Good day all, I am new to the Jag family having just purchased a used beautiful champagne 2000 S Type. I have always wanted to own one and this one I could not pass up. Shortly after owning it I experienced the diva-ness that all jag owners warn you about. First, coolant refill/degas bottle sprung a crack and was leaking bad causing the car to overheat. Next, the passenger window regulator failed. Then it was the water pump that died on me while in a bank drive thru teller. As if that wasn't enough the passenger lower ball joint went bad. The power steering pump leak was a mess to locate and was intermittent. But, the latest was the seizing of the engine. That came out of no where and with no warning. The car just shut off while on the freeway. And best thing about all of this, all within a 2 year period.

So, now I have 2000 S Type paper weight in my front yard. I am sure my neighbors are enjoying it as much as I am. But, when the car runs well it is like a slice of heaven!! I love the thing. So, I am trying to get this thing back on the road as soon as possible and as cheap as possible. I called around the local machine shops (what few are still around my area) and all passed on rebuilding the motor citing parts are either non-existent to rebuild it or too expensive to pre-purchase them and required a hefty down payment. The next option would be to get a motor from a donor car. However, the prices for these very high mileage donor motors (140K + miles) don't make sense. My car was only 130K miles and it failed, why chance it with a higher mileage vehicle?

My question is, can I take an AJ27 short block (Pistons, con rods, and crankshaft) and swap my AJ28 heads, intake, and all accessories on to the donor AJ27 short block? I having been combing through the forums and note some differences between the AJ26 and AJ27 flywheels so not sure if there are any intricacies like that between the AJ27 or AJ28 blocks. Any help or direction on where to find this info would be greatly appreciated by this new jag owner.

 

Don't even try. Junk it and if you want an S Type PLEASE get a 2003 and up model. Just too much repair with the early ones and at this late date there is no reason to mess with the early cars.

If you had not changed the timing chain and tensioners that is what likely let go. DO NOT buy a used 4.0L engine! It will require tensioners at the very least if not a whole raft of other things and then you still have the old 4.0L.
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Yes the basic 4.0 engine block is the same so you can install the oil sump onto the crank bedplate and the heads are the same (AJ27 and AJ28) so the intake cams can be swapped.

There are more differences but if you have BOTH complete engines, you can swap enough parts to make it work.

It might not be cost effective but if you have the time do all the work yourself it could happen.

The torque converter drive plates are NOT compatible so you need to swap them also. (different gearboxes)

bob gauff

 

Junking it would be the easiest and utopian solution, however, the car is still not paid off and I will be damned if I am going to throw it away and still pay on the note. With that being said, I will use this experience to "explore" the AJ engine platform. I am a long time Ford enthusiast having restored and raced Mustangs from 65 coupes to 96 Cobras. However, hitting the 40 year old mark meant I should have a grown up car to drive, enter the 2000 Jaguar S Type.

Worst case scenario is that I have to replace the motor. So, I will begin by breaking down the from half of the engine to see if the tensioner did in fact fail. By researching other posts it seems tensioner failure is fatal to the engine and cannot be salvaged. If so, would it be worth swapping in a 2003 4.2, or is that just a big headache (or stroke depending on the level of complexity this project would present)? I have plenty of time to fix the car as I have my 67 Fastback to use in the meantime. However, the stang is not a great commute car so I do not want to prolong its use beyond 3 months. Any help would be greatly appreciated in my plan of attack.

 

Bob,

Thanks for the input! I will be looking at this option as my last resort for fixing the car. I am new to the Jaguar platforms having experience in Fords, specifically Mustangs. I have restored, repaired and raced Mustangs from 65 coupes, 70 Mach I's, and 96 Cobras. In doing so, we have mated 80's style roller 5.0 motors with early 60's-70's induction systems and reverse by installing fuel injection systems into 60's cars using self written computer programs to "hack" into the 90's mustang on-board computers. So, I am relatively confident in my mechanic ability. The unknowns, however, are what the differences in AJ27, AJ28, AJ30, etc. In my above post reply I noted perhaps I should swap out the early 4.0 for the 4.2? But, that task is usually easier said than done.

However, could the 4.2 block be used with the 4.0 heads and induction system? Would this save me the headache of re-locating sensors/relays to their plugs/wiring locations? Any help is greatly appreciated and I plan on documenting all of this work with pictures to help out the next guy.

Ciao!

 

Well the 4.2L is a better engine but lots of things changed. Again you will have a big pile of money in a car that is not worth anything. Most car guys have done that many times.

That's why I got the STR. It has all the good stuff from the factory. Big SC V-8, Big 4 wheel Brembo brakes, Staggered rims/tires, Great electronic suspension. It's just wrapped in an old style looking body.

You have already sunk a lot in the car I would not put any more in it. The 2003 and up S Type are very cheap so if you still want an S Type you have a lot of choices.

If the tensioner let go you most likely have bent some valves so I would not say the engine is junk but it will be expensive to repair. Just the gaskets alone will be sky high.

I have a 2005 STR with the famous under super charger hose. I have everything to change it out and the gaskets were over $400!
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Let's not kid ourselves. The STR is no picnic either, with more failures than you can count. I won't even buy them anymore for my car lot due to the series of things that need fixed.


So, I would not recommend an STR to anyone.

 

As a used car seller, anything 6+ years old needs to be boring to be reliable, if any are.