Saleofcar.com :Jaguar

Jaguar XK8 (2000)
for sale

Price: US $200.00

Description:

Up for sale is a 2000 Jag xk8. ..Firstly some much needed background before you look to own one of the beautifull fast and fun cars. .In the early 90s ford bought jaguar...Its first revision of Jaguars insanely beautifull and equally unrelable xjs was the xk8. .and like its predessor ford would build a car that was great for its first owner, but an expensive headache for anyone owning it after about the 65k miles mark...If you are looking at any of these cars built between 1997 and 2001, you need to be very vigilant. During these model years, ford used plastic tensioners in its engines...plastic that became brittle and failed. The result was a nascar type engine blow up with no warning..Some owners were lucky enough to hear a ratteling of the chains on start up...but that was the exception...A engine rebuild is about $5500. and given the current values on the cars not really worth it unless you just love your car and dont plan on selling it. .After 2001 jag fixed the issue...So making sure that the timing tensioners have been replaced is a must before you consider buying the 1997-2001 model. The cost to do that repair is about 2k. .thats if you do it before the engine explodes. .If the car your looking at has over 80k miles and hasnt had the fix done, dont forget to addd the 2k for the precautionary repair. .The second thing that ford did incorrectly was the convertable top. .This goes for any year xk8...In the glove ford put a little allen type wrench...dont loose it as at some point, proberbly in a rainstorm your going to use it. .The top is absolutely going to fail and know that its going to be anywhere from $2200-2600 to fix it...You will get carpell tunnel using that emergency wrench getting the top to go back up...With that as background, heres the story on this car and further proof that too much knowledge is not always a good thing...I bought the car with the add saying it had engine problems. I naturally assumed it had the usual timing chain/engine failure...I had a tow truck get it to my house and noticed it had a factory radiator sitting in the box and a new convertable top motor. .I figured Id try and start the car expecting that it would be locked up...Amazingly it started right up, ran rough at idle but sounded awsome when I gave it gas. .So I knew it wasnt the timing tensioners. .I called the guy back... He said he had already had the tensioners done. He said the radiator had a leak...he ordered the new radiator from jag...on the day he went to pick it up, his wife decided to drive the car. .. with no fluids and it overheated...He had just put new performance tires on the car...they have less than 50 miles on them, bought the new motor for the top and when the mechanic said it would now have to have the heads re done, hed had enough...Theres no water mixing in the oil currently I didnt want to do any further damage to the engine from letting it get hot again. .In the meantime, I found a completely re done set of heads (I have receipt) all the newer tensioners chains from a jag mechanic who had just done the repair on a customers car...While it was being done the guy died and the son didnt want to pay the repair bill so he had his mechanic take of the just redone heads etc...I have the entire top/ and front of the engine...all new parts as you can see from the pics...The tensioners/slippers dont even have a scratch on them. .He said they just started the car up, took it for a test drive before removing everything...Its handy because you can see how it goes back together in your living room before you just start unloosining every bolt you see. .All the parts to fix the engine come with the car, heads, timing chains, tensioners etc also included is a top motor and factory radiator. The rest of the car is still very nice...there is a wear mark on the side of the driver seat...If you are mechanically inclined or know someone who is, this is a chance to own a nice jag for cheap, and with the major headaches fixed...the car will last a long time...Ive had these cars and other jags through the years and after I stumbled accross an old jag xjs with the 6cylinder engine in it, I decided to have that be my final car...and frankly at 64, I just didnt have the energy to start tearing this one apart...Ill leave it to you younger guys/gals. Please dont bid on the car unless you not only want it but can afford it...Good luck bidding on this beautifull car...
_{update: 2015-09-24}