Purchased an 02 XJ8 from original owner w/ low miles (70k), a full maintenance record and no known issues. Drove the car for 2 months before storing it for the winter. Drove like a dream! I had it in storage for 5 months and after pulling it out, found the battery was completely dead. I replaced it and had no crank no start with an engine fail safe mode error. Had it towed to my local imports shop specializing in Jaguar where it sat for nearly 2 years. Attempted to have it towed to Jaguar dealership after 10 months w/ no resolution from mechanic, only to be told my Jaguar dealership wouldn’t work on it due to its age. I was just contacted by the imports shop new owner to let me know he bought the business and determined the battery was completely dead, and the fuel pumps need to be replaced. He quoted me $800 to diagnose it, $350 for a new battery, $2500 for non OEM fuel pump replacement. I politely refused, as I know what fuel pump job should cost, I dropped it off w/ a 1 day old battery and I had already paid the original shop owner to diagnose it. I had it towed back to my house a couple days ago to find it covered in dings, rust, leather seats cracked up, my battery gone, grease all over the interior and curb rash on one of the rims. Any suggestions on how to handle this? I’m not interested in litigation, just want to hear some options for how to approach them about this and find a resolution.
Is there any way to contact the original owner of the shop? Hear what he has to say…but I surely wouldn’t get my hopes up.
The new shop owner is not likely to do anything either…on the basis of “Not my problem”. Not sure if he can legally dismiss the matter that easily.
I have no idea of the legal ramifications. I’ll wager we have some attorneys in the group who will chime in.
Cheers
DD
Hi Welcome to the forums and sorry to hear of your troubles, it sounds really messy.
I have moved your post to the relevant forum as the XJ forum is for the S1,S11 and S111 cars which are totally different animals.
The lesson to be learned here is that you stored the car for 5 months with no battery maintenance in place. It is fatal to allow a X300/308/350 battery to become completely discharged. This will cause havoc with most of the car’s systems. The fact that both fuel pumps were seized up is also suspicious. Could be water or condensation in the fuel. I would drain and clean the fuel system.
Always disconnect the battery if putting it into storage or add a maintenance charger.
The supercharged cars have 2 fuel pumps.
Not a fun job to replace pump(s) but doable.
Need long arms and strong fingers to get the plastic tool in under the car to release the pipes.
But bypass the pump relay first to ensure it has failed. You should hear it if its working
Jon, FYI, there is another site that also has many technical tips regarding the 308 series. Lots of posts about fuel pump issues and batteries/battery maintainers. Between that site and this one you should get plenty of technical help. Legal recourse is another issue…
BTW, my XJR purchase in 2021 was much like yours. The car was running fine when it came off the transporter. I installed a battery maintainer and left it in the garage for a few months. When I got back to it, both (XJR) fuel pumps were dead. I replaced them myself and had a devil of a time getting the warning panel to clear…but it eventually reset after repeating the driving profile listed in the maintenance manual three times. As stated above you MUST use a smart battery maintainer if the car isn’t run at least every couple of weeks…the parasitic electrical drain on these cars is ridiculous.
FYI, if the maintenance records don’t show that shock absorber bushings and spring isolators were replaced in the past, then plan on that task.
Finally, given the exterior and interior condition issues you mentioned, I’d guess that the car is not worth the expense to repair…unless you do the labor yourself.
XJ XJ8 / XJR ( X308 ) - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
As none of my cars are garaged the use of a maintenance charger is not a viable option.
I have a 300mm x 300mm solar panel attached to the battery by crocodile clips, this sits on the back seat and keeps the battery up to scratch on the XJR, for the X type I get away with a much smaller panel <> 120mm square.