Hi all,
I'm brand new to this forum, as I thought I may as well join now that I own a jaguar. The car in question is a beautiful black 2000 XK8 convertible with about 70k miles on it. Now, I bought the car for a little over a thousand as a non-running project soon to be my daily. To get down to the point I have a great local mechanic who's come out and gone through the car to conclude that it is indeed the fuel pump (what I had suspected). Just waiting for the part and then he's going to put it in.

There are also some other complications that have yet to be sorted out..
1. The hydraulic lines most likely need to be flushed (I've found several helpful tutorials). We attempted to put the top down, which unlatched but struggled, so we then proceeded to manually lower the top. Upon putting the thing back up again, the quarter windows now wont go up (I'm guessing they don't know where the top is). I'm seeing that there's a micro relay in the boot but I'm not clear on what I need to do / buy to get those suckers back up again.
2. My daily drive is roughly 70 miles per day down gorgeous wide country roads, so it is a bit of a trek for a jaguar. For any of you that daily these cars I'd love to hear any recommendations you have as far as preventing problems from arising. Mechanically the car is in great shape, as it was an older woman who drove it around town and maintained it like her baby.
3. Oxidized paint! While the car is wonderfully rust-free, the black paintwork is very oxidized on the bonnet and the boot, to the point where the clearcoat has failed and the actual paint faded to a deep blue. Looks like oxidization racing stripes haha. The car is cosmetically a little questionable at the moment with that paint, but I'm looking into wrapping it. Do X100's come with a weather protectant-looking textured paint on the side skirts? The paint is odd when applying products such as a wax, ect...so I'm wondering if maybe she did some sort of coating to it.

Very excited to be part of the Jaguar community!
Cheers from California

 

Hi JagWRLD,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us! You will find lots of friendly and knowledgeable owners of similar cars here.

My '01 XK also has that textured surface along the side "rocker panels," so it was probably a factory effort to reduce either rust, rock chips, or both.

Check the fluid level in the top hydraulic fluid reservoir behind the right carpeted trim panel in the trunk. You probably have lost some fluid due to leakage from one or more hoses. Topping up the fluid with Pentosin CHF 11S hydraulic fluid (available online or from some local auto parts stores) may restore your top operation, at least temporarily, though it won't cure a leak.

Your quarter windows will only operate with the top, so unless you operate the top under its own power, you may not be able to get the windows to raise. Hopefully other members may know a trick.

Cheers,

Don

 

Do you have receipts showing that the factory plastic timing chain tensioners have been upgraded to the revised metal ones? If not, you need to do that job immediately. Your engine is a ticking time bomb until the revised metal tensioners are installed....

 

Congrats! Buying a non-running Jaguar, you’re a brave man!

 

for the rear quarter windows to go up, there is a microswitch on one of the rams that must be engaged in order to trigger the relay to move the windows up. You will need to upward force to the roof mechanism at both rams until they lock into position. Note: if the rams are not closed properly the windows will not go up. The right ram has switches that if they are not satisfied you will get no power to the windows to close them. Once you close the roof rams properly then you should be able to close the windows electrically by pressing the close roof button.(Taken from Gus's website)

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

Recommend you bookmark the link above to Gus's website and to the How to's in the XK8/XKR Stickies at the top of this section - they can be lifesavers

 

Check your owner's manual. It will show two relays in the boot fuse box. Make a jumper and you can raise and lower the rear windows there.

 

BTW pull each relay and then jump the female receptacle.

 

Hi JagWRLD,

You can download the wiring schematics for your car from Gus' website at this link:

Jaguar X100 Electrical Guide 2000

This snip from the diagram on pdf page 22 shows the location of the LH and RH rear quarter up and down relays that Stephen mentioned. I haven't studied the schematic thoroughly, but it appears that jumping the relays may bypass the microswitches that Steve mentioned:




On pdf page 123 the relay schematics are shown. As you can see, if you jump the terminals in the quarter window UP relay sockets that correspond with relay terminals 3 and 5, the windows should raise:




Cheers,

Don

 

Thank you guys! Got her running! Checked the spark plugs, relays, and put her on the jumper cables to find the problem. A mix of starter fluid and fuel and ruhruhruhruhmmmmmmmmmm. We didn't have her running long on ethanol but the jag was purring, sounded surprisingly very good. We listened for the fuel pump and banged the tank, nothing. Started a couple times and ran for a few seconds to do so. She's currently at the shop now getting a brand new pump. Fingers crossed that's the only mechanical problem.
As for the timing chain tensioners, I will check the records (currently at the shop) and update you guys. My best guess is that the older woman who owned the car upgraded the plastic to metal. Thank you to everyone that explained what to do for those darned windows!
I have heard that Pentosill, especially in our hot summers, turns to jelly in the lines? Not sure if that's true or not, if it is would there even be an alternative? Will keep you guys updated once I get her back hopefully this coming week.
Many thanks,
JagWRLD

 

CHF 11S is used all over many European cars, everything from power steering to adaptive suspension. It definitely does not turn to jelly in the summer.