Thanks! I've been anxiously waiting for the long Easter weekend to be finally over in the UK. Tomorrow, I'll start getting some initial reaction from my warranty provider when they finally hear what happened from the garage.

Mine is indeed a very, very rare case. I've done a lot of self learning over the weekend on rod spun bearing, realised that it's quite common with BMWs and that oil starvation seems to be the most common root cause. I just don't see how the engine would starve if the oil was only 500 miles old, at the right level and spec and the old oil report showed no soot so a blocked pick up pipe is practically out of the picture.

I don't know how oil pumps work on the AJ126 engine though. If anyone has any info on that like any testing available, etc that'd be great even if for the future. I can't see overheating being a problem either as the car had been resting for about 5 hours then driven normally for about 15 minutes when I noticed something was off after a pull at a busy A road junction. I checked the coolant level when I stopped to record the video and it was around the maximum level which is expected from a hot engine... 🤔🤷

 

the last owner may have not changed the oil at 3-5000 miles

 

The car has had 8 services from new with oil changed every 2 to 6K miles as per the Jaguar online service record.

 

Here's a video teardown. It was a theft recovery, so stolen, abused, crashed. Still, you can see the way the internals go together, er, come apart. I don't think this example will be going back together.


i like his channel for a few reasons, one of which is that even for completely destroyed engines he still undoes cam caps and head bolts in correct sequence. He does occasionally get medieval on engines, but only after exhausting other options.

 

My respect
Very cool video.

 

Certainly hoping that all comes out OK for you. I want to believe it's a rare occurrence, just sick thinking that it could happen to my 2017... 43,000 miles.

 

I have a MY 2012 built in 2011 XKR. This car came from factory with metal Y pipe. I've had timing chain tensioner failure at about 30k miles from a known bad setup and it was replaced under warranty. No big internal failure yet. Now my MY 2018 build in 2017 XE S 380 HP v6 should have had updated chains, guides and tensioners which the early V8 aj133's desperately needed but even then.... at about 40k miles... I heard a startup noise (not the same as my XKR and i felt it was coupler rattle at startup) and they diagnosed loose chains and indeed.......they were. So under that carmax warranty I also got a new guides, tensioners, chains and i believe sprockets - thankfully all covered.

Its sort of the issue with these cars. Your coolant pipe and timing chains, guides, tensioners and sprockets are going to try and kill these engines. You got to look and listen closely and get it fixed. It almost REQUIRES...a certainly level of paranoia. To that fault...you need live coolant and oil temp reads no matter the jag with these AJ engines.

Now.... even with the new chains on the XKR I hear a loud tick which initially went away when warmed up but is there now alll the time - its regular and speeds up with RPM. It seems low in the engine im wondering if my HPFP's are noisy or if my chain is beating itself to death. I hope the former is just noisy.... tick tick tick tick

Loth

 

Any word from insurer?

 

Update: lots of discussions going on between my insurer and the garage. I got a quote now for engine replacement and for minimal engine strip which will only happen in 2 weeks as the garage is busy. Insurance insists in having photos of the damaged parts so the plan is to lower the engine with the subframe, dismount it, remove the sump and show the damaged bearing.

The company promised to approve the quote as soon as the evidence is supplied.

 

Hope you’re not dealing with CarShield.
Asked our shop to tear down a LR for timing chains, which we did and then they never showed up to “inspect”. Shop owner got PO’d and had my tech buddy go ahead and fix it. Couldn’t have the thing sitting on the lift all tore down for weeks. “Inspector” finally shows up and say’s “you put it back together, claim denied.” Shop was stuck, client was stuck.

 

The full service history will be your ace in the hole. That's the first thing they always ask for and wanna play hardball with. I think you're gonna be OK. Just stick to your guns. I had to help my son through an engine deal with his Ford truck and when I finally threatened them with suing him after I gave them all the papers they wanted then all of a sudden it got fixed, hated to come to that, but that's what you pay that insurance warranty premium for

 

@WSHudds As with the above comments, these aftermarket warranty providers routinely play these nefarious shenanigans in the USA.

I don't think it works that way in the UK (retaining lawyers, threatening lawsuits, companies flat out refusing to pay for any reason they want, not showing up for inspections they demand, etc).

Please tell us it's a bit more civilized out there?! I hope so for the sake of your new engine replacement.

 

UPDATE: Got the car back on Friday 13th after a long debate with the warranty company that as of now, paid for 60% of the £17K (US$22K) bill. I've escalated the complaint with the UK ombudsman who quickly took on the case and the odds are in my favour. The warranty company based its contribution on the availability of cheaper reconditioned engines supplied by a dodgy company that has had several lawsuits. I insisted on having a JLR reconditioned engine with 2 year unlimited warranty. My JLR specialist, Parkside Garage in Huddersfield, has only ever worked with JLR products since 1989 and they advised against using a 3rd party engine supplier. I'll update this thread later on the outcome of my dispute with the warranty company.

The JLR reconditioned engine came with a new block, pistons, new gaskets, spark plugs and cylinder head. Only the sump was reconditioned. It came with the latest alloy water pump and new oil cooler. I also had replaced:
- All cooling pipes using JLR alloy pipes
- All injectors (3 never left the old engine despite much insistence)
- Accessory belt
- Supercharger belt
- Supercharger oil
- Both tapets
- Air filter
- Clutch slave cylinder

I put 4 new Continental SportContact 7s on and had the car aligned as well. Drove 130 miles over the weekend on A and B roads and it's been amazing. Feels like a new car!
See below all the photos in reverse order.

Notes:
- I've had the car for 18 months now. The state of the old engine block was truly despicable. I only managed to modify the engine cover back in December so water ingress through the hood/bonnet vents definitely did a number on the block and contributed to the corrosion. It looks almost as if it had been under the sea for all this time! Apart from keeping the modified engine cover on, I might replace the engine vents for the newer "shrouded" design.
- The clutch looked fine and I debated about replacing the whole thing but that would be too much money (over £2.5K). My mechanic reckons I still have another 40K miles left in the clutch.

Enjoy the photos and feel free to ask any questions!

 

Good to see that you got the car back! I know the feeling - when I needed a new engine in the XF I had to spend some 10 weeks without it. Now let's hope the rest of the bill will be covered too.

Interesting to see the old block. Looks like a good example of that an F-Type with the original open base RWD vents and an unmodded engine cover shouldn't be left out in the rain.

 

Thank you! The separation anxiety was tough, man! Never thought I'd miss a car so much 😂

It's great to be back on the road while the weather is still good here in the UK. Had to make a stop at a local reservoir on the way home this evening to enjoy the scenery a bit!

 

Great looking rims BTW.

 

So I guess in 8 services they never ever took of the engine cover to do a basic inspection otherwise they would have seen all the corrosion issues. A please explain should be directed to your dealer

 

The most corroded parts were hidden by the supercharger which I suspect had never been taken out until now.

 

Absolutely. Same issue on our engine.

 

Thanks for the update and photos - glad you are back on the road!