The Autoshite bike/Jag XK8 with 23 owners and 157k miles... MOT day.........

[Marina door handles]

What could it be? If you lurk in the classifieds you may have a very good idea. Lets just say its probably not the best kind of car for winter motoring.....

I am currently wasting time, wishing the day away like a child waiting for Xmas!

[bezzabsa]

Boxster automatic with a knackered hood???

Anything Rover related?

BMW 116d thats been barried??

[Marina door handles]

The first one is in the right kind of ball park but not German and not mid engined.......

[High Jetter]

Sherpa coupe?

[Marina door handles]

27 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Sherpa coupe?

Lol nope, I own a LDV Sherpa Coupe already, this is more convertible...

[Marina door handles]

Its arrived.....

 

[Brodders]

Great to have met you earlier, thanks for showing me the Scimitar, Freelander and 800 (and for the coffee.) and sorry for having to run off at the station. I made it to the train with around 90 seconds to spare 🤣.

Hope you enjoy the Jag; it'll be a bit of a change going from that back to a Volvo and Rover 75, but probably a sensible one.

[Marina door handles]

Nice to meet you too! I am pleased you made it to the train on time, hope your connections work out...

I have put the Jaaaaaaaaaaaaag (sorry) into service already, that engine note is addictive and the boot is surprisingly big, managed a sizeable Morrisons outing with it (yes I know how to party).

[Marina door handles]

XK8 meets 800, SE6A and some cows......

Pervy engine shot.

 

[gm]

what number owner are you ? must be 23 at least by now  

well bought sir !

[Marina door handles]

According to the V5 it was on 21 former keepers (not counting Mr Brodders) so you are correct, I must be lucky number 23! 

[stuboy]

very cool

[Bren]

2 hours ago, Marina door handles said:

According to the V5 it was on 21 former keepers (not counting Mr Brodders) so you are correct, I must be lucky number 23! 

When the next owners sees the number of previous keepers - 

[Marina door handles]

This car includes at least 4 firsts for me....

First car with a front hinged bonnet

First car with washer squirters on the wiper blades

First car with a fly off handbrake

And first with a V8

Five if you count it being my first Jaguar......

Its still on my drive this morning and doesn't seem to have dissolved with all the rain.........

 

 

 

 

[Marina door handles]

Feels more like its mine now...

 

Yes I am number 23 but oh hang on a mo, oh dear I will have to send it back to the DVLA as it should read Marina Door Handles......

Anyway the XK now named Ken by Mrs MDH (long story) has completed  a trip to the garden centre for coffee and cake...

Also completed various errands and has hosed most of a tank of petrol after being pressed into service commuting to work, covering over 200 miles. MPG has dropped slightly from 25mpgs to 24mpg,  traffic commuting into Stoke is to blame for this!

It has a few little issues....  The gearbox warning lamp came on and it briefly lost the lower gears in traffic but that fixed itself after being turned off and on again, IT style (to be fair I was warned about that). The sunvisors are a bit annoying as the little covers over the vanity mirrors don't clip into place any more and dangle when you flip the visors down. I have fixed this fault with a couple of well placed elastic elastic bands!

The fly off hand brake needs adjusting as its awkward AF and lastly the drivers heated seat doesn't work, I think it might be the switch...... 

The good so far rather out weighs the minor niggles, honestly I am loving driving Ken he is a fab thing. It is very comfortable, has a great sound track, has get up and go like nothing I have ever owned and yet isn't that  bad on fuel. I have done some roof down motoring, possibly looking like a right bell end whilst trying to escape from Stoke on Toast. And Mrs MDH totally approves, so its all good. 

Plans...

Curiosity is niggling at me and I need to clear some space and get the big cat over the pit for a check over. The MOT is in April so that should give me a bit of breathing room to sort any corrosion issues hopefully. I also want to check over the front suspension it does feel a bit tired and new front discs and pads would not go amiss. 

The rear wheel arches and valance need something  too, not sure if it will be  just a bodge with filler and paint or if will actually put some fresh metal in? 

To be continued....

 

[Schaefft]

Fixing the rear valence and arches properly would definitely give this car a long term perspective as it's really the only thing that would stop it from passing it's test sometime in the future. Everything else would be a fairly straightforward fix. Question is how much more work that is compared to filler.

[Bren]

3 hours ago, Marina door handles said:

Feels more like its mine now...

Yes I am number 23 but oh hang on a mo, oh dear I will have to send it back to the DVLA as it should read Marina Door Handles......

Anyway the XK now named Ken by Mrs MDH (long story) has completed  a trip to the garden centre for coffee and cake...

Also completed various errands and has hosed most of a tank of petrol after being pressed into service commuting to work, covering over 200 miles. MPG has dropped slightly from 25mpgs to 24mpg,  traffic commuting into Stoke is to blame for this!

It has a few little issues....  The gearbox warning lamp came on and it briefly lost the lower gears in traffic but that fixed itself after being turned off and on again, IT style (to be fair I was warned about that). The sunvisors are a bit annoying as the little covers over the vanity mirrors don't clip into place any more and dangle when you flip the visors down. I have fixed this fault with a couple of well placed elastic elastic bands!

The fly off hand brake needs adjusting as its awkward AF and lastly the drivers heated seat doesn't work, I think it might be the switch...... 

The good so far rather out weighs the minor niggles, honestly I am loving driving Ken he is a fab thing. It is very comfortable, has a great sound track, has get up and go like nothing I have ever owned and yet isn't that  bad on fuel. I have done some roof down motoring, possibly looking like a right bell end whilst trying to escape from Stoke on Toast. And Mrs MDH totally approves, so its all good. 

Plans...

Curiosity is niggling at me and I need to clear some space and get the big cat over the pit for a check over. The MOT is in April so that should give me a bit of breathing room to sort any corrosion issues hopefully. I also want to check over the front suspension it does feel a bit tired and new front discs and pads would not go amiss. 

The rear wheel arches and valance need something  too, not sure if it will be  just a bodge with filler and paint or if will actually put some fresh metal in? 

To be continued....

 

Americans prefer spray foam to plastic padding. You can cut it as opposed to sanding.

[Marina door handles]

If you have been on the Grumpy thread you may have read about my Freelander woes followed by a surprise none start XK.... 

So to give context, Ken the XK ended up in my garage whilst I was trying to sell the Subaru Forester and daily-ing the Freelander. The Forester eventually sold freeing up some space, then the Freelander failed an MOT and swapped places with the Jag. Tuesday morning this week I tried to start the Jag to go to work in - no dice! It fired into life, I selected drive and it immediately died. I tried to re start it but no good. I blagged Mrs MDHs car for the commute...

MY focus has been on fixing the Landrover but on my journey home tonight I turned my thoughts to fixing the XK, after mulling over all the possibilities from a failed fuel pump to a knackered cam position sensor, it dawned on me........ What if the fuel gauge is telling fibs? Has it just run out of petrol? Could it be that simple, surely not?

So I went and got some fuel, pulled the filler cap off and it had real suction behind it, maybe a sign? 

I cranked it and it stuttered.... I let it rest, tried again, stuttered again, let it rest, try again and it started! Bit lumpy to start but it soon cleared its throat!

The beast is back! The fuel gauge is dodgy.

 

[EyesWeldedShut]

On 04/10/2025 at 09:52, Marina door handles said:

25mpgs to 24mpg,

That's what we're getting out of the SLK - 2 cylinders and 2 seats less - so I think you're onto a winner there.

[Split_Pin]

My diesel L322 gets the same, without the lovely V8 petrol soundtrack!

[Marina door handles]

Today the big cat came briefly out of hibernation for a trip to the next village for coffee and a mooch..

Things haven't been entirely plain sailing and its developed a couple of quirks, previously I had fun and games with the door glass not dropping when you open/close the drivers door which is important on a frameless windowed door on a convertible...

This has sort of fixed itself after following a re set but its latest electrical chicannery was discovered on the way home from the coffee stop. Mrs MDH and I decided to be bold, as the weather was sunny if cool and drop the roof. A couple of attempts later and I had to give  up and drive home in comfort without any flies in my teeth or wasps in my hair.

After some faffing when I got back home, I discovered if you pop the boot the roof will then open?? Seems the XK maybe developing some kind of electrical senile dementia! 

The other issue is a slight intolerance to washer fluid, you pour it in and the cat will piddle a small amount out. It does have a rather convoluted route from washer fluid in, to actual bottle. Its leaking at one of the joins in the filler neck and also from the top of the pump.

The only way to access the washer bottle.... This is also the best way to change a headlight bulb as well (but you can do it with the wheel on full lock).

Shouldn't be too tricky a fix and it gave me a good excuse to prod in one of the arches, its looking fairly solid and the brakes are in good nick, not sure if the red caliper is standard??

Thats all for now..

 

[Marina door handles]

Its spring, actually it probably isn't but as its not darkness both end of the working day, the Jag is being coaxed back into service.....

But I have some issues to try resolve, firstly locking and unlocking? The key fob sort of works, the silly headlight feature works (you can light up the headlights from a button on the fob). But all the central locking features dont, not even the remote boot release?

I have tried a fob re programme as described on some internet sites but it doesn't work? That's going to need a deeper dive because if I lock it and unlock it with the key, the alarm goes off until I fire up the engine, which is a tad embarrassing!

Second issue is the roof, when I bought the car I was warned that it sometimes refused to work. Well its now properly playing up. After more googling I discovered the method for emergency opening. Firstly release the hydraulic pressure, then manually release the latch above the windscreen at this point my suspicion was with the latch, so I re pressurised the hydraulics and hit the button and the roof went down.

Success sort of! More googling seems to suggest the latch isn't being pressurised enough so a hydraulic fault most likely, hmmmm.  I put the roof back up and decided it will have to pretend to be a coupe until I figure this out!

 

[robt100]

Does they key make any kind of confirmation beep when programming it in? I know when i had a dead battery in the key it wouldnt beep the confirmation, had to open the door using the lock, then the alarm would go off after about 5 seconds if inhadnt got the key in and to pos2 fast enough. So if the battery in the key hasnt been changed id start there.

Not sure if these are compatible with SDD, but might be worth getting it plugged in to check for failed modules.

[gm]

1 hour ago, Marina door handles said:

it will have to pretend to be a coupe until I figure this out!

sounds like what you need is a detachable hardtop ! 

or maybe not

https://www.facebook.com/share/1bmDt9P9BW/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

[Marina door handles]

1 hour ago, gm said:

sounds like what you need is a detachable hardtop ! 

or maybe not

https://www.facebook.com/share/1bmDt9P9BW/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

Kin ell, I could probably find a half decent XK8 Coupe for less than that hard top! 

[Marina door handles]

2 hours ago, robt100 said:

Does they key make any kind of confirmatioNope n beep when programming it in? I know when i had a dead battery in the key it wouldnt beep the confirmation, had to open the door using the lock, then the alarm would go off after about 5 seconds if inhadnt got the key in and to pos2 fast enough. So if the battery in the key hasnt been changed id start there.

Not sure if these are compatible with SDD, but might be worth getting it plugged in to check for failed modules.

Nope no beep at all, casting my mind back to last year, the fob did seem reluctant to lock the car but unlocked it okay. I changed the batterys but this made no difference... 

I am starting to think it might be a module that has failed.....

[beko1987]

Not some common ground that:s failed somewhere?

In a month or 2 you can forcibly close the roof for the next 5 months without worry* anyway 🤷👌

[Volksy]

On 05/11/2025 at 23:29, Marina door handles said:

If you have been on the Grumpy thread you may have read about my Freelander woes followed by a surprise none start XK.... 

So to give context, Ken the XK ended up in my garage whilst I was trying to sell the Subaru Forester and daily-ing the Freelander. The Forester eventually sold freeing up some space, then the Freelander failed an MOT and swapped places with the Jag. Tuesday morning this week I tried to start the Jag to go to work in - no dice! It fired into life, I selected drive and it immediately died. I tried to re start it but no good. I blagged Mrs MDHs car for the commute...

MY focus has been on fixing the Landrover but on my journey home tonight I turned my thoughts to fixing the XK, after mulling over all the possibilities from a failed fuel pump to a knackered cam position sensor, it dawned on me........ What if the fuel gauge is telling fibs? Has it just run out of petrol? Could it be that simple, surely not?

So I went and got some fuel, pulled the filler cap off and it had real suction behind it, maybe a sign? 

I cranked it and it stuttered.... I let it rest, tried again, stuttered again, let it rest, try again and it started! Bit lumpy to start but it soon cleared its throat!

The beast is back! The fuel gauge is dodgy.

 

My old XJ8 3.2 sometimes would pull a similar trick. 

I used to work away at weekends and the Jag would be often left for five or six days at a time. Firing up on my return, it would run for a few seconds cut out and not restart. 

I had the AA out to it and apparently TADTS. Essentially they flood themselves and wont restart without major crankage. As mine had a battery on it's last legs this wasn't always possible without getting a jumpstart.

 

So I wouldn't necessarily blame a faulty gauge.

 

 

[Schaefft]

The fob worked well when I had the car and things partially working means that it's correctly programmed to the car. I dont think there was beep with a successful sync to the car, the led close to the shifter would blink instead. If I had a guess the battery isn't charged enough to make the central locking work? Does the latter work with the key in the door lock?

[Marina door handles]

25 minutes ago, Schaefft said:

The fob worked well when I had the car and things partially working means that it's correctly programmed to the car. I dont think there was beep with a successful sync to the car, the led close to the shifter would blink instead. If I had a guess the battery isn't charged enough to make the central locking work? Does the latter work with the key in the door lock?

Good points..

The battery seems good, I have trickled charged it on and off over the last couple of months and when I got it running, it didn't hesitate to start. But it would not hurt to put my tester on it....

It sounded like the central locking worked on the key but I didn't check the passenger door if it did actually lock. Having said that it still locks both the doors when you select drive and unlocks both sides when you take the key out of  the ignition..

Its all a bit perplexing....