Of course the seller knew of the problems already. But it doesn’t matter. It (and they) is/are yours now.
The alternator’s only relationship to the current problems is that they’re both the same age.
Your choices are to have the problems diagnosed and repaired, to sell the car, or to junk it and take the loss as the cost of an education. But before you make any decisions, or lose any more sleep, get the diagnosis. Without it you cannot make any decision at all.
Thanks it is being diagnosed now
Dianne
I have been driving for over 50 years, and over the course of those decades, none of my automatic transmission cars ever needed to have the trans overhauled/rebuilt/replaced. Of course, I do change the fluid and filter every 30k miles, so perhaps that accounts for my experiences.
By contrast, I have known people whose transmissions were never serviced, and that crapped-out somewhere between 90k and 120k miles. I have never seen anyone’s trans fail at 80k miles, but–then again–I don’t know anyone who owns a Jaguar.
AFAIK, AWD was not available on xk8 Jags.
If–as I suspect–this Jag has RWD, dyno testing would have no negative effect on the transmission.
And, of course, if it is RWD, then it doesn’t have a center differential or viscous coupler.
what website to find used transmissions? thanks
Dianne
all your details are much appreciated, as I try to unravel what went wrong, why, who knew what when, or if that 2nd smog test, did the damage, as the car worked fine two days before when I drove it.
Dianne
As others have said, it’s unlikely the smog test did the damage. The tranny was probably bad already, which the seller will, of course, deny.
It is not a real good idea to put your email on an open web forum.
The smog test did not damage your transmission so give that thought up. You bought a used vehicle , the transmission could have gone 1 day or many days. There is no way to tell.
@cdaquila Do you want to edit out the email addresses ?
See?
I fixed it for you!
Car part.com is what the junkyards use. You can find anything there. If the shop says trans needs to come out to “fix” it, they will probably try to talk you into overhauling it. Could be $2-3 k which is the same as a Honda Accord or Chevy truck. Is swapping in a used trans with labor for 1500 a bad idea? Tough call. Maybe you have a minor issue
Car-part.com not Car part.com. Don’t forget the dash, but I really am not fond of used transmissions. The R&R cost is too high for a used part on a classic car. Even if guaranteed, the labor is the issue.
Thanks I just posted it for sale on the advice of my mechanic who checked it out
Dianne Andrews
I would hope this mechanic would have checked the trans fluid level and advised you of this if that was indeed the cause.
It would be a shame to unload it when a quart or two of fluid may have fixed it.
Thanks so much. I put it up for sale want to buy it? Or where should I advertise ? How do I get my email address off?
Dianne Andrews
Thanks I have got the message from everyone’s advice. Bad decision , bad luck, moving on , lesson learned…maybe still the prettiest designed car ever
Dianne Andrews
year? miles? price as is?
a tech can put in a used trans for 1k
or you can have it rebuilt for 4500?
some say price it in between for starters
but its your car. its worth what you think it is
a buyer may think otherwise
Yeah, that is a nice looker. Very sleek.
But probably not the best choice if reliability and inexpensive repair is important to your happiness.
How does that song go? If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, marry an ugly wife … lol …
Good advice, but hard to follow.
When fixing up used cars I don’t give up so easily.
A new Jaguar with similar styling starts at $60,000. I can buy a used one, replace the transmission and still have $40,000 left over. Of course if a person can barely afford basic transportation the shouldn’t be looking at exotic cars.
Lots of used XK8s though from $8-$15,000 so they depreciate pretty fast. Still if I liked it I guess, putting a transmission in for $4000 would not be the end of the world. It would be one part that would be brought back to better than new quality. Still it was a convertible.
