The Big British Boat with a Blower - 2005 Jaguar Super V8

About 2 years ago I started casually looking at owning a Jaguar XJ for a bit.  They were cheap, I'd not had anything british nor 'luxury' before, and it's always interesting to check items off the automotive bucket list.

Over the course of a few test drives and missed opportunities, I discovered I didn't fit in pre-2003 ones, didn't like S-types, didn't care for the stiff ride or potential complications of the supercharged XJR, and stubbornly refused a few decent 2010+ XJ's because they don't "look like a jag".  Finally settled on wanting a basic 2003+ XJ8 for a winter beater/something different/why the heck not.

However what actually became available at a price I couldn't refuse was a 2005 Super V8: XJR engine and brakes fitted to the extended wheelbase, fully-optioned chassis on standard (air) suspension.

It technically runs and drives but will need a bunch of work to get on the road.  But one of the things that made the purchase possible is that as of a few months ago I have the space to work on it slowly without being stressed about the dead car in the driveway.  To begin with, there's a month wait for the salvage certificate to come back (oh yeah - it was stolen.  twice.) and then it will need to be inspected for a rebuilt title.  It takes on a lot of water in the rain.  Needs a radiator and battery, and from there i can start figuring out what else.  I'm sure there will be plenty.  Right now it's got all the codes and warnings and runs in restricted power mode but hopefully some of that clears up when the computer sees the proper amount of voltage and coolant.

It's the first actual vehicle I've towed with the Burb, which did great.  6,000 lb package, no brakes (yet), no sway control (yet), nobody died.

The interior is pretty solid.  A little mold in the carpets, some loose trim, lots of dirt and the headliner is falling down but not bad overall.

SO that's about it.  Dragged it home.  It's still on the trailer.  The battery is beyond saving, picked up a new one today.  Ordered an oil filter and ozone machine.  Think I have a line on a used radiator, if not, Rockauto sells em!

Love Jag things! Can't wait to hear V8 noises. 

Cool.  I'll be following along.

I didn't know this model existed, very nice.

Cool project! Curtis will be very envious, he's wanted one of these for a while.

I'm a fan. I hate to get rid of mine but it's time.

The noise and pull of the supercharged 4.2 is intoxicating. Also, completely childish in a luxury car (in a wonderful way).

Some minor updates:  pulled the battery and it was glued to the tray by some kind of sticky liquid...thought my attempts at charging it had caused it to leak or something.  Upon further investigation, with clues from the bottles found, i think it's about a quart of quaker state and a quart of lucas oil stabilizer spilled in the trunk - in that ratio, plus moisture and time, apparently you get greenish maple syrup.  So that will be fun to clean up.  For now I put the battery back in because I wanted to take inventory of the various silly electrical features.

All the windows work.  Sunroof, front power seats and heaters, rear power lumbar and heaters.  Discovered that the child window lockout also disables the rear power seats so after some head scratching those work now.  One headrest needs a boop to get moving from the fully-lowered position.  Rear sunscreen works.  Hvac, touchscreen and Nav seem OK though the a/c blows warm, no surprise there.  Amazingly, none of the gadgetry seems broken except that one wonky headrest.  Can't test cruise/adaptive cruise yet.

I drove it around the yard and up and down our private road which is a mix of bad concrete and worse gravel.  It rides nicely, with a minor clunk in the left front, like a bushing or sway bar endlink.

Poked at the terrible clear bra and it looks like it will come off cleanly with some work:

Even in 'restricted power' mode it made it up the hill.  I let it run and yard-drive for about 30 minutes and aside from the radiator steadily pissing coolant out the crack at the top, there don't seem to be any issues with running / cooling.  Yet.  Unsure if the torque app can access anything that reads boost accurately, but either it makes around 5 psi free-revving without load, or none, or neither of those inputs are measuring the right thing.  Ordered a scanner that does jag-specific codes, which i will need to diagnose the air suspension fault(s).

Pulled the codes and then cleared them.  Two lean / air leaks and a knock sensor.  It is also louder by the front of the car than the rear, i suspect there are manifold cracks or gasket leaks letting fresh air into the exhaust before the O2 sensors.

Got it in the garage where it is nearly 5 feet longer than a Miata.  Oh, the reason i got it in the garage asap is because it takes on lots of water in rain.  That's a problem for later.

And lastly...this was a really important feature to check functionality of:

I'm following with interest.  

Am I the only one disappointed by the lack of an actual floating in water boat with a Jag V8?

I had those lean codes on my x202 right after I got it. It was the fitting for the brake booster line that hooks up to the throttle body. A new o-ring fixed it right up. You may check to see if it's leaking there.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-xj8-xjr-x308-27/sure-check-out-vacuum-leak-beneath-throttle-body-202627/

The Jaguar part comes with the press in fitting but I didn't use it.

Thanks.  I'll check that o-ring.

o-ring + fitting C2S15816

pipe from fitting to booster AJ84256

One thing I haven't found online is a definitive list of 'problems that trigger Restricted Performance Mode'.  CEL's have been cleared and not come back yet but the 'restricted performance' message on the dash remains and the rev limit is correspondingly low.  Intake air leaks are very high on the list of common reasons I HAVE been able to find sofar, so hopefully chasing down the CEL's also fixes that.

I've never seen a clear bra do that before!

I'd be most concerned about the "takes on a lot of water when it rains" thing. I spent 2 years chasing water coming into my Audi Allroad, finally I just sold it out of frustration.

Isn't water generally just plugged sunroof drains?

Likely/hopefully.  I've actually dealt with this too often and it doesn't bother me.  Will basically leave that issue for last and chase it down if the rest of the car works.

E46 - sunroof drain hose came off

Miata - top leaked, duh?

Mazda3 - rear door seal shrunk with age

Rx8 - microcracks in the seam sealer on the roof panel joint

Golf - sunroof drain clogged

This has stagnated for a month as it's the project car that gets attention only when everything else is taken care of - and everything else wanted attention.  I got about an hour's worth of disassembly done before my wife's Focus wanted a wiring harness repair, the Burb wanted a water pump and a battery, the Miata wanted event prep, everything wanted oil changes, and the house is a house.

I did run the jag again after another full ecu/battery power cycle and it no longer displays 'reduced performance mode' on the dash but I assume the CEL's will be back eventually.  And I did buy a lift capable of supporting this beast (as opposed to my original 3500 lb short-wheelbase quickjack) so it can hover now:

Upon lifting, found large oil leak in the vicinity of the front main seal, that will be fin to deal with.  Hopefully when I have the radiator out I can get a better idea of where it is coming from.

And both of the huge silver V8 vehicles do fit in the garage at the same time!

I recently tried to curtail a massive oil leak on the front of mine. Reaplced both the crank seal and oil pan gasket and while both were toast, those were not the leaks. I'm thinking it's timing cover worst case, or oil filter housing best case. Either are not fun.

I had pretty big water leaks on my XJR. It was blocked sunroof drains. They block up annoying quickly I found, or maybe the sunroof wasn't the only source of leaks. It was at least contributing. In the trunk there is a rubber hose that is the rear drain on either side. Its in two pieces, so you can pull it apart and stick an air nozzle in there. 

RedGT said:

I did run the jag again after another full ecu/battery power cycle and it no longer displays 'reduced performance mode' on the dash but I assume the CEL's will be back eventually:

When you get it back on the road, if you find the restricted performance and lean codes return under hard acceleration and/or load check your fuel trims at those operating conditions. If its going lean, and you are not losing fuel pressure due to a bad pump or clogged filter try an injector flush. If that does not work the injector inlet screens are probably contaminated and you'll need to remove them for rebuilding. Its a closed end fuel injection system and almost impossible to get those screens clean even if you bring it to a shop with external injector cleaning equipment to flush with injectors in place. Mr. Injector sells the kits with screens and o-rings. but you'll need like 2 days to pull the blower and inter-coolers to access them. When this started on my S-TYPE the codes and restricted performance would only trigger when accelerating hard going up hill with increased load demanding full flow from the injectors.

Sometimes that's how these things go.  In the year and a half since the jaguar last ran, we have acquired, in approximately this order:

-most of a locost kit

-199? parts Miata

-1 chicken coop

-1999 Miata

-5 chickens

-1 barn

-2014 GTI

-2009 Expedition

-2 acres of fencing

-2 horses

-2003 Civic Si

-2004 Acura TL

and also have since sold off the parts car, GTI, NB and Civic.  Through all of this, the jag was the lowest priority.  That needs to change or I need to sell it.

So, this weekend after the Civic left for its new home I finally cleaned the jaguar off so it is no longer a table, though it is still hovering.  The only progress has been 5 minutes removing the bumper for better access to the stack of coolers that obscure the radiator mounts (intercooler, a/c, oil, PS).  Optimistically, this spring and summer will have much less animal/homestead type work to do and the jag might see the road.  Or at least the ground.

In reply to RedGT :

I sold my supercharged Jaaaag, so all I have at the moment is to live vicariously through you and cheer you on in this endeavor. 

While you're working on it, take a picture of that rear armrest. There's a lot of button action back there.

You are not helping my desire for one of these beasties.  I REALLY want the last of the last XJ358 XJR that had the cool strake on the sides and updated beak.