Hi, im looking to buy a jaguar but I'm not completely sure what I'm getting into. Its a 98 XK8 with new transmition and 90k on the motor, looks nearly perfect inside and out but its been sitting 4 months. Car went into limp mode on the highway and scared the owner into sitting it in her back yard. The battery doesn't hold a charge at all now (i guess bad alternator) when the battery's hooked up to my car the jag starts right up but a "Transmission Fault" warning light comes on. I havnt driven the car since it only runs when attached to mine. I could buy this for next to nothing but what could I expect as far as repairs ? Any advice would be great. I've heard these cars are hard to bring back to life when they're sat... I've considered buying to part out but I've always wanted an XK and I'll never find a more affordable jag than this provided it doesn't cost me a fortune to fix.

 

Welcome to the forum Christopher,

I've moved your question from General Tech Help to XK8/XKR forum. Members here with the same model will be able to help.

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some info about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

As been written so so many times on here the battery voltage on these beasts is critical, when you say "hook up" I guess your leaving the original battery and jump leads to your car? Try taking the jag battery off and replacing it with a known good battery (or yours if you know it's good) then see what you get on start up.

 

It's an old enough car that to save money you may want to do your own work. Most is fairly ordinary but if you feel doubtful then maybe pass.

 

Chances are pretty good that the suspension and even the engine will need a lot of replacement/update work that will cost a small fortune if you can't do everything yourself.

With a new battery the limp mode problem may disappear, but that is only the beginning.

 

To get on the ladder of Jaguar ownership you have to start somewhere but if the sight of a spanner scares you then it's better to invest in a bicycle !!

 

Fault codes are really meaningless with bum battery! so................

Adrian (XK8 & XK)

 

If next to nothing really is next to nothing, role the dice. Then do the few things you need to do per the FAQs and see what happens. But only if you do not need transmission work, that could be 2-4k

 

If you decide to pass I would like info on car. I have a 99 xk8 but would like a xkr also

 

Not afraid of the spanners !!! Top man.

 

Chris, I notice that you've not replied to this thread that you opened 5 days ago, so clearly not an issue you care that much about?

Having driven in a storm in Maryland I know it gets a bit wet, reason I'm saying this is....

Last Nov I drove through a large puddle in an area I didn't know, almost immediately I had a 'gearbox fault' and the car went into limp mode. It transpired that I needed a complete new transmission. Effectively a hot transmission being submerged in freezing water is not a good mix.

It cost me a total of £1000, or $1250 of your USD's to get a replacement and have it fitted. Stateside potentially (from what I've read) you may be looking at 3+ times that cost if a new tranny is needed.

The best way to check if it's not a worst case scenario is

a) Get it scanned for faults
b) take a small sample of transmission fluid, if it's black with bits, then it IS worst case