Jaguar XJ8 - 4 months in, STILL BROKEN?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Time for an update on the 2002 Jaguar XJ8 Sport (X308 type), and what better place to do it than at a mid-week testing session at the Oulton Park racing circuit?
In this video I talk about work done to date, including jobs undertaken since the last Jaguar update, and whether any of this has helped eradicate the regular error codes and breakdowns that I'd been experiencing.
If you're new to the Old Classic Car channel, this old 3.2 litre V8 XJ8 had seen sat outside a garage looking more than a little forlorn for several years. I decided that it'd make a good candidate as a wafter, especially for longer trips to shows, museums etc. But this plan would only work out if I could persuade it to stop throwing up multiple error messages and dropping into "failsafe" mode, ie limp mode. A lot of time has been spent on Jaguar XJ8/X308 forums, reading about how other people have dealt with these commonly-encountered ailments.
As there were a number of interesting old cars at Oulton Park on the day of recording this, I grabbed a few clips and have included them here.
Comments, likes and subs welcomed as always, thanks!
If you're a fan of the Jaguar X308 series of cars (or indeed any of the older Jaguar XJ saloons), please say hello in the comments and check out the other XJ8-related videos on the channel.
Channel videos list: / oldclassiccarrj
OCC & classic car merchandise: www.redbubble....
OCC channel membership: / @oldclassiccaruk
OCC Patreon: / oldclassiccar
If you know of anyone else who might find these Old Classic Car videos of interest, please forward one of the above links to them.
#jaguarxj #jaguarx308 #jaguarcars
Hi, thanks for watching, please give it a Like & Subscribe if you haven't already.
A full list of the several hundred videos on the channel is here:
ua-cam.com/users/oldclassiccarRJvideos
OCC classic merchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/OldClassicCar/shop
OCC Channel Membership now open!!! See the JOIN button for details
OCC Patreon: www.patreon.com/OldClassicCar
Channel homepage:
ua-cam.com/channels/KaTg9fPUvmUQi94FcnDbrg.html
If there are any petrolheads that you know that might find this kind of thing interesting, please pass on one of these links, thanks!
Very brave of you to let the car hear you saying things are working.
It knows exactly what'll happen if it plays up again, it's on notice ...
Hello Richard, I recently sold my 2000 XKR, basically because it wasn't getting used. The problems you have encountered with your XJ8 are very similar to what I experienced with mine. If not used regularly and the battery slightly down on voltage it would light up like Blackpool illuminations.
I still have my XJ40, which still has lots of electronics but is not so temperamental. Were once rust was the bane of classic car owners, I now think aging electronics and deteriorating plastics are more of a worry.
And on that cheerful note, love your channel. Thanks for posting.
Thanks Dave, good luck with the '40, I agree about plastics and electrical stuff, although rust is still a problem for many cars once they're getting on a bit. All good fun eh
One of your comments is particularly pertinent to the X300 range and that is use your car regularly. I speak from experience, XJR6, XJR8, and currently X308 Sov LWB 4L. Gets 2 local journeys a week and around 120 miles each weekend. Also, these cars demand constant maintenance.
I suspect that a lot of Jag owners don't keep on top of maintenance and issues as they develop. When the "tardy" performance, and Xmas Lights take over the dashboard, they sell them on...cheap!
So pleased that the Jag is performing better. Well done.
Cheers!
I sincerely hope that all your efforts are not in vain. Such a good-looking car deserves to stay well north of Beachy Head. Thanks for the update and good luck!
Great summary review. I did get the diagnostic tool and have been tracking down the mostly electronic bits on my 2004 XJR. I'm down to tracking down the heated seats front and back, front blower motor and a fidgety center console screen that works perfectly above 50 degrees and doesn't turn on below that until the car is running for about 20 minutes. I love watching your videos and learning from your adventures with your X308. I have absolutely found that the more the car is driven the better it gets and the bugs become fewer.
Thanks, glad the vids are of use
Got a 308 4.0. Daily driver - not had your issues - but find posts like yours super useful as I like to intervene before I have a problem. Thanks
Cool, I was hoping that someone might find something of use in these uploads :)
I have a 2003 Jaguar XJ8 4.0 V8 (X308), registered in Japan Feb 2003 so one of the last made. The car has been back in UK 5 years, I have owned 2 years. I was having the ABS warning coming up and assumed it was the 2 dry solder joints you mentioned. The ABS module is extreme front left of engine bay. The plastic control box is bolted to an aluminium block manifold with lots of brake pipes coming out the top, bending across and down the other side of the plastic box. I disconnected the car battery. Undid the 4 long bolts connecting the plastic box to the aluminium block and disconnected the 2 electrical connectors. The box does not slide away because it slips over location spigots. The only way to pull the box away clear of these is to slide it out first before you can slide sideways, so you have to carefully pull and bend the brake pipes towards the engine, until you get clearance and a gap to pull it out clear of the spigots and then slide clear. Some people drill a hole with a holesaw above where the 2 joints are. I decided to run a hacksaw blade around the facory joint and split the casing. I was so happy to see two quite obvious dry joints where the 2 main wires come in. My mate heated up each joint to melting point and added a wee bit of solder for good luck. I used a black sealant to make the joint good on the control box and then replaced in the car. Re-connected and re-bolted. Re-connected the battery, started the car up and........no more ABS warning light. I then pushed the brake pipes back as they were and you would never know I had been in there. Now I only have an issue with Restricted Performance and codes 0171 and 0174....lean fuel banks 1 & 2. Currently trying to get to the bottom of that. Ron, Glasgow.
Interesting, yes that was to be my next port of call. I don't like the idea of electronic modules getting hot under the bonnet, so I've slipped a piece of tin foil over my ABS module and it's made a big difference keeping the heat off it. I'm hoping it'll help prolong the life of that unit. Maybe it will, maybe it won't ....
Thanks for the update, I was wondering if you’d sorted it, let’s hope you’ve nailed it. By the way, that very late Yellow RS2000 in the background was a thing of beauty !
Thanks, yes I often stumble across that RS at Oulton
Not surprised this has 461 likes so far - I just added the 461st one. I will say this guy needs a medal for his patience not losing his rag and resisting throwing the wretched car off a cliff! His perseverance paid off in the end.
Ha thanks, sometime I just have to walk away from frustrating things (cars)
Good to hear all is well again Rick.. car looks fab an awesome side profile with those alloys!! Fingers crossed for trouble free motoring going forward!
Fingers crossed! I have done a number of long-ish trips since this was recorded, so it appears to be settling down
Thank you for the interesting up date 🤞
Now that is very useful information to everyone with cars from the last 25 years . Persistence has paid off . I suspect cars have been put in to auctions in desperation . In the back of my mind the words 'hard reset' ring a bell.
Thanks, yes hopefully this and the vids that lead up to it will help someone out
Well done for persevering. My 16year old Clio Sport had a 'wobble' earlier this year and took some time to get to the bottom of what kept making various dash lights appear. I like your 'Beachy Head' comment to describe how fed up it makes you feel. All sorted now but parts were a nightmare to source. Fingers crossed for both of us!
Yep, fortunately Beachy Head was too far away to drive to anyway, otherwise it'd be in Davy Jones' locker by now :)
Thanks for the catch up on the jag hope it stays OK cheers
I hope so too, thanks for watching
Glad to hear you had success so far. Hopefully it will behave from now on. It amazes me that the manufacturer couldn't provide any diagnostics that were specific enough to narrow the issue down. Of course I also underestimate the corrosive effects of living in the North Sea on electronic equipment and connections!
Modern(ish) cars are just so complicated and everything interlinks to other systems elsewhere, I can only imagine what a new car today is like in this respect, mine is 25yr-old tech after all. We're not quite in the North Sea, although lately it has felt like it!
@@oldclassiccarUK Ha Ha, during a trip to the west coast of England on business years ago, I visited a customer building pallets in an open large shed. My company made air powered nailers being used to assemble the pallets. I have a very clear memory of being dressed in a 3 piece suit in October and being the coldest I had ever been on a 54 degree day. The tools were shooting water out of their exhausts from the humidity because their air compressors had no drier filters. To my astonishment they still worked well. Electronics are a whole different story!
It does seem as though you are on the right side of recommissioning with the Jaguar. The hard reset was a good idea and the related procedures. It is a bit like clearing the cache on your PC, leaving something behind it can cause problems. You made a good point in saying that these cars need to be used and not just tucked away to then have the same issues in the Spring or whenever you 'wake it up' so good advice there. Thank you for the update Rick and BTW I don't think you would have made it down to Sussex with the car in the state it was so I am glad you 'walked away'! :-)
Yes if Beachy Head had been closer, I suspect it would have been dissolving in the salty seas by now
Thanks for update.
Thanks Graham
Modern electrics frighten me so well done for plugging away at it.
Seems your perseverance has paid off Rick. Not a Ford man but that yellow RS in the background looked the ticket.
Yep the RS is certainly an eye-catching car, thanks for watching
Glad to hear you might have fixed it.
Lovely car, typical Grace, Space and Pace as the ads used to say..
Is it the end of your problems? I hope so but an old complicated car like this will have many electronic systems now becoming fragile. Very different to the the V8 Pilot, much older but a very simple car to sort out.
I wouldn't be so bold as to say it's fully sorted, but I've done quite a few long-ish trips in it now and it seems to be settling down. Still other things to address, but running wise it's looking ok for the timebeing at least.
Well done Richard . Cross fingers , you seem to have cracked it . A classic car owner l meet at local shows has an identical car . He bought it at the last classic car show at the NEC . I think he said he paid £23k for it !!!! And as you said , never seen so many mk1 MX5's . Cheers 😊
£23k!!!??? sounds plenty for one of these
@@oldclassiccarUK It was but it was very low mileage and 1 owner ......he also has 2 DB6's and a Jensen 541 .........
Hi the only time mine did my head in was a battery issue! Id put a new 100ah battery on and all was fine till one morning i jumped in and didnt wait for dash lights to go out and it didnt start and washed the bores out! After much scathing of head checking plugs etc new crank sensor, i changed the battery again still same turns out the make of battery was rubbish so two batterys later i changed it for a varta make and alls good, the message mine gives me is restricted performance and only cause she don't like standing around! I use mine as a daily driver and it behaves perfectly, it will still do well over the speed limit it has cats suspension which keep nice and flat windy roads still shows a lot of modern car a clean pair of heals,im taking her in for mot retest today after repairing two leaky cats and poor handbrake(that seems to be common on these) the moral of this story is drive them hard as you like( leave it ticking on the drive when you get home) if your worried about about fuel then not the car for you? ,by the way only put high octane feul in not that other rubbish great car will be sorry when her time is up but for now i love and cherish it and do my best to keep her going. Drive them regularly and she'll love you back.
Yep they certainly need using, thanks for watching!
As battery voltage is so critical on these cars a C -tek battery charger might be a good investment. They put the battery through a sequence to mimick everyday use and includes a high charge sequence to clean the plates.
Thanks for the update 😊
But you had the answer on your doorstep all those months ago : your able assistant. He could have waved his arms a bit and given it a volley of one of his favourite adjectives, such as "insane". I'm sure the Jag would have pulled itself together at once!
I hope he's going to take English at A level. He has a natural flair. I could see him being editor of a classic car magazine one day, maybe even starting his own.
I hadn't thought of that, ah well, and yes he is doing English as it happens. Thanks for watching.
Tricky tronic gremlins 🙏 cars need use, good luck with the Jag 👍
Interesting. that is very similar to doing a reset on the my S Class especially for the automatic box.
It's another world messing with this newer stuff isn't it!
hi Rick, great video, glad the car is ok, regards to Harvey,
Don't be fooled! The gremlin is merely hiding somewhere....As Arnie says "I'll be back!" Hope you get some good miles with it but, be especially aware of moisture ingress on any of those modules. New hat? Is it your birthday?
Well I've piled on quite a lot of miles since I recorded this update, so there's a real improvement. Nope old hat, just doesn't get out all that often :) But it was my birthday not so long ago.
Glad the Jag seems to be sorted , now you can fix that blemish on the front bumper. Just an fyi , when you put that message on the screen ( dont go just yet) , it is hard to read being white on cloudy sky background.
If I could even buy a door handle, never mind a whole car I most certainly avoid a so called 'modern classic'with their over complicated brains, computerised-run systems and built- in utter frustration like your Jag simply because I have none of you experese, doggedness, patience and doggedness! Though I understand why your did all of the skilful, restoration work . And being an honest fellow and super family you would not sell a pup, so you were caught between a brick and hard place and had to make it reliable to either keep or sell. Great series on the joys of modern car restoration, and I know that older cars break down as well (and expensively I personally know it!) from, the distant joys when I had some, but I will stick to real classics! Super stauff! Thank you. Rob
They certainly do present their own challenges, but yes proper oldies do too just in a different way. You'll note that I mainly own older cars though, for this reason :) Thanks for watching
Hello Richard. Glad you are getting somewhere (literally) in the old Jag. I was wondering if a hard reset is something that could be done as a preventative measure on a regular basis. Has anyone ever mentioned trying that? Or is it a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it?
Thanks, it shouldn't really need the hard reset too often but it seems like it makes a difference when problems rear their head. For now I'll leave well alone..!
Cool.
📻🙂
Well done! If possible, could you tell us the difference between Brooklands green and British racing green? 🤔
I don't know the difference sorry, I was going from memory of the B we had not long back, thanks for watching!
@@oldclassiccarUK No worries. I'm impressed with your work. From what I've heard from people that owned Jaguars, they are very meticulous. Every intricate piece must be in top working order, otherwise it will fail to proceed. Thanks loads!
Advice required, please. What would one do. I am a big Jaguar fan. I own a 2000 'w' reg XJ8 XJ308 I'm the 2nd owner 46k miles. Would it be worth me buying an XJ358 aluminium bodied '06' reg 154k good condition throughout £1,800.😊
Ricks Dad here, I have owned a 3Ltr X350 for 14 years, brilliant car 157k & running as well as ever, I love it, £1800 is a steal!!
I see dad's already replied :-) The later cars are more complicated (suspension especially), and are bigger, so have a good look before committing to buy. There are a few steel bits underneath that can go rusty, including the straps that hold the fuel tank in, so while the body is aluminium, some of the underside parts are not.
👍👍👍👍👍
I don't think Mrs OCC would be impressed if you added a full roll cage to the MX5!
I don't that'll be happening! Although if I left the roof up she probably wouldn't notice (for a while)
Great Job stunning looking motorcar......but reminds me why I love my 1975 motor.
For a none car club member.....how do I find out where all these car meets are.
The Harrier Jump Jet......where is that located can I ask Sir.
I just scour Facebook events for news of shows I didn't know about, plus I keep a list of shows I do every year then look up them up again in the new year. The Harrier is in an industrial estate just outside Winsford.
At the very least you have diagnosed why the previous owner stopped driving it...
The previous driver/owner stopped driving it because he died, then it went to someone else who moved it and put it up for sale at the garage where I bought it from
I recently got my Jaguar through MOT it had for patches of welding.. And tyres need renewing I added one new one so far. Other day I was near my car and battery felt flat.
My radio stopped working.. Its not used much..
I have ten vehicles and don't use them enough.
Great video
Thanks, yes these things need regular use
Winter is coming ! Hope for your sake your problems are solved
My brother finally got his 72 Spitfire back on the road. He missed it most of the summer.
Such stylish cars wish they did not have Gremlins and such a bad reputation shame love the videos
Welllllll any complicated car that has sat unused will have similar gremlins, Mercedes for example by the late 1990s/early 2000s weren't great either. Thanks for watching!
Modern cars suck if the battery falls below normal then all sorts of failure lights will appear, it's not just Jaguar that Has this problem.
Indeed I'm sure many fairly complicated cars throw up problems if left sat around, and with sub-optimal battery
like 290 !
Think you need to sack your sound man.
😁
Just the joys of being a one-man-band UA-camr