I had an interesting conversation with my indy. Seeing multiple almost new Range Rovers without engines parked outside I asked him about it, seeing how some of them share engine with out F-types. He told me that timing chains on 2010-2012 cars are failing left and right just out of warranty and that he has done 8 in a recent months. He also mentioned that this for some reason rarely happens on Jaguars equipped with similar engine, but frequently an issue with Land Rovers. Also mentioned that there are updated parts tensioner and guides that can address this issue if work is done before the chain jumps.

Now, we haven't seen many threads on chain issues on F-type forum and very few on XKR forum. Is this issue that likely to impact F-types few years down the road? Do we need to preemptively change tensioners?

 

SinF,
my original engine had the old adjusters in it...MY15. New engine MY18 supposedly has the new ones...i think there were a select few AJ133s that made it though to the production line even after they said "MY15 and up are fine"...its easy to tell if your going to have issues, its a slow onset, after its well warmed up pop the oil fill cap(will cause a lower end vacuum leak and may stall or trip a MIL but it will go away once you restart a few times), should almost be silent, maybe a little clean sounding chain noise at the most...my old engine had a distinct noise that was loud and not a smooth sewing machine noise, more like a rattle...and cold starts would sometimes (not always) make a quick rattle for 1 or 2 seconds before adjusters pump up..if you have the rattle at startup its too late.

 

The only thing that might spare the Ftypes, like it did the XKR, is the relatively low miles folks put on these cars.
Chain elongation is inevitable with mileage in GDI. (even if all else was perfect)

 

good point, spinning the HP fuel pumps and the cams there will be chain stretch, hopefully the "new" slides, and tensioners have this covered to some extent.

 

I have no idea if my 2016 F-type is impacted. It sounds like **** when starting cold, but it did so from new and hasn't changed in any way. To me, it always sounded like a chain slap.

I guess I will know in a couple years, as I am in for the long run. Warranty expires this year (we get 1 year less warranty in Canada )

 

Its really the diamond grade soot in the oil that wears the links down or effectively causes elongation.

There is a mountain of research now from very respectable sources. Just search for timing chain wear GDI.
Here is one such paper from the body of lubrication engineers.
https://www.stle.org/images/pdf/STLE...ry%20Plays.pdf

 

There is a very interesting patent. I wish I could figure out what exactly is proprietary and which brand uses this proprietary additive.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US10323205

Meanwhile at 100,000 I am changing the chain and components, no matter what.

 

We are starting to sound like oldsters (some of us are I expect) discussing the early onset of ailments but on cars that are, at most, five years old. Must be a 7:1 aging ratio per year like dogs to humans.