How long will I keep this one? - 1998 Jaguar XJR Content

I've been on this forum for several years, though I didn't make an account until 2019, and as far as I can tell, never made a post or comment until late 2020, when I saw that P3PPY was looking for a cheap car to run in the Press on Regardless Rally. I sold/gave him one of my Saabarus that had an undiagnosed coolant leak (turned out to be an external head gasket leak, what a surprise), and that began my GRM journey.

I ended up picking up a free Honda Insight last June from tmtf11, which I kept for a month, did some maintenance, but never drove it, and then passed it on to BlueInGreen - Jon. If nothing else, it was nice that I was able to get the car somewhere more convenient than the UP, and I got to meet 2 more people from this forum.

Then late last August, there was the challenge priced 1980 Fiesta with the SVT swap. With it on the verge of being scrapped, with seemingly no one else able to get to it by the deadline, I picked it up, knowing that it was a project way bigger than anything I had ever dealt with. I knew there were plenty of helpful people on this forum though, and figured worst case, I'd pass it on to someone else who couldn't pick it up at the time. That, of course, is what happened a few months later, after it had sat in my garage without even the smallest bit of progress made. It ended up going to captainawesome, who then passed it on again recently to karplus2. 

This pattern of owning cars for short periods of time started before GRM though, I've owned 33 cars in 16 years (still a paltry sum compared to some, I know), which averages out to around 6 months per car, but ownership has ranged from one month to over 3 years.

The question is, where will this car fall on the spectrum? Will I be posting another for sale thread here before summer, or will I keep it until it falls apart? Who knows? 

Also, what car? I've written a whole essay here without even mentioning it, aside from the title. Oops.

Long story short, I was browsing recent topics on Wednesday, saw that Indy - Guy was selling a *challenge eligible* Jaguar XJR, and then spent several hours trying to convince myself that I didn't need to buy it, but I failed miserably and messaged him before the end of the work day. So following GRM tradition, as Indy - Guy reminded me yesterday, I'm starting the build thread before I've even seen the car in person or paid for it. That happens Saturday, if everything goes to plan.

What am I going to do with this car? Not completely sure. Drive it, obviously, maybe make some small modifications and improvements/upgrades? It is challenge eligible, and even in its current form, could be a fun car to bring, maybe? Most likely it'll just be a not-quite-daily driver, but we'll see.

More updates to follow, once the car becomes a tangible thing, instead of just pixels on a screen.

Thank you for saving me from myself because i was about to pull the trigger when i saw you wanted it

I'm gonna go ahead and put some info in here:

Link to the current for sale ad

Link to for sale ad that Lugnut listed when Robbie bought it

Link to post Robbie made shortly after picking it up

I hope the car is a good one for you and that you keep it for a LONG time, we've really enjoyed having it.

It was a great car for us. Hope it serves you well!!

Indy - Guy said:

I'm gonna go ahead and put some info in here:

Link to the current for sale ad

Link to for sale ad that Lugnut listed when Robbie bought it

Link to post Robbie made shortly after picking it up

 

I hope the car is a good one for you and that you keep it for a LONG time, we've really enjoyed having it.

Thanks for adding all those links, it's nice to have the GRM history of the car all in one place.

Also I forgot to mention in the first post, I've actually wanted an x300/x308 Jag since around 2010, but wasn't making enough money to afford a decent one back then. I found an earlier XJR (the inline 6 one) a couple years ago that was cheap, and almost bought it, but it needed a lot of parts replaced, and had some kind of throttle issue that required digging deeper into the engine bay than I wanted to at that price (assuming that was actually the issue, who knows?). Stumbling upon this XJR, which is in better shape, and the V8 version on top of that, there was no way I could pass it up at this price point.

Freshly washed and detailed.

Ready for pickup.

See you soon.

It was great to meet you.  Enjoy the new to you Jaaaaag.

Safe travels 

Food stop, and then headed home. Nice to meet another GRMer. 

That's a nice Jag.  I can confirm that they're a smoke show on the Challenge autocross.

See!?  You buy a Jag and immediately start eating at high-end restaurants!

By the way, buying and passing on cars doesn't slow down as you age.  In my 35 years of driving I'm over 125 at this point, with no more than 4 at once.

Good luck with the car.  I really love the color.

In reply to JShaawbaru :

You're going to want to get an account on this Jaaaaag forum, It's an amazing wealth of knowledge:

And here's a link to the cruise issue and brake switch solution we discussed:

Linky dinky do

I saw this BMW on jack stands for sale today.  

He'll throw in jack stands so it can sit on jack stands in my garage now?   LOL   

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

That makes my pants tight.

In reply to JShaawbaru :

Do ya wanta sell that plebeian Prius now that you have a Jag? 

John Welsh said:

In reply to JShaawbaru :

Do ya wanta sell that plebeian Prius now that you have a Jag? 

Hah, I'll be keeping the Prius to offset the comparably horrendous gas mileage that the Jaaaag gets.

Also, I did make it home, incident free aside from not having cruise control (a previous issue that Indy thought was taken care of, but popped back up today, (and was disclosed to me) and should be a relatively easy fix. Also was idling a little rough by the time I got off the freeway, and the CEL flashed a few times when accelerating, and gave me a "Reduced Performance" message. I'm guessing possibly a misfire or something similar, I'll have to see if there's a new code stored for that.

EDIT: After reading the text Indy-Guy sent me, and looking at the manual, it turns out that the main cruise switch was on the whole time, which maybe is what caused the occasional "reduced performance" message? It seems that's one of the symptoms, so it's very possible. 

Indy - Guy said:

In reply to JShaawbaru :

You're going to want to get an account on this Jaaaaag forum, It's an amazing wealth of knowledge:

 

And here's a link to the cruise issue and brake switch solution we discussed:

Linky dinky do

 

I'll definitely making and account there in the near future, and I'll check out that link tomorrow, and get that taken care of. Thanks! 

Drove it to work this morning, this time with the Sport and Cruise buttons pressed DOWN, so the lights were off (on the way home, both buttons were UP, with the lights on). This time the Reduced Performance warning light came on within a few minutes of leaving my house, but didn't actually seem to cause a significant reduction in performance, so I just drove the rest of the way to work like that. During the drive, the CEL went back into flashing mode a few times, mostly around 70mph when mildly accelerating. So there is something more going on than just the brake switch issue, and I'll have to get a code reader on it to see what codes I have. (I should have just plugged my UltraGauge into it this morning, since it'll give active/pending codes in real time, but I didn't want to try to find the OBDII port in the dark, when I was already just barely leaving on time.

I also don't think the auto-dimming mirror is working, since I'm being blasted by headlights behind me whether the button on the mirror is pushed/light is on or not. That'll have to be addressed, since it's always dark when I leave for work.

I did order a brake switch yesterday, and it should be here in the next week-ish, so once that's replaced, one problem should be gone.

In reply to JShaawbaru :

We never had the flashing check engine light or poor performance.  I wonder if I used the wrong procedure when I attempted to clear the codes after reading them.  Are you supposed to clear them with the engine running or off?  Would it help to disconnect the battery for several hours in an attempt to reset the ECU ?

In reply to Indy - Guy :

I'll see how it behaves on the way home, pull any codes when I get home, and then maybe I'll disconnect the battery overnight.

Even when the CEL is blinking, there's no actual noticeable difference in performance, I'm able to accelerate (at least slightly), and hold speed without any issue. Idle is the only time it seems to be running a bit off, and even then, the tach is still steady at ~900-1000RPM, the car just seems to bounce a little bit.

I've cleared codes in the past with the vehicle running, I've cleared them while driving (intermittent code I got in one of my Saabarus, where cruise wouldn't work when the CEL was on), and I think I've cleared them with a car just in accessory mode too.  So I'm not sure if that would have any impact.

Doesn't flashing cel usually mean an active misfire? (And which one should be stored in the computer).

I would try not to drive like that until you figure it out. Misfire means wrong amount of stuff going into the cat, which can mean cat damage really fast.

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

Doesn't flashing cel usually mean an active misfire? (And which one should be stored in the computer).

I would try not to drive like that until you figure it out. Misfire means wrong amount of stuff going into the cat, which can mean cat damage really fast.

That's been the case any time I've seen it in the past. If it stays as intermittent as it is right now, I don't think it'll be a huge issue, but of course there's always a chance of it getting worse, so it would be wise to stop driving it once I get home today, until I get it figured out. Hopefully there will be a stored code(s), and I can go from there.

I took a different route home so I could avoid the freeway for the most part, and as such only had one short misfire event around 70mph. I dropped back down to ~65 for the last couple miles, and didn't see it again. 

I also took my Ultra Gauge out there and pulled the codes. The P0400 (EGR) code is back, from when Indy checked them before selling the car. There's also a P1316, which is a random misfire for Jaguar, and a P0308, which is cylinder 8 misfire. Sounds like I at least have one cylinder to go after. 

Unfortunately, there's also a P1314, which is a catalytic converter ANGRY code. Hopefully it hasn't suffered enough damage to need replacement already, but we'll see. At least it won't get worse, since I won't be driving it until the misfire is fixed. 

I did find a thread on the Jaguar forum where a guy had the same code, tried a bunch of different things, including swapping coils, and it turned out that cylinder 8 is in a hotter environment than the rest of the engine, so that coil is more prone to failing, but that the coil he tried swapping was also on the verge of going bad, so putting it in the hotter environment caused it to misbehave when it got hot. Hopefully it's something relatively straightforward like that, and I can throw some coils in and call it a day. I'll definitely have to try swapping multiple ones in case I've got the same scenario. All his failing coils were on the same bank, so starting with one from the other side might not be a bad idea. 

I'll be looking into the EGR code too, since having no CEL would be nice, and a bad EGR system obviously isn't a good thing. 

Also, the consequences of the alternate route home:

In reply to JShaawbaru :

Get some rally armor mudflaps and embrace the Rally Jaaaaag life.

thatsnowinnebago said:

In reply to JShaawbaru :

Get some rally armor mudflaps and embrace the Rally Jaaaaag life.

It handled the horribly potholed dirt road better than I expected, at least equal to or better than my lifted Saabaru, so that's not entirely off the table as a possibility...

  In many applications the coils just don't last, should be replaced along with the spark plug.  They get heat damaged and just don't last forever.  You might start with a fresh set of plugs and coils.