I just accidentally a Jag

"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay) 09/14/2016 at 13:02 • Filed to: Cheap Jag, Decay's Beaters

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A few weeks ago I placed a lowball offer of a 2000 Jaguar XJ8 listed on Copart (a salvage auction company). It was late at night and I may have been a few beers in at the time, so you can imagine my surprise when I got a call last Wednesday afternoon informing me that I’d won a car (there a was a little more to it, my lowball bid didn’t meet reserve so there was some back and forth that still ended at a stupid low price). When I showed up they seemed pretty surprised that my intention was to drive the car away (for good reason if you know the kind of cars copart sells) but w/e, I’m a particularly ambitious idiot. They brought the car out and despite being pretty dirty, everything looked straight and in order. When I got in the drivers seat I was greeted by this

Along with a check engine light. I got out my code scanner and found codes P0351 and P1000 (bad cyl 1 coil pack and drive cycles incomplete), cleared them and started the 30 mile drive home. She was missing pretty bad at low RPMs, and the restricted performance mode limits revs to 3000rpm, but aside from that she did pretty well. Gave her a wash and she actually clean up nice!

I’ll begin troubleshooting tonight by swapping around some coils and seeing if the misfire follows the coil currently in A1.

We’ll see how it goes, but it’s looking good as a potential replacement for the E39, especially if all it takes to get running is $30 in ignition coil. Not a bad impulse/accidental purchase.

EL_ULY > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 13:08

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wowzers!!!!

PatBateman > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 13:12

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This has got to be one of the bravest purchases I’ve ever seen on OL. I think buying an antique WWII bomb that may or may not still be active is less risky than this.

Good luck, godspeed, may the force be with you, break a leg.

mazda616 > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 13:13

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It looks nice! Why was it on Copart?

OPPOsaurus WRX > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 13:14

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if thats an easy fix I’ll be jealous. I test drove one of those before getting the Allroad. It was a great car for the 10 minutes I was in it.

Decay buys too many beaters > mazda616 09/14/2016 at 13:16

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My guess, previous owner didn’t wrench and was quoted big numbers to fix the CEL (this is the same thing that happened when I picked up my E39, but that wasn’t copart). Car has a clean title and no obvious signs of damage. Low mileage too, 109k.

Decay buys too many beaters > PatBateman 09/14/2016 at 13:17

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We’ll see, it’s only slightly more brave than my non-op E39 last year ;)

Decay buys too many beaters > OPPOsaurus WRX 09/14/2016 at 13:21

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We will see, I’ve bought some used coils from the ‘bay for troubleshooting purposes. I was definitely impressed by how smooth it was on the drive home, has the makings of a fantastic daily driver for the rainy season. Absolute worst case though, I only paid a couple hundred over scrap value.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 13:42

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Shit. Thats a better story than my $1 Sentra SE-R

Decay buys too many beaters > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 09/14/2016 at 13:50

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I don’t know about that, I didn’t driver nearly as far!

Land_Yacht_225 > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 13:50

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If you keep it, two words: transmission service.

Decay buys too many beaters > Land_Yacht_225 09/14/2016 at 13:55

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This is one of my concerns, I’ve never automatic’d before. It’s just a black box to me where spinny motion goes in and spinny motion comes out different.

KatzManDu > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 14:00

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That looks awesome. Good luck with the musical coils.

someassemblyrequired > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 14:14

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Looks like a good buy if only the coil has gone. Bad coil would cause the restricted performance message. Also double check the timing chain tensioners - you’ll want to upgrade those if it hasn’t been done already. Thanks to Ford ownership you can sometimes get the parts cheaper as they were also used in the Lincoln LS. The forums will give you the interchange numbers, but it’s worth checking the prices from Ford and Jag to get the best deal.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 14:48

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And now I have discovered there is a Copart here in town. Great, there goes the rest of my afternoon.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 15:03

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Is this going to be a driver?

Decay buys too many beaters > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 09/14/2016 at 15:06

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A daily? Yeah, that’s the plan. I’ll trade off between it and the e39 for a week of so and decide, but one of them will get sold.

Land_Yacht_225 > Decay buys too many beaters 09/14/2016 at 18:11

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Speaking specifically about this car, and not just automatics in general, that 5-speed auto is a weak link. If you hear a horror story about a drivetrain failure in a 4.0 Jaguar, its the transmission 4/5 times.

TysMagic > Decay buys too many beaters 10/11/2016 at 16:42

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I can’t believe I missed this post!! I’ve purchased 2 jags from coparts for hella cheap. Congrats

Decay buys too many beaters > TysMagic 10/11/2016 at 19:03

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Thanks!

I mean how could I not? They are sooo cheap.

TysMagic > Decay buys too many beaters 10/12/2016 at 08:58

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Not asking, as I assume you’d have shared above if you wanted to, but I paid $700 for a 96 XJ6 and $800 for a 98 XJ8 both sub 100k miles about 7 or 8 years ago. No mechanical issues or major body damage, drove them home...THEN the problems started

Decay buys too many beaters > TysMagic 10/12/2016 at 11:06

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Yep, $700 is what I paid. Clean title no damage, just the restricted performance message