Project Jaguar XJ8 – part four

Attention turns to sorting out our XJ8’s brakes and investigating the suspension fault that lit up the Jaguar’s dashboard display like a Christmas tree

Addressing the illuminated warning lights on the Jaguar’s dashboard resulted with a series of major repairs.

Our 2003 XJ8 is showing typical signs of common faults that can occur on emerging classics, plus the wear and tear that most Jaguars suffer from. You only have to peer through the spokes of the rear wheels to see that the brake discs are worn and there’s a noticeable lip between the outer edge and the shiny braking surface. While this isn’t dangerous, and the brake pads still have sufficient material to pass the MoT test, it won’t be too long before they will need to be replaced.

As the front brakes look relatively new, they will only need a quick stripdown and clean but the same cannot be said of one of the brake pipes. Made from steel, the pipe that’s routed across the front of the engine bay and into the nearside front wheelarch is corroded, so we’re going to renew it.

A problem with the air suspension had already appeared as a message on the dashboard’s digital display (we had earlier plugged in Tasker & Lacy’s diagnostic equipment after noticing that the suspension felt harsh, and the air suspension pump had raised a fault code). This is a common problem that is best resolved by fitting a new one, so we called on Tasker & Lacy to help and ordered all the parts we required for the air suspension and brakes from SNG Barratt.