Knowing when to cut your losses?

[mr2turbogts]

Got myself into a little situation with the latest car purchase and would like to help other people opinion/advise to help me on what to do.

Purchased a 2009 Jaguar XKR in November with 116k miles, great service history (serviced every 5k miles) has loads of work done new suspension/supercharger/gearbox, so seemed a well looked after.

It did need some bit new tyres and brakes and a bit of tidying up (wheel refurb/bubbling on the paint work etc)

So rolled the dice and paid my money.

Day 2 EML light comes on, scan it code says catalytic converter error

Booked it into the garage for service/brakes and tyres and investigation into the code, to confirm if cats or O2 sensor.

Garage wasn’t that helpful just gave me the error code I had and said yeh it probably the cat or O2 sensor, brilliant.

They did note it needed a rear brake caliper, so parked the car up ordered a caliper from Jag, back in the garage for this to be fitted.

Driving back to garage, heater packs up.

Get brake caliper installed.

Order heater motor, installed heater motor, did fix the issue but as I turned the car on it sounded like a diesel.

Decide to take the car to a Jaguar specialist, they confirm timing chain/guides, and the EML light could be to do with this

Decide to carry out the works (3.5k bill) just before Xmas, garage takes 2 months to repair, get it back mid feb.

EML light comes back

Day 2 after being out the garage low coolant message pops up, check level - low.


Call garage back up, they ask if I can drive it back to them, top coolant up and drive there.

Get to garage car dies outside (no temp gauge on car) but I suspect overheated.

Garage confirm pipe came off radiator all fixed.

1 week later car is lumpy on start up only for a few seconds, internet tells leaky injector, but after a few days car decides it don’t want to start and when it does loads of white smoke.

Back to garage who confirm head gasket, not accepting full liability but some suggest go halves on repair (another 1k) not happy about this but I don’t see any other option.

So currently stuck with a car that I’ve spent loads of money on that’s got a blown head gasket, EML (might need new cats) and heater doesn’t work with an MOT running out in April.

I.e I can’t sell unless for really silly money, or throw more money in and get fixed but then do I drive to try and enjoy some of the money I’ve spent so it doesn’t seem such a waste of ££ or just move it on

[J4CKO]

Have you got another car to use and can you park it up for a couple of months to have a think ?

Maybe source a used engine, do you have the skills to swap one ?

[cliffords]

That's very bad luck .
It is known for the cats to go especially when there are injectors failing.
The head gadget more unusual however it sounds like this perhaps caused by the other work.
Jaguars of this age are hugely suseptable to electrical faults and engine lights when the battery is low . The cars have high parasitic drain and the cars need to live on battery tenders . Mine won't go a week without getting too low to start. They really do all do that . As soon as the battery is low all sorts of electrical stuff goes wrong and all sorts of warnings.
My advice is that the car is near unsellable now as it is , you basically would sell for sub £5 I would suggest, perhaps less. It's an expensive to tax petrol thirsty old car , I am not sure the market is on the up .

I think the garage it goes to for repair is now the biggest decision. There are a few so called Jag specialist, however it's a very simple engine, but difficult electrics that need an old now obsolete Jag software to properly integrate, and someone who knows how to use it .

I think you need to fix it and then sell it . You will never like the car again or trust it . Sorry if that's negative. I do own one , I view it now as worthless and I have some ability to fix parts of it myself. I love driving the car but it's a dinosaur.

[Huzzah]

I think I'd be tempted to sell at a loss.

Even if I spent the dough, and she's running sweet, I'd constantly be waiting for the next thing.

[samoht]

Seems like whichever garage(s) are working on the car are at least half the problem here.

[Robertb]

Given what s been spent and if you got the car for a good price, Personally I d give it another spin of the wheel, for £1000.

I guess you ll need some more £ spending on the cats. They may be available from a breakers.

But yes I always cursed the lack of temp gauge on mine.

Maybe worth asking around on here or in the clubs for a decent specialist.

Edited by Robertb on Saturday 7th March 08:31

[raspy]

Dump it. It sounds like a money pit. Don't ever be sentimental about cars.

[Skyedriver]

Huzzah said:

I think I'd be tempted to sell at a loss.

Even if I spent the dough, and she's running sweet, I'd constantly be waiting for the next thing.

+1

[mr2turbogts]

cliffords said:

That's very bad luck .
It is known for the cats to go especially when there are injectors failing.
The head gadget more unusual however it sounds like this perhaps caused by the other work.
Jaguars of this age are hugely suseptable to electrical faults and engine lights when the battery is low . The cars have high parasitic drain and the cars need to live on battery tenders . Mine won't go a week without getting too low to start. They really do all do that . As soon as the battery is low all sorts of electrical stuff goes wrong and all sorts of warnings.
My advice is that the car is near unsellable now as it is , you basically would sell for sub £5 I would suggest, perhaps less. It's an expensive to tax petrol thirsty old car , I am not sure the market is on the up .

I think the garage it goes to for repair is now the biggest decision. There are a few so called Jag specialist, however it's a very simple engine, but difficult electrics that need an old now obsolete Jag software to properly integrate, and someone who knows how to use it .

I think you need to fix it and then sell it . You will never like the car again or trust it . Sorry if that's negative. I do own one , I view it now as worthless and I have some ability to fix parts of it myself. I love driving the car but it's a dinosaur.

Thanks, it had a new battery when the timing chain was done, along with spark plugs water pump.

Your right in its current state it will be very hard too sell.

Need to just have one last push get in to a sellable position then sell. (Should hopefully be a good buy for someone as lots of things now sorted, but I’ll forever be untrusting of it waiting for the next thing to go wrong)

[mr2turbogts]

Thanks all, this is the way I’m leaning too.

What an expensive 4 month (2months on the road)

Not sure once fixed if all this work will put buyers off or will they see it a a good thing 🤷‍♂️

[Unreal]

The way to decide is on a spreadsheet. There is nothing rare about the car. You can always get another one so there should be no sentiment involved.

It has all the hallmarks of a bite the bullet and get rid scenario - by which I mean don't spend another penny on it.

[v8notbrave]

I'm going thru a similar type predicament and I'm emotionally engaged in mine so just spent car value on repair and will keep for 10 years, so my man maths work, reader car update soon V8 S4 audi

So I think you either fix and commit and enjoy for many years as you clearly really wanted the car originally or you put it on copart/eBay etc and move on with your life

It's time consuming and frustrating, good luck

[mwstewart]

XK is a beautiful car, but stop relying on it - it isn't 2015.

Either pick up the tools, decide to pay someone else to fix it for the weekend, or sell it.

[Lester H]

This is a difficult one; I ‘ve been there, admittedly not with Jags. Move it on, and once you go through the pain barrier you will gradually feel better.

[Panamax]

mr2turbogts said:

Purchased a 2009 Jaguar XKR in November with 116k miles

OK, warning signs right there, but

mr2turbogts said:

great service history (serviced every 5k miles)

Which should sound encouraging. What form is the service history? Folder of invoices or stamps in a book? If stamps in a book, who was doing the stamping?

mr2turbogts said:

has loads of work done new suspension/supercharger/gearbox,

Who was doing that work?

mr2turbogts said:

so seemed a well looked after.
It did need some bit new tyres and brakes and a bit of tidying up...

Those two sentences seem to point in opposite directions to my mind.

If the detailed service history really does stack up with proper invoices from reputable people then it may be worth sticking with the car. If the service history is actually a rag-tag of back street garages I'd get rid asap.

I've never owned a Jag R but have seen some ferocious bills on them.

[mr2turbogts]

Don’t get me wrong I did buy this expecting bills as it’s an old Jag, but this got excessive very quickly

[mr2turbogts]

Panamax said:

mr2turbogts said:

Purchased a 2009 Jaguar XKR in November with 116k miles

OK, warning signs right there, but

mr2turbogts said:

great service history (serviced every 5k miles)

Which should sound encouraging. What form is the service history? Folder of invoices or stamps in a book? If stamps in a book, who was doing the stamping?

mr2turbogts said:

has loads of work done new suspension/supercharger/gearbox,

Who was doing that work?

mr2turbogts said:

so seemed a well looked after.
It did need some bit new tyres and brakes and a bit of tidying up...

Those two sentences seem to point in opposite directions to my mind.

If the detailed service history really does stack up with proper invoices from reputable people then it may be worth sticking with the car. If the service history is actually a rag-tag of back street garages I'd get rid asap.

I've never owned a Jag R but have seen some ferocious bills on them.

Service history is all backed up with receipts from Jaguar than a well known Jag specialist, previous owner was the chairman of the Jag forum.

To be fair the brakes and tyres didn’t needing doing straight away had a fair few miles in them but as when you buy a new car you want it as straight as possible.

[mr2turbogts]

mwstewart said:

XK is a beautiful car, but stop relying on it - it isn't 2015.

Either pick up the tools, decide to pay someone else to fix it for the weekend, or sell it.

I think to sell it I’ve got to get it running right

[mr2turbogts]

Looks like I can get refurbed cat for £750 so plus head gasket looking around another 2k.

Which I think would value the car at 12-13k maybe????

Or 4-5k if I’m lucky.

Thinking it’s worth spending the 2k on cats and gasket then move on

[stevemcs]

From working in a garage - I’d say cut your losses.