Oh dear... Noticed some different noises coming home today after a pull like something made of plastic was catching. It was very subtle to begin with. Stopped the car after a couple of miles as the noise started to pick up. Restarted the engine, shot this video. Nothing visibly wrong under the bonnet.


Managed to crawl to my specialist and thankfully they were still open. By the time I got there the noise was horrendous, very loud and clearly coming from the supercharger. They will investigate tomorrow but their initial assessment is that the supercharger is probably gone. Everything else is fine, oil level, coolant...

I got an ALA insurance so hopefully it won't be an issue. They said that a new supercharger is about £2K. I will take this chance to upgrade all pipes, water pump which I was planning on doing in the summer. Hopefully claiming a new supercharger, I'll get some of the labour time that'd have to pay to replace the pipes covered by the insurance.

Wish me luck! Any help, advice or prior similar history are welcome.

 

Ah, crappy man. Sorry hear. Yeah, probably a good idea with the pipes etc..

 

Compressor doesn't sound good.
Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.
Good decision with the pipes.
I still have that to do.

 

@WSHudds Sorry to hear that. And yes, we wish you good luck!

Can you do a postmortem exam on the SC internals? I am especially interested what volume of oil you had. No one here has been able to get out close to the 150 mL spec even after taking the SC apart. This suggests under-filling at time of manufacture. Also the condition of the coupler and shaft would be good to see...

 

​​​​​Thanks to everyone who commented so far and yes, I'll try to document as much as possible what happened. I know it's a very rare case.

 

Yes the oil level is of great interest. As has been posted many times no one gets the right amount of oil out of the SC when doing a fluid change. It's always a good bit less than spec. Rare to have a blower eat itself so thanks for posting that especially at such a low mileage. I have taken several blowers off with well over 100K miles on them and only the rotor coating was wearing off a bit.
.
.
.

 

Might be able to rebuild it. Check with superchargers online.

 

1. Good that you are OK (relatively speaking) and were able to get to safety.
2. Car is at dealer, also good
3. In order to replace the coolant pipes, the SC has to come out, so you may have to pay for the coolant pipes. Ask tech to check for coolant pipe weeping, seeping, brittleness, or evidence of coolant leaking out anywhere. Most likely to fit the new coolant pipes, a new water pump will also be fitted, as well as a rear plastic line (I forget what it's called). Also check for brittleness/cracking at the fittings to the coolant reservoir. If your warranty covers the coolant pipe leakage, that will help. See if you can get the new JLR metal pipes.
4. Make sure that fresh Eaton oil is going back in the supercharger. JLR says the oil is good for 100K miles.(no way!!) Originally I was just having the pipes replaced under warranty and to pay for, my dime, refreshing the SC oil, as long as the SC had to come out for coolant pipe replacement. When my original SC went back in, it developed the marble disease and was replaced. Again, under warranty (factory).
Replacement SC has held up. I'm hoping the second generation coolant pipes do too. I have a set of the metal ones on the shelf, for when, not if.

 

@Robtrt8 Good thought - The shipping from the UK to Cali could be brutal. Also check out VAP's rebuild service - seems very reasonable and shipping included:

https://www.velocityap.com/product/j...rting-service/

 

Update. It wasn't the supercharger after all. They removed the supercharger belt and the noise was still there. And coming from the bottom of the engine...

They opened the oil filter and found metallic shavings looking like copper. They think one of the big end bearings let go.

It's really sad, the car looks and drives like new. Has a full service history and was fully serviced a month ago. Coolant level was fine (checked in the weekend), oil level was good (checked before I set off last night). I sent the oil sample last month for analysis and came back ok after 5,000 miles. So now I need my warranty provider to play ball and help me get a new engine for about £16K (20K dollars).
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If anyone knows how I can update the thread tile, please let me know.

 

Ouch. That's a rare failure, but catastrophic. I hope your insurance covers it. Was there any indication in the oil analysis, however slight, that disaster was heading your way? I've been having analyses done since the car was new, so have a running history. I expect you've just got the one report.

For the thread title, I think that only a moderator can do that.

 

If you haven’t followed it, Adam Deerman has a thread on rebuilding a V6 that ate a rod bearing…
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...roject-283590/

 

Oh that is not the news we wanted to hear. Very very sorry.

It seems our infatuation with the F-Type is not always reciprocated. The cat has been biting a lot of forum members lately.

Hopefully your warranty provider comes through, but they may try to get out of it by blaming it on an expendable pipe or gasket. Prepare to throw down!

I wonder if they have any leftover AJ126's at Castle Bromwich?

 

Damn! Sorry for your loss...

 

Thank you all for the sympathies. To the points raised so far:

Oil analysis: I had two reports and both were fine with a slight increase in aluminium last time. No sign of copper.

Regarding the engine availability from JLR, yes, they're in stock. I used to swear by these engines (and I guess I still do) following an extensive research pre and during ownership. I've followed all the rules to the letter (mechanical sympathy, red line once a month kind of thing after engine had warmed up, early oil changes...). Plus the car is my daily and I had a fantastic time driving it during the good weather we had here recently. It had shown no sign of problems.

Another interesting point, the ECU didn't throw any warnings, no lights on the dash and a scan yesterday revealed no codes whatsoever.

I'm grateful that it didn't happen on a motorway and I was just a few miles from home and the specialist.

I've been researching loads and I appreciate this is a very rare situation. I've been chatting with the gentleman that runs Wraptor in the UK and he recently had another 3.0 destroy the bearings in the bottom end but confirmed it's a very rare problem.

More to come.

 

I drive it like I stole it, all the time. If something let's go I guess I won't be surprised but I've got a smile on my face all day.

Worth.

 

Wow
Sorry to hear this happened.
Hope you get her fixed up soon...

 

I agree. Life's too short. All going well, I'll have a new engine, new alloy pipes and may even new clutch as the garage will let me know if there's any wear, practically a new car!

 

Just read thru this thread in full now and was thinking what most have already said - this isn’t a common issue. Certainly not with your vehicles service history as well as low mileage. Really sorry for your experience, hoping the best from your insurance provider.

 

Ouch! In the video it sounds pretty much like the AJ126 I had in an XF, when it started showing signs of a bad con rod bearing. No engine lights or warnings either. Back then I got a new supercharger and complete new engine under warranty and it was all flawless for a couple of years until I traded it in. I know that some early examples of the AJ126 had bad con rod bearings, but never heard of such a new engine as yours having any such issues.

Fingers crossed that the warranty plays ball!