Hello Board
I have a 2015 F-Type S convertible. The car has 53,249 miles. I've just been informed by my dealer that I need a NEW ENGINE. This news is obviously devastating. They are telling me that the middle cylinder on the drivers side is bad. I have no other info if it's a damaged cylinder or if it's the piston or piston ring. I'm hoping that the piston rings can be replaced opposed to me buying a whole new engine. Please click the link to watch the video from my service tech. Please advise. Technician video

My dealer also upgraded my ECU without asking me. This completely changed the vehicle. As others have said, the pops and cracks are gone, shift points are different, and it's just a complete different vehicle to drive. My dealer is telling me to continue driving the vehicle and it will return back to normal. Is this true?

 

Eh?
The dealer is advising "needs a new engine because something is seriously wrong with at least one cylinder but keep driving it anyway".
Something does not add up!
I strongly suggest you get a second opinion and preferably not from a JLR dealership but a decent independent shop with experience of modern Jag engines.

 

You say you have no more info about specifically what's wrong with the engine, but you need to ask! They can't say that without knowing details. Also, how does it drive? What does it sound like? All sounds odd to me.

 

Really sorry to hear the bad news they gave you. A dead cylinder can happen with any engine but at such low miles its quite surprising.

Besides the vibrations and misfires you were experiencing, can you share more about the symptoms and when they started?

 

Jaguar dealers operate on a "Replace everything" philosophy (comes from jag themselves), so when he says "There is no option of rebuilds here​​​​​​" he means at his workshop.

Have it quoted by an independent jag or euro mechanic that does rebuilds and reconditioning. It'll still be expensive, just not new engine expensive.

 

I would want a damage picture from a camera

 

Sorry, What I intended to say is My Dealer upgraded tp
he ECU First! I was told to continue driving it. I drove the car less than 100 miles then the cylinder issue.

 

I said this backwards....
First they upgraded the ECU! I noticed a huge difference in the performance of the car.....Then came the issue with the cylinder

 

Just curious.
Can anyone explain what standard JLR ECU upgrade would improve performance?
Does this suggest a problem with the way the vehicle was running before the "upgrade"?
It is a pity that it just missed being covered under the 5 year warranty - figures!!

 

I had the car in for service for a y pipe replacement. They suggested replacing the water pump as well, so I agreed. I picked up the car, and immediately I noticed that car felt sluggish. Not as zippy and fun as before. I immediately turned and drove back to the dealer. I complained and asked what had been done to my car? They told me that they did an ECU upgrade, and that the car had to re-lean my driving characteristics. I left the dealership to head home. The car began to run ruff? I had little throttle, and the check engine light came on. I immediately turned around and drove back to the dealer. They put 2 technicians on the car to diagnose the issue. I was informed that I had a bad piston and needed a new engine. They apologized for my situation, and asked If I can please have my vehicle moved!!

 

Thank You

 

I have a related question: These cars being so old, they date back to the time Ford owned Jaguar, and at least the engine blocks (both V6 and V8) are based on Ford blocks... which in my book is a GOOD thing. I think the V6 was based on the Duratec, but not sure if Jaguar did any small modifications. Also curious how much the heads change (if at all). I think Jag changed everything else, like the intake, etc, but would like to know that too. The engines were NOT built by Ford after a certain date, but are still their design. IF that's the case, one could buy a new block WAY cheaper than a 'Jag' block, if it's pretty much the same thing, no? And transfer the rest from the bad engine. By the way, the Aston Martin Vantage V8 also had a Ford-build engine, and it was probably the most reliable part of the car, so again, a good thing... especially if you need to buy a new one.

 

You are mistaken on a couple of things.
Firstly, the F-Type came out in 2013 and was designed well after Ford sold Jaguar (and Land Rover) to TATA in 2008.
Secondly, the AJ133 V8 and the AJ126 V6 (which is based on the V8) were designed completely in-house by JLR and have NOTHING to do with any Ford engine!
Not the Coyote 5.0 V8, not the Duratec 3.0 V6. The AJ133 came out in 2009 and the AJ126 in 2012.
As I have explained countless times the confusion arises because the AJ133 and AJ126 were both initially built in a part of the Ford engine plant in Bridgend (Wales UK) under a deal between JLR and Ford, and as a result of this many parts on these engines are stamped "FoMoCo". That deal expired in Dec 2020 and production of these engines was moved to JLRs new engine plant in Wolverhampton.
There MAY have been SOME Ford input to the design of the AJ133, seeing as it came out in 2009 and Ford sold JLR to TATA in 2008, but I have never seen or read of any concrete evidence either way. Neither engine has ever been factory fitted to a non-JLR vehicle.

 

Thank you for that explanation. I failed to mention that I recently was given that information by a service manager at a Jag dealership that didn't close (that the blocks were Ford), so assumed it was correct. And I still think it's correct, since why reinvent the wheel when Ford blocks are great. But guess until somebody takes a Jag and a Ford engine apart, and compares the 2 side by side, we won't know for sure. But my take from your comment is that the engines are supposed to be sufficiently different that nothing can be exchanged. As far as the Ford timing, it takes a long time to develop a car/engine, so don't see it as problematic. Thanks again.

 

Hey Mark, I'm so sorry to read of your problems. Hopefully some of the posters here with much more F-type knowledge than I have can help you find a easy, inexpensive and quick solution, if one is possible. As a fellow Michigander, I'm also a little distressed that your problems seemingly originated from the Grand Rapids dealership that I also go to for warranty work. After an unexpected minor ($9500) collision a few weeks ago with a distracted driver, I'll ultimately have to take it to the dealer to get a few things reset. I definately don't want them to "update" anything!

 

Take it from me, the engine blocks are NOT Ford, not even based on any Ford block.
And yes, JLR engineers did reinvent the wheel, the AJ133 was a clean sheet design.
Either that service manager has no clues or you misunderstood something he said.

 

Mark, the comments your dealer made sound like absolute crap. You definitely need to go to another shop.

 

From what I gather, was your car driving fine before the first visit? Why was the y-pipe (exhaust?) In need for replacement?

asking because if your car ran fine, and they performed non-authorized work causing an immediate issue after you got the car back, a good lawyer may be needed. To he honest I'm not convinced you have a bad piston. I watched the video and heard what the tech said. Still, I''d leave the car with them until fixed in (or better) state it originally arrived in.

bringing the car to another garage will give them ammo to mud the waters about their shady work and tactics.

good luck. Keep us posted.

 

First listen to OzXFR he has the correct information. The wrong stuff has been posted for decades now and it's hard to fix it! Surprised a service writer said that too.

It seems a bit suspicious that after getting a massive bunch of engine work done at a Jaguar dealer (including an ecu reprogramming) and then driving 100 miles it's now got a bad engine? Hate to point fingers but that just seems like too much of a coincidence? And for what reason? Over heating? Lack of oil? Mechanical damage?

With a completely dead cylinder the problem should be obvious when you get some pictures.
Sorry to see such a bad failure!
.
.
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having done the Y-pipe job the dealer obvisiouly had to remove the SC and all the intake system of the engine. Depending on the care of the
mechanic involved lot of opportunity to get foreign material into a particular cylinder of the engine. Was that the beginning of the story ?
Probably a borescope inspection, obvisiouly not done by the dealer, will reveal the truth.
Good luck !