Repairing an engine on a car I bought a month ago. Took off cam cover and found broken timing chain and what appeared to be a bent valve.

After taking the head off discovered two broken valves that had damaged the head and put a gash in the piston . No cylinder wall damage.
The plan was to take the head and a piston/ rod from a motor I have that has a bad rod. I was going to leave the xk8 motor in the car. I didn't want to hassle with removing the exhaust, transmission, AC, and power steering.

Well dummy me, this being my first time to get inside of an AJ27, forgot about the structural sump and windage tray blocking access to the rods. I'm use to the 289, 327, and the 454 where you have access to the rods with no obstacles once the pan is off.
The only way I can see to get the structural sump off is by taking the motor out. All of this for acess to two rod bolts.

Hopefully somebody has experience with this and may know of a short cut to get the structural sump off or access to the first rod on the left side, driver side, of the engine without having to remove the entire engine.
Any ideas appreciated.

Photo of damaged piston and head.

 

Maybe you could unbolt the engine mounts and use a picker to give yourself a few inches?

 

Thank you Mr. Snyder but looking at it I think the transmission will hit before I get high enough. I need to raise it about 2-3 inches to clear the back of the sump.

I don't know why they didn't make the part of the sump that bolts to the lower part of the bell housing 2 pieces. If they did it would be a piece of cake.

 

That is just not the Jag way. Or for that matter no car maker considers such things anymore.

 

PM sent.

 

Can you lower the front subframe a little to get access? It's only held on in four places (plus the steering column), and likelihood is that the rear V mounts may need replacement anyway? There are pics of the view with the subframe off on my XK8. Search for the thread 'XK8 Rescue'.
Cheers,
Dale.

 

Finally getting around to getting to work on this engine.

I finished taking off the intake manifold and found oil in the bottom of the intake. If I tilt the intake the oil will puddle.

The intake ports on the head are wet with oil and there is carbon build up in the cylinders.

The full load breather has oil in it but it is dry not wet. The part load breather was broken and the PO had put it back together with electrical tape. I already have the replacement part breather hose.

I know this amount of oil is not normal. I just took the replacement head off a 99 xJ8 engine and the cylinders were clean ( no carbon buildup).

Question: Is the oil coming from the breathers or should I be looking for other sources.

 

Unless you have a oil catch can setup, every engine ingests oil thru the intake. Even my wife's 33K mile 00' XJ8 ingests oil thru the intake via part load breather. I have a catch can on my 235K mile 98' XJR and it works well. You just have to check it at every fuel fill up.

 

There was an egg-cup full of oil when I emptied my inlet manifold recently. I started to worry about it, then stopped. It strikes me that a cold plastic manifold and hot oil-laden air might allow it to condense out in the manifold. I'm changing the valve guide seals as part of a larger job anyway, so it'll be interesting to see of it makes any difference. This is a 4.0 N/A nikasil engine with 56k miles on on it. The bores are completely unmarked, so I do hope it's not excessive blow-by of the piston rings.

Good luck.

 

Addicted2boost, your response is appreciated.

Yes I agree every engine does burn oil, but I believe it's should be oil vapor not liquid oil. When I got back to the car this morning I checked the old part load breather hose and put a piece of paper towel in it and got wet oil on the towel. So I think I found the source of the oil now to figure out why liquid oil is being sucked through it.

Oddjob2000, thank you also.

I don't think mine is just condensed oil vapor. If it was then I shouldn't have wet oil on the intake ports of the head. I think either oil is getting up on the baffle of the valve cover and being sucked into breather or there is excessive vacuum on that hose. That's my guess for now.
I read your post on your car recently, how is it coming along?

Earlier in this thread I mention how I can't get to the rod because of the structural sump and the subframe being in the way of removal. What I'm going to try is to make a support for the engine. I'll make a plate to fit on the upper shock mount then place a steel tube across the engine to each mount and weld it to the plates. I'll put Rachet in straps from the steel tube to the engine mounts and lift the engine slightly before removing subframe to make sure it will support engine. I'm going to put a chain also for extra safety in case a strap breaks. Then I can remove the subframe and get to the structural sump to remove it to get access to the rods.

I'll take photos of my contraption and if I live through it I'll post them later.

 

Bob,
I recall reading that there should be some coarse steel wool in the baffle under the breather. If that's correct and it's missing that would allow oil to be sucked into the hose more easily.

 

RJ,
I just looked at that after your suggestion. There is some kind of packing there. It is not missing but before I put the cam covers back on I'll remove the material and either clean or replace it.

Thanks

 

Time to take 5. Got my contraption built.

I took a piece of 3" flat iron and drilled 2 holes for the 2 upper shock mount bolts. Took a piece of 2" steel square tube sliced a V on one end and cut the bottom on a 1/2" pitch. Welded it to the plate then bolted the plate to the shock mount. I cut a piece of 1-1/2" steel tube to fit between the 2 plates. Didn't weld the tube to the plates but since it sets in the V it can't get out. Photos below. I know my welding sucks but it gets the job done.

 

It may be crude, but it looks effective.

 

Finally found the two rod bolts I was looking for.
My contraption worked. I removed the upper nuts off the motor mounts then raised the engine about 1/2" with the Rachet straps. Then put a chain on each side for safety.

I didn't have to completely remove the subframe.
I took the steering rack loose, removed the 4 bolts mounting the subframe, the 4 lower bolts on the bellhousing, and the 2 brackets for the subframe at the front of the car. It lowered enough to give me room to remove the structural sump.

The bearing for that rod I removed looked good. I'm going to get just bearings and rings for just this cylinder since everything else looks good.

 

The rod bearings and rod bolt I ordered from the local Jaguar dealer came in. I got them through the dealer knowing it would cost more, $10 each bearing shell and $20 for each rod bolt, but he used my VIN to get me the exact match. I had already transfered the piston from the 99 xj8, l checked and they are an exact match, to the rod that I removed from the 2000 xk8 I'm working on.

So I take the rod bearing out of the package and try to put it on the rod. The new bearing is too big. I then compare the diameters of the rods and the rod on the 2000 is smaller than the rod for the 99. Something is not right.

I locate the engine number on the side of the block, 0208232300, this engine was built in August of 02. So with the smaller rod journal it makes for a longer stroke making this a 4.2L engine.

So now I know what I'm working on so I can order the correct rod bearings. I also ordered rod bolts too because the 4.2 bolts are slightly shorter and the longer ones might make the engine unbalanced.

What has me scratching my head is the engine has the plastic bodied tensioners. I thought they were changed for the 03 models. Photo shows the difference between a 99 tensioner, right, and a tensioner from this engine, left.

Is there any other differences between the 4.0 and the 4.2 other than the rods? Will my 4.0 gasket set and timing chains work or will I just have to find out as I put it back together?

Your ideas and wisdom are appreciated.

 

Didn't the 4.2L come out in 03?

 

Yes I think it did. This motor being built in August of 02 could have sit or the release of the 03 model might have been in late 02. Thus a motor being built in 02 ends up in a 03 car.

 

They stopped using plastic tensioners in aug. 01, so how did they end up in that engine? This is all very confusing and I think you'll have to figure things out as you go. Even if the gaskets fit, it would be wise to use 4.2 cylinder head gaskets.

 

I had ordered MLS headgaskets for a 2000 lincoln ls. Is there a difference between those and the 4.2L.