I recently had my tensioners done at an independant jag shop here in Orlando. and I purchased a set of FEL-PRO VS 50724R valve cover gaskets from RockAuto and gave them to the jag shop to fit.

I can now smell oil burning at the rear, drivers side, and see slight whiffs of smoke, not a lot. I am taking the car back to the Independant jag man tomorrow to see if we can see where the leak is.

The Jag shop is saying that we should have purchased OEM? gaskets from Jaguar and its not there problem these RockAuto gaskets are leaking.

Question: has anyone else had a problem with these particular gaskets sets leaking? They have been on around 4 months.

Question: Could the valve cover just need tightning down?

Question: Should I purchase Jaguar OEM gaskets and have them fitted? or fit myself.

The other side, passenger side, seems OK.

Your advise is greatly appreciated,

David

 

Had mine for a over year and a half...no problems. Do not overtighten, but do check that the torque is correct.

 

The bottom - rear cam cover bolts on the driver's side are $%^&* difficult to access..especially the one in the bottom rear corner. Maybe the tech just didn't get it properly torqued.

 

Far more leaks due to overtightening and cracking the plastic covers than any other cause. The gaskets are more like '0' rings than gaskets.

 

^ +1

The bolts have a cylinder they go through to prevent you from over tightening, but so often I see bolts that have been tightened far too much, even to the point of them shearing, remember they are only a 6mm thread, does not take much to snap one off, and if you do, it's a head off job!

 

^+2

Another thing that can happen is the bolt gets over torqued then the plastic ear cracks. The result is no pressure at all on the gasket. Tends to happen in the back corner because the person working on it has less control on the wrench in that position and just wings it tight.

Whoops, Testpoint was saying exactly the same thing.

 

^ +3.

XK valve covers are plastic. Overtightening can warp or crack them.

 

Make sure the are the right gaskets, I bought aftermarkets for mine and they too leaked.
Found out that there are two different gaskets, both will fit just fine, just different model of car,my aftermarkets were both black and only had 1sealing ring in the middle of the gasket, and thin looking,OEM gaskets have 2 sealing rings in the middle of the gaskets and are thick, heavy looking gaskets, I thought they were 2different colors also, that was for my xk8 and by your call sign I,m guessing you to have a xk8

 

They are orange and grey on earlier models, around 2000 they changed the cam covers and used all black gaskets.
The earlier cars had a figure 8 style spark plug gaskets, the later individual O rings.

Normally you only get a prob when people use the later gaskets on earlier cars but as you have a 2001 you should have the black gaskets

 

I went to see my independant jag mechanic today and he said that he could not see or feel a leak at the rear of the valve cover. He asked me to check the bolt at the rear, just under the valve cover, with a flash light to see if there is any oil on it. He said we should have fitted the jag oem gaskets instead of the cheaper ones from RockAuto.

I have a 2001 XK8 and the gaskets they sent were black. I was assured these were the correct gaskets.

When I called McNalley yesterday, the parts man asked if I had variable valve timing on the 2001 XK8 because if I did then I would need a different set of gaskets. I asked him if he knew wether the 2001 xk8 had variable timing, he said he did not know??

Now, does the 2001 xk8 have variable timing and hence do I need a different set of gaskets.

Thanks for all your help!

 

XK8s have Variable Timing but XKRs don't. The only difference is the inclusion of a round Seal on top of the Cam Cover above the Sprockets on XK8s. The rest of the Gaskets are the same.

 

I also used Felpro gaskets, also from Rockauto, when I did the tensioners on the 02. No issues but I did follow the proper torque procedure, and the specs are really light, so I can definitely see why some might overtighten which would cause leaks.

Keep in mind when you first drive after new gaskets are on you might get a bit of oil burning off here and there that might have spilled during the repairs. I wouldn't panick right away... drive it a few times over a few days and if it's still smoking then, then you know you have a leak.

 

I had that single round seal "left over" after I did the tensioners on my XJR. I was too embarrassed to ask what it was for, lol. Now I know I didn't need it, thanks.

BTW, it took some time to find a torque wrench that would accurately measure down to 11 NM. Bkrdoug finally found a Craftsman wrench for about $30 that we bought just to do this job. I really think this is where some mechanics "wing it" on the torque and then you get leaks.
Vector

 

Well, I have *two* freshly calibrated torque wrenches in the right range. Used them for the cam journals and tensioner bolts.

Used the old gaskets and winged it anyways. "thumb tight" and oil on the gasket face. No leaks

The oil on the gasket face is to let the gasket "work" as it is tightened down.

(Repaired the plastic ear discovered dangling from the gasket during cleaning with 5 minute epoxy cured for 24+ hours.)

 

I had repeated problems with cover leaks and smoke from the oil on the exhaust manifolds. Most everything listed above I did too. It's a little embarrasing that I can't fix a little oil leak. Finally I got a set of Ford FEL-PRO gaskets. They are more plump. After a short time they too started to leak. I took it to a machanic. I told him "don't be over confident" this isn't as easy as it sounds. He fixed it. He said all he did was re-check the torque. It's know several months....... I have another leak on the right side. I can't stand to have my jag smoking when I stop at the red light. I'm about to conside new cover. Possibly mine a warped. I've lost all objectivity.

 

As you say, a warped cover is a possibility. You can check it against a flat surface after removing the gasket and mounting hardware.

Or, it could be that a retorque is necessary after the gasket settles.

See the note above about lubricating the gasket face with oil.

 

One other point that needs to be mentioned is that there is a recommeded tightening sequence:

 

If you do a compatibility check at ebay for after markets and those VS 50724R sets the result will be "This part is not compatible with 2001 Jaguar XK8 Base Convertible 2-Door 4.0L 3996CC 244Cu. In. V8 GAS DOHC Naturally Aspirated", and after contacting many sellers, they all confirmed those kits are not compatible, same for my 1999 xk8 as well.

However according to the ebay system, and I have found this to be true at many other parts sites, the correct set is VS50397 for the 2001 XK8 but this part number still comes up as NOT compatible for the 1999 xk8.

For my 99 XK8 many sellers said that no complete valve cover and ring sets comes up as compatible and available, only separates are available.

Hope this helps.

Sid

 

Well....... I used the Felpro VS50724R set in 2012 on my 99XK8 and it fitted perfectly and had all the necessary seals except the VVT o rings. No leaks to date, either. As others have said above it's very important to a) follow the tightening sequence and b) torque correctly and c) lightly lube the gaskets prior to fitting.

 

The JTIS says the correct torque is 9-11Nm. I read elsewhere on the forum that the two values are for new or old bolts - can anyone confirm that?