Hello all,
Happy New Year!

My 1998 XJR have blown head gasket, for the 2nd time
First time was in 2002 at 85,000km, and now again at 305,000km (yes, I use my car a lot)
Would appreciate your recommendations for a reasonable experienced mechanic in Toronto area (Closer to Oakville if any). Last time the dealer charged a lot and I prefer doing the job outside.

I have recently replaced all hoses, the radiator, and the water pump, belts,... all original Jaguar. I have also replaced almost all gaskets (except head gasket). Flushed the coolant and used the new Dexcool... Would this have anything to do with the head gasket problem? Your advice and recommendations are much appreciated.

One more thing, days before the gasket failure, I noticed coolant level low and upon inspection i found a little leak coming from the V between the engine block which I thought was weird since I have new heater hoses there. Is it possible the the gasket may leak in the cylinder and to outside the engine at the same time?

Regards,
Abraham

 

You have lots of mileage on the car.. not sure of any mechanics in your area, however many years ago when we built engines for drag racing we could indeed have coolant leak from a head gasket into the engine and again outside the engine.
Lawrence

 

Hi, I've used The Cat's Cradle independent jag specialist in Mimico couple of times. Very good service, cheaper than a dealer.

 

What size engine and is it supercharged?

Randy

 

Thank you all for your replies

I tried Cat's Cradle but the price quoted for the job was over $4,000!!! I know parts cost less than $500, isn't that too much for the work needed? How many hours labor do you estimate it will take to replace head gaskets both sides?

I have also called Berkshire jaguar specialist in Toronto, and they told me they can replace the gaskets without removing the timing chains... Is that possible?

On the engine size, I have the V8 4 liter supercharged...

Again, thank you all for the help

 

In my past life as an auto mechanic I would do things like change head gaskets without removing the complete head but when I bought my repair shop the liability got to high and I found doing it by the book was a better way to eliminate come backs and unhappy customers. The second thing I would like to add is the fact that a head can easily be warped,meaning the mating surface has a u shape to it and putting a new gasket in is like putting a patch on a bald tire. On an "in block cam" engine a simple resurface of the head will work well but on a "over head cam" the camshafts are not sitting straight in the bores anymore so the machine shop will clamp both ends of the head to a flat surface and reheat them to bring them back into tolerance so the cams will spin freely.Not having known how hot the engine got and wanting to cover myself I would go the extra mile and have this done. However if you are comfortable that the heads are ok and it's just mileage that has deteriorated the gasket then you could go for the more economical way. I've saw these engines with 400k and they still have the cross hatching on the cly walls,so don't be worried about the bottom end they are tough. my 2 cents.

Randy

 

Hi there,
Since you have allot of Km's on the drive train you may want to consider an LS1 swap.
Search LS1 conversion for the story. Don't know if you have the means but if you do you will be very happy with the result. I am!

All the best