Another New Arrival, needs help.

[GordonJ]

Hi, I am new to the club and looking to purchase my first Jaguar. I am looking at a Sept 1999 XJ8 (which is my prefered model). It has covered 79434 miles and has a FSH. It also has the Nakasil engine which the seller tells me has never given any problems. The seller is also a member of the JEC. I would be gratefull for any help given.
Regards
Gordon

[Brakebuster]

Gordon

welcome

( must be careful here as the owners is also on the JEC , lol)

firstly

dont be scared of Nikasil , if its passed its most recent MOT on emissions, then i shouldn't be any more trouble now that sulphur is no longer added to petrol , if in doubt get a ' blow by test ' done at a recognised Jaguar garage ( not the same as a compression test ) as it test excess pressure build up in the crank case due to ' blow by ' from the cylinders

the next thing on a car of this age ( i have one myself ) is the rust issue, that is to say , has it started to rust, there are a few area's to check , firstly the most obvious, the wheel arches down by the sills , front and back , then there is the A pillar at the bottom of the windscreen , though ugly these won't fail an MOT , but this one will, the triple layer plate behind the front dampers rust out, and can only be seen on close inspection from under the wheel arch, any bubbling or holes here ( they are right behind the brake pipe union to the body ) will be an expensive job to sort ,

as a 1999 car , it will have the later AJ27 engine , and should have VVT timing as well, along with more reliable electronic throttle and electronic ' choke' rather than a vacuum version , they dont suffer from the cutout issues of the earlier versions at motorway speeds , which was a free recall if it happened ,

front suspension at this age is probably near to its end, you may need new dampers and lower wishbone bushes, check for wear on the inside tread of the front wheels , if they are worn it needs new bushes and lower ball joints , again , not cheap to do , and almost impossible to do DIY , as well as anti-roll-bar links ,

if you know anyone with an OBD2 code reader , take it along and plug it in to see if any codes are being thrown , as not all faults are indicated on the dash ,

lastly is the interior condition, check it all works , and if it has an electric windscreen de-mister, check both sides operate , its split down the middle for each side ,

other than that, if you fall in love with it , buy it

or buy my 1999 4ltr Sovereign in Seafrost that has had all this work done and just passed its MOT last weekend ( need the money to spray my 6 year restoration of my V12 XJS )


BB

[jaguar4321]

nice run through, wish i had read this before buying mine!