• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

XKR buying tips

Share this page

N

Naud

Freshman Member
Offline
Hi,

Tomorrow I'm going to take a testdrive in a XKR convertible from 2003. It has done about 25.000 km's.
But this is the first XK I will buy, are there points of interest I should know about this car?

Are there common problems, or others interesting stuff t know about an XKR convertible?

Hope you can help me out! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif
 
The 2003 XK8 is a relatively clean car as far as service problems. I cannot comment about the R mmodels. The XK8s with problenms are the 97, 98 and 99 models. The cylinder lining material (niccosel) did not get along with gasoline having sulfur deposits and the cam timing chain tensioner needed to be replaced. This was made even more critical by chain guide plastic material that had a tendency to crack/break. Both problems were subjects of some recall but not entirely addressed. The result of timing chain or cylinder lining problelms can trash the engine. Do not buy one of the early models unless it has had the niccosel and the timing chain modifications.
 
When I bought mine I got alot of advice from different people, most of it just reafirmed what John said above....Although I didn't entirely follow it(my 99 has the tensioner mod, but not the niccosel)....As far as I know all the later cars had these problems corrected and I haven't heard of any other problems with them
Overall an amazing vehicle that performs well in all conditions....I've really enjoyed mine so far, it's made my drive to work a little more bareable.
 
Thanks, the XKR has been bought. It was a great drive and the performance was superb, I also drove an XK8 but that was good, the XKR is great. I will post some pics soon!

Thank you for your advice!
 
Can you give us a review of the car? I am looking for an XK8, is the car what you expected?

Thanks, Dave
 
With regard to the V8 model years that have the timing chain tensioner and guide problem, The 98 and 99 have the problem. 2000s and beyond are clean. I think that a factory recall was issued for Niccosel and therefore the specific cars that might have the problem are a function of the recall.
 
Can the timing chain tensioner and guide problem be corrected if one found a great deal on a 97-99 Xk8. Is it an expensive repair?
Dave
 
Back
Top