I had an over heating issue on my last XK8 - turned out the fans weren't coming on - £7 GBP sensor. fixed.

 

just snap a good pic of the invoice and upload it. Be sure to blank out any personal info.

Rgds, Fred

 

Bob, what part of your car is solidly a Ford? Mine has some Ford electrical connectors, but I'm not sure of the rest.

 

That's quite a name you picked for yourself.
Some cars are lemons and some aren't . I've owned my 03 xk8 convertible for 4 months now and I love it. For me it's not a daily driver. It's a toy like my motorcycle. I've had a few minor problems. CD skips,passanger seat back won't go forward,mirror switch doesn't work.
I've had a starting problem but with the help of this forum that's seems to be fixed. Costs was nothing. Thanks guys.
My suspension needs some work,rattles and bumps,that will be addressed over the winter by me and my son. Going to do some upgrades to it and the brakes. I'm sorry your car has been so much trouble for you but like I said in the beginning some cars are lemons. Mine seems to be just normal stuff for a car with 110000 miles.

 

As written by MediaBob
It amazes me how so many people believe these cars are glorified Fords. A little research into the development of the XK-8 will show you they are true Jags. Engineered and designed by Jaguar. Ford did give them the boost financially, helping develop assembly techniques, and there are Ford parts on the car. A couple of good books telling of the development of the XK-8 are:

Jaguar XK-8 and XKR by John Blunsden
Jaguar XK-8 The Authorized Biography by Philip Porter
You & Your Jaguar XK-8 by Nigel Thorley

 

A little perspective might be in order.
Perhaps you need to decide if you love the car and are OK paying a similar amount for upkeep as you would making payments for a new car of much lesser caliber.


Most American and many European cars at 100,000 miles are basically trash unless well maintained, even then, this includes a host of engine overhaul, suspension maintenance, etc. that has to be accomplished by that interval.


My xk8 is no different, however, the basic engine has been very dependable and needed less attention than a Ford, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo or my Wife's 325Ci.
The platinum plugs are different and they last 100K miles rather than 30K so you save on labor or read the forum and DIY. You can also go cheap on the plugs and replace them more often with less performance.
However, if you are worried about the price of plugs, you are probably not in the right league.


Best advice is to trade into a certified model less than five years old and under 35K miles, when that warranty is about to expire but before it does, transfer to a comprehensive warranty by Fidelity (you will pay about 3K) and let them take care of you.


Then you will have a perfectly maintained vehicle and only be frustrated by lack of difference in resale value between your perfect vehicle and the one that was let go (about $1,000 total spread in book value).


The people I feel have some right to whine a lot more are those who buy these cars or other luxury cars new with the rapid decline in value.
Maintenance per mile for second owners is real cheap compared to cost per mile for the guy who buys it new, drives it for 5 years and keeps miles low.


Market conditions allow us to drive $70K cars and buy them for 10 to 20 cents on the dollar.


If you handle your warranties right, your cost per mile, including low final resale value can be about 20 cents on the dollar of the depreciation a first Owner experiences.


Because the brand stays with a classic style for a long time, you get to be in style, no matter how old your jag is as long as you keep it looking good.


Performance wise, try going through the front suspension, replace the struts and bushings, tighten everything up, etc. and put high performance tires on it. The car is capable of great handling.


Kindest Regards,
Steven

 

There's a common misconception about the ownership by Ford of Jaguar. Their ownership of Jaguar impacted Jaguar in so far as their ability to dip into Ford's supplier chain for lower prices and also to use the more pedestrian parts where it made sense. A little over 20 years ago when I was plagued by the ownership of a Maserati Merak I was fiddling with the A/C control panel trying to repair a malfunction. Low and behold the actual control part was direct from Chrysler Corps parts bin. My current '99 XK8 has a Ford diode (probably several) used in their grounding circuits to eliminate any electrical feedback that might activate a circuit without your knowledge and cause a major problem within their complex electrical system. There major components were designed and engineered by them not Ford and there was virtually no sharing of manufacturing facilities with any of Ford's U.S products or Ford's U.S plants.

I'm sure that, as others have pointed out, the availability of much cheaper parts that are pretty much common throughout the industry is also much broader than my single example. Combine that with the resources of this forum and its English counterpart as well as a little DIY and these can be very enjoyable and exclusive rides.

Some 50 years ago, soon after I started driving, I was driving my Dad's Cadillac and blew the resonators apart (long story) when I went to the local Midas to see what that was going to set me back the manager told me that the price for the Cadillac parts was $110.00 while the exact same part if I was driving and Olds was just shy of $60.00 !! As I said that was more than 50 years ago and I never forgo0t that valuable lesson...also isn't inflation a bitch<G>

 

I owned a Maserati- Citroen SM with the "rare" 5 speed manual tranny. It was basically the same as a Merak and used the same drive train except it was turned the other way around. Even used the same dashboard. I got it with only 28k miles on it and spent $5500 in repairs the first year I owned it. Would have been a lot more if I hadn't done some of the work myself. That car makes the XK8 seem like a budget car by comparison. It was a shame as it was fun to drive when it would drive. It blew off Mustang 5.0's nicely anyways.

Dave

 

I've had excellent reliability. The key with these cars is to understand that preventative maintenance is more crucial that with any other car, BUT, it is more intensive. You can make any car quite reliable if you maintain it religiously to ITS needs; a Corolla is less maintenance intensive than a Testarossa.

These cars were 70-85k new; and parts costs are quite reasonable considering that. HOwever, labor does not go down as the value of the cars do. The problem is that over time, price to buy goes down but cost of repairs and frequency thereof goes up. I am a DIY person and can do anything repairwise on a car; so I can run these cars on the cheap. Labor is hte real expense, not the parts cost. If you pay everything out, it's very easy for a cheap used luxury car to get expensive.

 

Hi,
Had my 97 XK8 for four years now. Its currently 115,000 miles. In that time it has only failed one Test, that was an unused handbrake. Its been problem free, never cost hardly anything to maintain. I purchase replacement wear parts online and they are extremely cheap. Front pads £15, 8 plugs £45. Ive replaced headliner, materials were £50, this worried me and turned out to be a easy.
Added bonus of having a fantastic forum to iron out any niggles. I advertised the car three months ago and agreed to sell it. instantly regretted the decision and pulled out. Drives like a dream, dont think ill ever sell it. Guess ive been lucky.
Steveeasy

 

Just a note on that point- almost all cars today use platinum or similar plugs primarily for their durability which makes it easier for OEMs to meet mandatory long term pollution guarantees. A secondary benefit is that's cheaper to replace them once per 100K miles than 3 times at 30K miles.

Toyota sells the plugs over their counter for (say) $12. while Jag might sell the same one for $25. I'd go to NAPA or Rock Auto and pay $6-8 instead.

It amazes me that people buy consumables at the dealership for any car- filters, plugs, oil, coolant, even windshield washer fluid.

 

Click to enlarge.

 

Based on the work order it looks as if the overheating had been going on for quite a while and eventually went critical to cause all that damage to that many hoses, etc. An oddity is that the plastic nipple on the expansion tank broke as did the one on my wife's XJ8. In my case that created a pressure leak as soon as the car got hot and I was able to track it down after about three days of radiator top offs followed within the same day with another low water level warning.

Your problem may have started there or with w failure of the water pump but in any case someone in the ownership chain ignored the warnings and or the maintenance.

 

I guess it depends how you define "glorified" because Jaguar is proud to be based in part on Ford technology. If by "based in part" some people mean "glorified" then they are indeed glorified Fords, or alternatively Fords are glorified Jaguars. The XJ8 if I'm not mistaken is "based on" or "has much in common with" a similar year Lincoln. I like my XK8 and it is replete with Ford parts; nothing to be ashamed of. Dig into it a bit and you will Ford logos all over the internals. True, no Ford logos are visible unless you uncloak various things, but once you do...wow...they are all over the place. But Jag had an EXCEEDINGLY AWFUL reputation for reliability before Ford was introduced into the picture, and today it's been improved from EXCEEDINGLY AWFUL to "generally not good / sometimes tolerable." Did you ever read what Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers wrote in their Jag review? I love the burled walnut wood dash in my XK and the leather smells divine but you will never hear a Jaguar owner say they bought one because they heard they are reliable. That's actually quite funny if you think about it. I'm not a self-hating Jag devotee, as you can see but I do chuckle and maybe you will too if you just picture in your mind's eye for a second some duphus at a car meet or something saying "yeah, I bought my Jaguar because I heard they are very reliable." Who would say that?! People would laugh. You'll never hear someone say they bought one because they use high quality parts that don't go bad. You'll never hear someone say they are designed flawlessly that they don't self-destruct (like someone wrote about the heaviness beating the rubber in the suspension to a pulp). You'll never hear someone say they love the reliability of the multitudes of sensors that go bad in their Jags. People don't buy them because they heard they are durable and can be ignored. No. You'll never hear someone say they love that that that they used cheap plastic valve tensioners that ruin your engine. People buy Jags because they Jags are like jewelry and when they are used they are cheap and they have nice appearances from the outside...and they are cheap because they are extraordinarily (yet unnecessarily) expensive to maintain, as a general matter. That's my conclusion. It would be interesting if someone could substantively disagree with me. Yes, I'm talking about generalizations here.

 

Sorry to hear of your troubles Michael. We basically have the same car but my experience is completely different. I had the same issue with the low coolant light, but I have a temperature controlled garage and over the past winter I replaced most of the coolant hoses, coolant overflow tank, water pump, thermostat housing, ect. ect. all for about $500 and a few weekends. I discovered early on that if I intended to keep the car I had to do the majority of the work myself. With the help and advise of the members of this forum I have been able to do just that. This past summer we took the Jag on numerous long distance road trips and weekly short excursions totaling over 11,000 miles. All of which were totally trouble free. With a bit of work this has been the most reliable car in my stable and cheaper to maintain then my wife's Honda. I realize that DIY is not an option for you, perhaps a local member can suggest an independent shop in your area.

 

I just renewed my membership to Masochists Anonomous. (lol). I bought my XKR a little over two years ago with 101K on the odo. Here's a brief history:

*** At 130K the engine was replaced due to spun bearings (a seemingly rare occurrance).

***I replaced one of the front wheel bearings at 140K (a true adventure!).

***This weekend I'll be replacing one of the rear hub carrier assemblies at 150K(wish me luck!)

***And there are some weird Tranny symptoms that I HOPE won't translate into something horrific (cringe).

***I have, in queue, a replacement steering column that will hopefully give me back my tilt and reach functions, but the replacement of which "may" render the car un-startable because of the key's RFID feature (awaiting the jury input on this concern from the forum's brain trust).

Yet, I love the car. It is a joy to drive, and considering that I driven her 50K miles in two years, ... DRIVE HER I DO!!! Yeh - A "Chunk" of money has left my wallet over these two years, but the cost per mile driven has been around 18 cents (in line with previous 20 cent per mile estimates). And, as others have noted, it takes doing much of the work myself (I have access to a military base hobby shop with lifts and great tools availability), being creative in hunting down reasonable parts prices, AND the advice and counsel of this forum.

To repeat some others: If you do not love the car; if you are not capable of DIY; and/or if you do not have deep pockets, you may not be the right person for one of these wonderful chariots. However, that being said, I doubt there is a one of us in here who wouldn't hope that you someday find delight in owning and driving her.

And, of course, ...... Masochists Anonomous is awaiting your call!!!

 

I feel DUMB! LOL that's cool I'm going to use it from now on.. LOF

 

As written by
LoveYou've proven my point it's far from a Ford. Our old Explorer is one of the lowest maintenance vehicles we've owned. What most people have to realize is these cars are high maintenance cars and that's the key to keeping them on the road.

 

I appreciate all the heartfelt replies to these questions I've posed. Look I think it's important to live in reality. I really like some of the features of my Xk8 that I've mentioned, but I live in reality...I don't call this a "reliable" car nor a "durable" car. Yes, some people have gotten (a little) luckier than others...maybe the presses at the factory when their cars were built and precision at the suppliers' factories happen to be dumb lucky on target that day, or the pot-metal mix was a little randomly better compound for their parts. But by and large, people don't have much good to say of Jag's history for their reliability. Sad bad true. Yes, it's gotten significantly better since Ford's introduction into the picture, but still as of least the early 2000s hadn't come close to catching up with a lot of other cars. It's a little sad when people try to say they actually are totally right up there with Lexus. That's just delusional and sad and quite possibly just an attempt at making either themselves feel better or a justification vis-a-vis their naysayer husbands or wives or families who didn't want them to get a Jag and now they feel stupid or irresponsible but just don't want to admit it.

For people who say, "well, this is clearly not the car for you," I say, actually, yes, it is...I realize it's not nearly as a reliable as a Lexus and I realize the prices at the dealer are based intentionally extraordinarily higher than necessary to be "exclusionary" but I don't care. They just don't have a better answer...it's like saying they agree with me but have nothing to retort substantively. I live in reality. I don't deny those negatives about the cars are true. I don't say, no..no...it's actually cheap to maintain and it handles like a Porsche and it has incredible engineering and you can ignore it like a Honda and wow jeez I went on a 2,000 mile trip with no problem...woop dee do. It doesn't handle like a Porsche. You can't ignore keeping up with "maintenance." It has just so so engineering. It doesn't handle well. But I like the leather and dash, and I'm good with how the body is shaped. That's it. And there's nothing wrong with that. Let's not call it a "high quality" car though. That really bugs me.

It's a factory made work of art if anything.

How do you define a "high quality car?" Is it something that feels heavy and has beautiful leather and burled walnut dash but breaks down every day?

Is it high quality if it costs a lot of money?

Is it high quality if it doesn't look cheaply made?

On the other hand is it high quality if goes 200,000 miles with only changing brakes, light bulbs and doing fluid changes?

If you build a car out of titanium it would be extremely expensive. If you take that car and put high performance tires on it and a beautiful interior it would be even more money. Let's say you use all gold wires and diamonds throughout the car when it can enhance something. You do some marketing and there's a following for the cars. It's an $400,000 car. But the engineering is just not that great and a lot of parts break and they often break down. Occasionally someone who owns one gets lucky and no parts break and it doesn't down. Is that a high quality car? I think it's not. It's beautiful but it's not a high quality car. Do you disagree? I'd love to hear why you do.

Jag is in essence the same.

 

Why keep wasting time posting about it, then? I would compose my ad, put it on autotrader.com, and unload the vehicle as soon as reasonably possible....

I know from personal ownership that Jaguar's quality and reliability cannot match Lexus. But I found both of my wife's Lexus SUVs to be boring as hell....