trim (4 clips on each corner to pry away). Then remove the black plastic gauge surround, 1 screw sits under a hidden flap at the the top of the surround (just visible in the photo above), the other two sit behind the wood panel, they are the black screws. Now remove the surround to expose 4 hexagonal screws which hold the cluster in place. The black steering column surround can be moved by hand making it easier to access the bottom two hexagonal screws, once all 4 are out pull the cluster forward and disconnect the two electrical harnesses. That's it! Putting it back in is very simple and is a direct reverse of the removal.

 

@JimmyH, if you're uncertain about the vehicle's service history, it's a good idea to replace the plastic cooling system parts whilst replacing the water pump. The parts can only withstand a finite number of cold to hot to cold cycles prior to failing. The heater pipe between the cylinder heads at the rear of the AJ133 is another known failure point.

Should the instrument cluster display a 'Coolant Level Low' message, stop the engine immediately and find and correct the source of coolant loss as catastrophic engine failure is possible.