I have a suspicion - Your headrest is most likely set in a position which is NOT the lowest position possible. Meaning, your headrest is extended up. When you pull the lever for folding the seat, the headrest has to be pulled down to its lowest position so that the seat can fold forward without touching the roof of the car. This is automated. You probably hear the headrest motor spinning, lowering the headrest down. I avoid this by basically keeping the headrests on both seats in the lowest possible position. The seats are tall enough, I see no reason to extend the headrest any further up. When you memorize your driving position with the headrest in its lowest possible location, folding the seat will not cause any motor activation anymore. I hope that makes sense.

@ that’s exactly it, they must’ve stoped working one click up and I need to do the repair as per your video. Thanks!

Ha, I don't blame you :) Cheers!

Definitely, I hear you. The good thing in this case is that original replacements are available and can be purchased. The silicone workarounds are somewhat temporary solutions until you get the proper parts delivered :)

@ keep up your excellent work by the way

If you have the spring and shock absorber removed, the rest of the suspension should be able to move up and down freely as captured in this video. If your shock assembly is out, but the suspension can not move up/down, you may have a seized fulcrum bolt along the top control arm bushings (mine were squeaking, but not seized). Take a look at my video on removing the entire shock assembly and please read through the comments of the video as well - I provide a bit of extra detail there which may be helpful. Best of luck! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mH3aiIeGpNmEr9k

Thank you! You are correct, the bushings are aftermarket polyurethane - Powerflex brand. I made a video on installing them here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGKvkmCQm7aqiqc

Thank you kindly! In my experience, it is often the case that raising, levelling and securing the vehicle is often the hardest/least enjoyable part of many maintenance processes or repairs. Stay safe!

@@2001JaguarXK8 You've been a great help. Today I visited three Auto Repair garages. One was very good and the other two unacceptable. So I recommend to all here, to actually go to the shop and see the place and the people. Tomorrow morning I will be taking the Jaguar and fluid, (Red Line D4) which meets the LT71141 spec, to the business and they will do the fluid exchange. Then depending on the fluid condition, plan to have the pan removed, and a new filter installed.

Glad to hear this video was helpful! It seems like this is a common problem with many XK8s. Luckily, very easy and straight-forward fix.

Thank you for sharing! My impressions so far match your experience. It's interesting how, in a way, the XK8 defies most horror stories I've been hearing about Jaguars - how they are hard to maintain, expensive to maintain, unreliable, leak lots of oil from everywhere etc. I have a video on the Differential Fluid change. It was not hard, just don't rush it. Take your time. The key is to have some sort of electric way of sucking out the old fluid - don't do it by hand. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6KxiXiKrah8eaM

@@2001JaguarXK8 thanks I will watch that for sure. At 10:44(in this video) your car is very clean. My AJ26SC has oil coming from there, so I have to clean the intake from time to time...

If you have oil being pushed out through the breather hose, you may want to consider installing an "oil catch can". I am not familiar with the supercharged engines, but there should be a way to reduce/eliminate any oil from entering the intake.

I just checked them, they look the same as on day 1! No issues whatsoever. I have head them on for a relatively short time (less than a year at this point), but I don't expect any problems in the future. Hundreds, if not thousands of fellow owners use these mounts without any issues. I like the black colour, it matches the rest of the engine perfectly - small detail, but for me it makes a difference.

@2001JaguarXK8 yes I seen your car looks glass from the videos. I recently got a 98 xk8 and need that done what made you change your mounts out?

Congrats on your new XK8! In my case, after I got the car I noticed that the rubber surround for the lower bushing of the shock absorber was cracked, falling apart. The bushing internals were ok, there was no clunking or anything similar in terms of its operation. However, it was clear that the bushing is on its way out. So the thought process was the following - clearly, I have to replace those bushings. If I am doing that, I might as well replace the whole shock absorber as well - the new shock absorbers from Bilstein come with the bushings pre-installed from the factory. In order to change the shock absorber, I will have to take apart the whole front strut assembly, in which case I might as well replace the top strut mounts also. So basically, if I were going to do all that work, might as well put all brand new parts in there when I reassemble. You've probably noticed in my videos that the center of the original shock absorber was held in place perfectly by the original isolator, no deterioration whatsoever. The flat round isolators were also in near-mint condition and looking back at it now, I did not really have to change these components. However, having done it this way, I now have peace of mind for decades to come. I'll never have to bother with that part of the suspension again. You can see the cracks of the protective rubber of the bushing at 44 seconds into this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/foO0aWmVZqeprdE

Glad it was useful, cheers!

Much appreciated, thank you for your note!

Thank you for sharing your experience! I have only had my XK8 for a bit over a year now and based on what I've learned about the car, I am not surprised that you see them just as reliable and easily serviceable. Enjoy!

Gary, no need for a catch can, no oil in the intake at all - at least on my vehicle. Watch from 10:56 in the video :)

I will be mentioning the octopus hose in my next video, along with other common failure points :)

Thank you!

Yes, I used one bottle of 1 litre capacity and at the end there were approximately 50-100ml left in the bottle.

@2001JaguarXK8 thank you! Appreciate your feedback. :)

Thank you kindly! I just use my cell phone, nothing fancy. I added an external mic recently to hopefully improve the sound, but the camera is just the regular built-in phone camera. Btw, I went ahead and I changed the differential fluid using one of the methods described in this video. Did not have to drill a hole! Not sure if you saw the diff fluid change video, it is available and I hope it's helpful if you are thinking of tackling this job. Cheers!

@ just binged all your videos and i dont even have the car yet 😂 still looking for the perfect one

You may like the new video I am working on ;)

Best of luck! I must say this kit made the whole process very easy and enjoyable, especially if you are working by yourself, without a helper.

Ah, interesting, it makes sense for the torque specs. I tend to lean towards the higher end of the spectrum when tightening ;) Thank you for sharing!

Best of luck in your project. I hope the videos are detailed enough to get you through the job. As long as you don't rush, it is a very doable undertaking. Some of the videos have additional information which I added in the comments section, as people reached out for additional details.

Hi Sven, thank you for your comment. I had kept some additional footage from the time I rebuilt the front suspension - footage exactly capturing the cleaning and rejuvenating of the dust shield. I put the files together and have a video scheduled to release at 4pm today (Toronto, UTC-4). I hope you find it helpful!

@Svennitro-p7q the video on restoring the rubber dust shield is now available here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5Wsooqgm9aXY9k

@@2001JaguarXK8 Many thanks, I will try that during my process of replacing the top mounts. I like the way you pay attention these details. kind regards from Hamburg

I agree, I need to work on being more succinct in my explanations. I tend to lean towards being more thorough and I understand this can be viewed as wasting time. I hope the video was helpful.

Hi Steven, congrats on the new bushings & balljoint! Mine did have rust as well, I filmed the amount at 15:40 in the video. Not excessive, but frankly I did not expect to have any in there... The torque specs I took directly from the factory service manual, and I included a screenshot from the manual itself as well. 110 is quite a bit higher than recommended, but frankly I don't see what harm a higher torque setting could cause. I am sure you'll be doing the passenger side soon as well. Best of luck, it is well worth the effort!

Thank you! Cheers!

Steve Davis from Australia makes both front and rear polyurethane isolators. Episode 3 of the series describes all options available, but at the end of the day I would recommend going with Steve's products. kzbin.info/www/bejne/naOoXoWkq8iar6c

@@2001JaguarXK8 0:12 0:12

Hi @Lolololo-bg6ep , like I mentioned in the video, Energy do not carry a product specifically for the XK8 (our Jag is not in the list). I have read in Jag forums that Energy Suspension do have isolators that fit our cars, but the product is not categorized for an XK8. I don't know which product this is, I did not research it further. The main reason being that in terms of overall cost and quality, the best way to solve your problem once and forever is to get the kit offered by Steve Davis (like I did), or Peter - you can't go wrong with either of those products.

Hi Nathan, I don't have experience with the canister purge valve and luckily at the moment mine is operating fine. How many miles does your vehicle have, and does your dash show a specific error code / check engine light associated with the purge valve? There is some information about the valve in Gary's XK8 Bilbe, not sure if that is helpful: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1E0cmV23FnCdgfHOvsjHwGb7AXHrQejwA

These are motorcycle scissor lift jacks. I place one on each side and lift in parallel. Got them from Amazon, relatively inexpensive: a.co/d/7ltLVq1

I have not noticed any difference so far. I do not push the car to the extreme, and maybe I am simply not entering the territory where a difference can be experienced. Also, the original bushings were in nearly perfect condition, so there was no deterioration or looseness to begin with.

Hi Richard, very interesting tip about lowering the rear wheels to get more fluid out of the torque converter, thank you for sharing. I will definitely try this out the next time I perform this service. Just curious - which pan/filter service kit have you used in the past? Like I mentioned in the video, I will be changing the filter in a few months and will need to purchase a pan gasket/filter. Thanks!

@@2001JaguarXK8 Hi. I'm in the UK so it's not really relevant but I just go onto eBay and find the best value service kit. The one I bought for my XK a few weeks ago (I did the XK8 many years ago) came with the genuine ZF pan/filter (they are integrated in the newer ZF boxes), 7 litres of Lifeguard 6, a new set of pan bolts and a new Mechatronics sleeve. You don't get the new bolts or the sleeve but my sleeve was leaking anyway and it's simple to change once you have the pan off. The kit supplier expects that you are going to need about 6.5 litres of fluid so they include 7 but after I tipped the gearbox I realised that 7 litres was not going to be enough so I ordered another litre from a different supplier. After I had finished there was about a 100ml left in the final bottle so I got out about a litre and a half more than expected. I think that it's more unusual for the X100 kits to include new bolts and the sleeve but I think some of them do if you need to replace either of those. Richard

Thank you, Richard! I just searched on ebay UK and I see that there are kit options for my 5HP24 transmission. My brother lives in London, I'll see if I can order a kit to his address and then have him ship it over the ocean to Canada :)

I hear you, but for me personally a big part of the ownership experience is working on the car on my own. I have taken it in for new tire installation/balancing, laser four-wheel alignment - processes which require specialized tooling. For the rest of the maintenance work, I try to perform it myself by following the factory service manual and so far it's been ok :) Cheers!

And the transmission. Check around for prices,and actually visit the shop first. I say this from living in California for 40 years. Some shops are terrible.

Thank you, Steven!

Paul, thank you for your kind words! Cheers!

That's great to hear! I wonder if there is inconsistency in manufacturing quality at the factory line for the Uro mounts, as multiple owners have experienced failures in short periods after install. I am also noticing that the price for the Uro mounts went up and with the current price levels, choosing Steve or Peter's isolators is a no-brainer.

Thank you! I successfully performed the differential fluid change using the method described at 16:02 in this video. Worked like a charm :)

Wonderful information, thank you Richard for the added context!

I think I would use Amsoil or Motul. Motul has specs on the front of their oil containers, which has been very helpful.

Thank you for these additional observations! I did not even know that there were plastic covers for the tow eyelets, mine are definitely not there anymore :). I do have actually 3 (three) tow hooks that came with the car, I was wondering why so many and I guess I have one for each location on the car - two at the front and one at the back.

Thank you, Jon. Luckily I don't need this service at the moment, but would it be possible to share the company you used, just in case me or other fellow owners need their services in the future? Happy Sunday!

Hi Tony, I think "ATF Dex II/III" is exactly the Dexron III specification which the Jag calls for as well. ATF is abbreviation for "automatic transmission fluid".

Awesome, cheers!

Hi Nathan, no perceivable difference so far, which is not unusual because the car is relatively low mileage and I didn't have any problems with the old oil. In terms of the clunk, there is one simple thing you can try - car in Park, lift up one of the rear wheels off the ground and then rotate it back and forth with your hands. I am almost certain that you will hear a clunk. It comes from inside the diff, as the halfshafts rotate. The tolerances from the factory are not tight at all and from what I have researched this is common on XK8s, as well as the XJs of that era. Just a suggestion, but doesn't cost you anything to try. I will actually be making a video about this, but won't be ready before September/October.

@@2001JaguarXK8I will eagerly await this video!

Well done, not seen that process suggested before. As you say it’s a much better solution than drilling holes

Hi Jonathan, maybe your vehicles still have the factory plastic sheathing in place and this is a non-issue for your seats :) Lucky!

Agree, in the hand it feels much closer to plastic, rather than rubber. In terms of driving experience I personally have not felt any difference, but these bushings don't come into play unless the car is leaning into corners. Driving straight on the hwy even without the sway bar attached feels the same (I know because I did that when changing the diff fluid and warming up the fluid before extracting)

I have seen it referred to as "Sway Bar", "Stabilizer Bar", as well as "Anti-Sway Bar". Not sure what is more correct, but it is a bar which controls sway, thus stabilizing the vehicle. How much or how little is a separate dimension. So Sway Bar is accurate enough for me.

Just checked the Powerflex website and there the product is listed as "Rear Sway Bar Bushings"

@@2001JaguarXK8 "sway bar" has become the accepted shortened version of the anti-sway. bar. It's like in my Porsches, the lighter is called a Cigar lighter. America is called a cigarette lighter. I would have to look at my service manuals to refresh my memory about if Porsche calls them anti-sway bars. I would rather my suspension anti-sway than sway!!! LOL

The forces would be up and down equally, so I don't see a preference. Can you explain ?

​@@tarquineousSo moisture will drain if and when it gets wet. Every mechanic knows this.

@@garyvanremortel5218 I don't think every mechanic knows that. But that's a good reason to place gap downward. However, the bracket would close the gap, and prevent water from dripping in.

Have it your way.

Have it your way.