to buy or not to buy

Hello Ed,
Happy Holidays to you and your family.
Here in South Florida,(from Delray South) we have one shop in Delray Beach, one in Boca Raton, one in Pompano Beach and the most southern shop is in Fort Lauderdale on State Road 84, I reside in Delray but I take all my Jaguars to Gulfstream Jaguar in Fort Lauderdale just off State Road 84, this is a 40 minutes ride at SFL I 95 normal speed (95MPH) if you do 80 MPH please stay on the right lane, and it is a two Cats affair as one will be left there for a day or two! Peter turned my Mark II 3.8 into a Swiss Chronograph, automatic transmission linkage were redone and smooth as silk (a Studebaker 3 speed) aluminum radiator, she was very cool, the famous SU's and the starting carburetor had no choice but to work properly.
Gulfstream Jaguar
2305 SW 2nd Avenue Fort Lauderdale FL 33315 954-761-1231 ask for Peter and tell him that Michel sent you.
Peter worked on all my cats Mark II, XJS 6 and 12, Xj6, XJ8, XK8's, XF and on my daughter Audi Q5 (I am a good customer)
If you have an idiot light problem go and see Peter.

Cheers
Michel SFJC Treasurer

I'd be interested to know who the "expert" is, and where in South Florida as I'm always looking to improve on what I have if necessary.

Thank you Michael D. and others this was a great help ! I agree 100% A good reliable Jag shop guy in your area is a Must! The closest to me is in Hilton Head,S.C. Which is a bitch to get to

Thanks again,
I'm going to take you up on maybe helping me find what I want when the $ become right.

Dann

Hello Ben,
I purchased the car, and all the warning lights are story of the past, I have a great expert here in South Florida, may be i can help, which warning lights do you have now?

Cheers

Michel

Hey thanks Mikel,
I just wanted to hear from some one like you. I don't care for Mercedes or BMWs .PERIOD
I love all the Jags, always have. I promised myself, that I will not die until I can own one. Even though I've had 3 strokes and a Deep Brain Stimulation operation. The DBS was to stop the left hand tremor. In fact, I had it done in Florida the Shandes Hosp. under the Neurological behavior Institute of the University of Florida Medical school. It is a fairly new procedure for tremor, just like the Alzheimer's operation which was developed in France over 20 years back.. The Tremor part was perfected by a team of University of Florida Neurologist and Neurosurgeons Drs. Okum, Head of the dept. and Dr. Foot Surgeon, who went over to France to work with them because Foot believed this would work for essential Tremor if you go to the Thalamus part of the brain. He was right, and he was my surgeon, and the whole team were really great!. Just relating to you, that I now have a very special place in my heart/head for you Florida people, and your much appreciated response. I believe the Operation is also another step that may help in the Alzheimer's progress as it is in another portion of the brain. My best friend just died Aug. 2, from Alzheimer's.
Sorry, This forum is about Jaguar cars, I got carried away. I appreciate what you said about the Nykasil cylinder change out. I've heard the same from other people of what you said. Also I'm sorry but what is the AFMS by Steve? How do I find this, I'm new at these forum things. I know you said suspension change. I've seen some sites advertising a change out of the suspension in Jags, but as I remember there were about three different degrees of these from one company, and each were progressively more expensive. I'll have to look it up again, but I think the first stage was about $1,800 up to about $8,000. Don't think that included installation. Although this site did encourage doing this before the original systems fails. Is it true in your opinion that they will fail at 70 to 80 k? It is a shame as I said the cars I've driven, even a 4 door 2005 S with R engine(FAST!) model was far smoother and quitter than any other auto I've been in.
I would think this original suspension would be the reason. My wife had a 1995 Lincoln with an air suspension that fail on her around 85k miles in 2003, and I had Lincoln pick it up and told them to replace or repair, I didn't care, because, she was not going to buy or change out cars, she loved that thing. Well the service dept manager called me at work and ask," Mr. Bunn, do you know how much this system is going to cost to change out?" I abruptly interrupted the guy, and stammered, "I don't give a damn how much it cost, just do it.'" He said ok He called about 4 days later and said you car is ready. I said GREAT, how much? $3,955.00. Now, that was a bunch of money in 2003. a year and a half later something else happened, and she broke down on a bridge. She then bought a 2005 Toyota Highlander after trying out every kind of car in Savannah. She still has it.

OK, bye for now,

Dann

Thanks again for your help! I want the Jag to drive down to Gainesville every six months for my DBS checks and communication with Neurological Department, who are doing research with my progress.

Regards,

Dann

d

I 100% agree I love my 01 xk8 and would love to find someone reliable to work on those lights any suggestions.
Ben

Hello Dann,

I am an officer in the South Florida Jaguar Club, and I have owned in my life more then 20 Jaguars the oldest was a 1962 MKII 3.8. My wife was driving MB"s and I will take a Jaguar over any Mercedes any day of the week, if you compare a 1997 XK8 with a 1997 SL500 you will see that the Jaguar is aging gracefully while the other car is showing signs destruction and most of the time the cost to replace the defective parts and trims is so high that restoration does not make any sense. I had several 1997 XK8 with the 4 liter V8 plague with the supposedly Nykasil cylinder problems. I never had a problem. This Nykasil was an issue but was mostly created by certain types of fuel when the cars were doing stop and go without enough driving time to warn up. I had 1999's and 2000's with the famous plastic chain tensioners, I never had a problem either. To be on the safe side, yes tensioners should be changed on 1997 to late 2000. If you make the right shop choice this is not a very expensive repair ($700.00 to $ 1K) and then you good to go the 130/150K miles with a great car. Again if you choose the right shop changing suspension bushings (70/85K miles depending on your driving) will not necessitate a second mortgage on your house. Please reward yourself, buy that XK8 from an responsible owner that has taken care of the car well and you will have lots of pleasure for the money spent. I can help you in that process if you like. Like anything else, the more sophisticated things are the more minute problems they will have, like idiot lights turning on simply because a wire connection is dirty or corroded, look at the forum about the AFMS solved by Steven. When you own a Jaguar you must find a qualified and honest mechanic not reaching in your pocket book badly when you need something done, and there are a lots of them!
Cheers

Michel

I owned a 2002 S from 60,000 to 100,000 miles without audited problems. Other than warning lights my XK8 looks and drives like new

Ben, I'd be interested to know what you find out. I read these types of things all the time on this forum and other sites. I'm holding off on buying anything I can afford, until I reason things out. I've ruled out anything below 2003 because of the plastic chain tensioners on the timing gears and the complaints on the cylinder sleeves on the earlier cars. I'm not sure which year they changed that out either. I have to assume if you want to drive a jag, you may as well make up your mind you will experience a lot of strange expensive repairs and bugs.
I really know nothing about what I'm talking about, but am trying to learn what I can. I was told by a reputable car inspector that the whole sub frame and suspension will go out at around 60 to 80K. He said they were designed that way. I also was told by a very reputable professional car racer, who owns his own shop, that the timing gears will fail with plastic tensioners if not replaced around the same time period.
I know these men very well, and they know cars, I have no reason to doubt their word. They have nothing to gain. I know the shop owner refuses to work on Jags, but will and does do extensive work on BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche.
I love the Jags ,all of them from way back up to now. Boy that new one they just came out with is a killer. I want or can only afford a used XK 8. I'm trying to pinpoint which is the lowest year with what mileage I can trust. The cars are to me the quietest best driving cars I have ever driven. That includes Bentleys and Rolls.
If there is anyone out there that would like to input something, I would be glad to listen.

Regards,

Dann

I am the proud owner of an 01 XK8 with 40,000 miles. I have an ABS light. No ASC No traction Fail Safe Engine Mode Check rear lights. Car runs fine. I have no clue and I don't think anyone else does. I don't believe any if these lights are for real. Computer shows no problems
Ben

My '98 XK8 came with the standard 17' rims, but I upgraded to the 18" wheels, which took 5 years off the car. The recommended tire sizes are 245/45 fr & 255/45 rr as the rear rims are slightly wider. This means you can't rotate the tires without taking them off the rims, as they're unidirectional, and different sizes front to rear.

I've also been getting bogus failure messages, which I'm told in my case means a new fusebox. Yours may be a different story, so as George says, check the codes.

Step one---read the codes. Reset them and see which come back. Sounds like a very low battery or the car has been very wet.