Tl* the contact owns a 1997 jaguar xk8. While driving 40 MPH and slowing to make a right turn, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact was able to restart the vehicle after approximately five minutes. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the throttle body needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 142,000.
Jaguar XK8 stalling problems
23 of the 116 owner complaints about the Jaguar XK8 describe engine stalls while driving, most of them for the 1997 model year.
- owner complaints
- 23
- worst model year
- 1997
- typical mileage
- 56,552
Is there a fix? No recall or service bulletin covers this area of the car yet.
By model year
Often reported together
What owners say
Informed by jaguar service dealer in cerritos on 02/07 and 09/27/13 that transmission had failed and required replacement. Conducted online research during the last two months and discovered that the auto was demonstrating the exact failure as 1999 jaguar xk8 (recall no. 478 - replace transmission), as follows: "it is important to emphasize that any failure of a transmission which involves complete lockup is only likely to occur at very low vehicle speed, as the transmission shifts down into 1st gear with the vehicle almost at a sandstill after being in higher gears when traveling at higher speeds." each of the incidents I have experienced with the car stalling and the transmission warning light appearing has occurred while slowing down on the freeway during heavy traffic or exiting the freeway. Response from ms. Carmen baker of jaguar was that the car is not under warranty, therefore she is unable to honor my request for assistance with transmission replacement. It is my belief that the car was equipped with a defective and/or recycled (refurbished) transmission. Current mileage is 59,877. Because of the safety factor of the car stalling, I am very reluctant to drive on the freeways or roads where the average speed is above 40 miles. On one occasion on the freeway, a kind driver followed me until I was able to pull to the side of the road. Jaguar only considered the age of the car, not the defect or customer safety. Transmission was repaired on 04/23/2004 and 02/26/09. Updated 7/23/2015
1998 xk8 stalled at freeway speeds. Third incident. Dealer unable to duplicate; no repair suggestions.
In two separate instances, my 1998 jaguar xk8 has stalled while driving at highway speeds. In both cases, I had started the engine from cold at about 50 degrees ambient temperature, driven about three miles in city traffic, and then entered the freeway. Within about 1 1/2 miles, at a speed near 60mph, the car stalled. An engine monitoring system message read: 'engine stalled" and "check engine". These messages were not present previous to the incidents, nor after I restarted the vehicle. I was able to pull off the freeway. In both cases, I turned the ignition switch to off, and was able to immediately restart the car. No further incidents occurred in the minutes/days following the events. I use premium unleaded fuel from chevron or union 66. These two incidents were separated in time by about 2 months. I am now very concerned about driving the vehicle, as these incidents exposed me to possibly dangerous situations. The local dealer has offered to 'diagnose the problem' at my cost, while also indicating that they have had some similar complaints that they are linking to high concentrations of ethanol in the fuel. Their advice is to wait a couple of weeks from now when ethanol levels will be reduced and/or switch to regular gasoline! After some research, I now find that this situation has occurred frequently among jaguar owners, and possibly others. To me, this seems to be an engine management issue that would be controlled by the car's computerized efi system.
1998 jaguar xk8 has a history of stalling on the freeway at speeds of 55-60mph. This occurred twice (prior owner - 38,246 miles) - prior owner told by jaguar that automobile had been repaired by replacing throttle. Same incident occurred at later. On-line information shows that several other 1998 xk8 owners have the same issue that engine turns off without warning - the car has a design flaw. There has been recalls regarding the throttle. I do not understand why the nhtsb has not forced jaguar to repair this 1998 xk8. The model, 1998 jaguar xk8, has a design flaw and is a safety risk.
Tl*the contact owns a 1999 jaguar xk8. While driving various speeds, the vehicle stalls without warning. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and they replaced the electronic stability module, electrical wiring, and spark plugs. A technician stated that the vehicle goes into a lymph mode. None of the repairs have remedied the failures. The failure mileage was 53,000 and current mileage was 59,000.
My 1998 xk8 jaguar timing chain broke and ruined the engine requiring a new one for $11,000 with only 49,000 miles on it. I had taken it to the dealer for service the entire time. This is a very common problem occuring within the jaguar line. Jaguar refuses to help and tries to keep it under wrap until the warranty expires. It is a well known design flaw that has cost tons of people thousands. My car also stalled without warning on the highway and this too is a common problem. Both of these could have caused me serious injury.
Vehicle stalled intermittently. There had been incidents where vehicle died in the middle of the road, and consumer lost control of steering and brakes. No injuries reported.
I purchased a used 1998 jaguar xk8 with 40000 miles in nov 2004. It immediately started stalling at highway speeds. I took it to a local dealer in little rock arkansas, and thay told me that they could find nothing wrong with the car but charged me $1,600.00 for service that was not necessary. Within weeks it again began dying at highway speeds and would not re-start without pulling off the road, which is at times impossible due to I-30 being under construction and having no shoulder or exits, only 6-foot concrete barriers on either side of the two lane highway. I was at the mercy of every driver behind me. This is a life threatening situation that jaguar denies having any knowlege of. I have recently found hundreds of complaints on this issue with jag owners who have had the same problem. Ford has issued a field action that admits that the throttle-body is defective, but they're not fixing the cars in the u.s., only in other countries. Please do something before someone is killed.
Intermittently while driving at 55 MPH, the vehicle stalled. It stalled three times in two weeks. There was a recall for this problem, but only foreign vehicles were involved. *ak the problem continued. *sc
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the Jaguar XK8 stalling
Which Jaguar XK8 years have engine stalls while driving problems?
The model years with the most reports are 1997 (9 complaints), 1998 (9 complaints) and 1999 (2 complaints).
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