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Hi all, I have just received my members pack today for the JEG, and it all looks very professional, and mag looks excellent, I bought an XJ8 a few months ago, and I do like it a lot, I have owned mainly jap cars before, Lexus ls, honda Legend etc, and found them competent, reliable, if a little dull, the jag howver has kept me on my toes, I have already fixed rear door lock, and aeriel, and changed the drivers seatbelt, and steering wheel. I still have the door mirrors which do not work to sort out, (any ideas anyone?) and the heaters for the mirrors which dont seem to work either, also the drivers seat heater does not seem to work, although, I notice in the cars history, that the seat has been changed, and it may be that the replacement seat has no heater fitted! ( I presume some seats did not have heaters).
On the plus side, it seems to have been well looked after, with lots of money spent on it, and a replacement engine fitted at 36000 miles in 2002
it also has a full stainless exhaust system ("mid sport tone") which allows the engine note to be heard, and a K and N air filter fitted, I have checked the car over, and changed the oil and filter so far, a new set of irridium plugs are waiting to be fitted. Is there other things I should be checking for ? I have looked at brakes (disks and pads ) which are ok. the car has done 85,000 miles overall, and seems to ride very well, gearbox seems good, and performance compared to my last car (4.0 litre
Lexus) is excellent.

Welcome greyone. If you go to the "Bodywork" Section of this Forum - and then to "Door Mirrors", you will see I have recently had to replace part of one mirror due to car park damage!

From that experience I can tell you that behind the mirror is a two-part fastener, one bit which attaches to (and comes out with) the mirror and the other the actual motor. If you look at the eBay link in one of my posts, you'll see both parts illustrated.

As a DIY novice I can offer advice on how to remove the mirror, which will be necessary if you need to replace a motor - but I'll leave the small matter of how you check whether the motors are at fault to someone more knowledgeable! With both mirrors not operating I would have thought it more likely to be a fuze .

welcome... which model you got ? we have something in common ...i too had a ls400 before my 1998 4.0 xj8

Greyone,does it say in your service information if it has had the top timing chain tensioners changed to the aluminium type, also the water pump and the thermostat.......its worth checking as at your mileage its a critical time for these things to be checked over......items listed in the engine section of the BB........Joe

Greyone,does it say in your service information if it has had the top timing chain tensioners changed to the aluminium type, also the water pump and the thermostat.......its worth checking as at your mileage its a critical time for these things to be checked over......items listed in the engine section of the BB........Joe

Hi Joe, My car had its engine replaced in 2002 , at 46000 mls would that not mean that these problems do not now exixt, or at least not for a while yet, are they mileage related (my motor has done about 40,000mls total).

What happens to these items mentioned, (timing chain tensioners, water pump), and what is the issue with the thermostat?
Kind Regards. Dave.

welcome... which model you got ? we have something in common ...i too had a ls400 before my 1998 4.0 xj8..

Hi there, thanks, I had a completely trouble free ls400 for nearly 5 years, and just fancied a change, I have a dark blue/cream 4.0litre xj8 SWB 1998, which so far I am enjoying driving very much, I am a little concerned about all the potential problems with them though. Mine has now been converted to lpg, it has a full stainless sports system and K+N air filter.

Regards Dave.

DAVE......the issues are the tensioners have been breaking up even at low mileages,the new recommended tensioner an aluminium one is the third type of tensioner tried......if they start to break up they can lodge in the timing gears and blow the top end of the engine.........the thermostat is a recommended part of having the water pump changed for a more reliable one........i had my tensioners and W pump plus the thermostat replaced as a precaution and some peace of mind........at 36 thousand miles, at a cost of £500.
Its a precautionary measure,with sound proof of these items going wrong.
Although a lot have not bothered and are still going OK........
You can of course always ask the people who did your engine if they fitted the new aluminium type of tensioner, and the water pump with the metal collar ........... Joe

Dave,

As a long-term Jag, but new XJ8 owner, I would suggest that the four things that you need to look out for on early XJ8s are:

- Timing chains & tensioners. If your engine was fitted in 2002, then I believe that it can not have the latest metal-type tensioners which I think were only introduced from 2003. It would be fairly easy to absolutely confirm that by taking off the cam cover and looking. So, at some point, they are going to let go. There are plenty of horror stories of cars with 60k-70k destroying their tensioners with very expensive results. You'll usually get a bit of notice with slight noise on startup as the chains take up the slack, but it's not guaranteed. If I was going to keep the car for any period of time, I'd get them replaced. Peace of mind and easier to sell the car. If you do change them, current wisdom seems to be change both the primary and secondary chains and tensioners all at once.

- Water pump. If you haven't got the latest water pump then change it now. I don't know whether the pump would have been changed when the engine was replaced. The latest type pump visible looks different from the early type so it's easy to check without dismantling anything. And if you're doing the pump, then do the 'stat anyway. It's a £20 item and 15 mins to change it (5 mins if you're changing the pump).

- Gearbox fluid. At 85k, I'd definitely be getting the fluid changed. Again, current wisdom says that anything over 75k and you ought to change the fluid. I recently spoke to ZF UK who make the box and they confirmed that "sealed for life" doesn't mean that at all. They say that at 100k it's a necessity, and at anything over 60k, it's strongly recommended. If you take it to someone to chnage the fluid, I would supply the fluid yourself. You have to use Esso LT71141 fluid which you will probably be charged at £24 + vat per litre. At 7 litres, that's expensive! However, you can buy the genuine stuff at £6 a litre if you know where to go.

Throttle housings - there was a recall on early cars for them to be changed. Check that it was done if your car falls into the appropriate VIN range.


I hope that helps

Paul

Greyone - I suggest you try to get hold of a copy of the September 2008 issue of the JEC magazine, which contains a two page article dealing with the problem areas to look out for when purchasing an XJ8. Well worth a phone call to the JEC office - and well worth purchasing if need be at the face value of £3.

If you cannot get a copy, let me know your e-mail address and I'll scan the two pages and send to you.

Dave,

As a long-term Jag, but new XJ8 owner, I would suggest that the four things that you need to look out for on early XJ8s are:

- Timing chains & tensioners. If your engine was fitted in 2002, then I believe that it can not have the latest metal-type tensioners which I think were only introduced from 2003. It would be fairly easy to absolutely confirm that by taking off the cam cover and looking. So, at some point, they are going to let go. There are plenty of horror stories of cars with 60k-70k destroying their tensioners with very expensive results. You'll usually get a bit of notice with slight noise on startup as the chains take up the slack, but it's not guaranteed. If I was going to keep the car for any period of time, I'd get them replaced. Peace of mind and easier to sell the car. If you do change them, current wisdom seems to be change both the primary and secondary chains and tensioners all at once.

- Water pump. If you haven't got the latest water pump then change it now. I don't know whether the pump would have been changed when the engine was replaced. The latest type pump visible looks different from the early type so it's easy to check without dismantling anything. And if you're doing the pump, then do the 'stat anyway. It's a £20 item and 15 mins to change it (5 mins if you're changing the pump).

- Gearbox fluid. At 85k, I'd definitely be getting the fluid changed. Again, current wisdom says that anything over 75k and you ought to change the fluid. I recently spoke to ZF UK who make the box and they confirmed that "sealed for life" doesn't mean that at all. They say that at 100k it's a necessity, and at anything over 60k, it's strongly recommended. If you take it to someone to chnage the fluid, I would supply the fluid yourself. You have to use Esso LT71141 fluid which you will probably be charged at £24 + vat per litre. At 7 litres, that's expensive! However, you can buy the genuine stuff at £6 a litre if you know where to go.

Throttle housings - there was a recall on early cars for them to be changed. Check that it was done if your car falls into the appropriate VIN range.


I hope that helps

Paul

I must thanks you all for your help on the matter of potential problems with my (unusual for me) rather hasty and un-researched purchase of an XJ8 , I normally got into minute details of what is and what should be , with any car I am not familiar with, in the case of the XJ, I drove it-----loved it-----bought it!!!! then thought, what have I done..... As it happens I am still very happy with my purchase, I have a car which looks great, drives great, and with some preventative money spent, hopefully will be reliable too. Next Tuesday, my car is going into the Jag dealer for the throttle body recall, which it has never had, I will be getting the other things done in due course--soon--

Would anyone buy other than genuine Jaguar parts if available, i.e. water pump and thermostat. and if so, who from for best price. I guess that chain tensioners are Jag only parts.

And once again, thanks a lot for all your help.

Many thanks Dave. (Greyone)

DAVE........Genuine Jag parts for engine jobs ect, spurious parts for exhaust ect,i find even things like Oil Filters / Air Filters are cheap enough at main dealers using your JEC discount.
I use the NGK plugs but shocks, tyres, brakes and pads as long as they are the right rating are your own choice.
One important part that must be used in the refilling of the gearbox if you have it done ,is the oil.........I think your gearbox is the ZF5HP24 sealed for life box but when you reach round about 80,000 miles the oil can be changed...but there is only one type of oil that CAN and MUST be used its the ESSO LT71141 oil, very expensive making a gearbox oil change into £120.00 plus job. ......Joe