So I have been dreading the timing chain tensioner problem with the 2000 S Type despite the apparent lack of any rattling in mine. This along with the fact that I bought an S Type with zero maintenance history (but at a great price) had me gathering quotes.

Thanks for a forum member, I found a local guy in KC who seems to really knows his stuff (he showed me his Jaguar certs from 1967 on) and his prices seem really good.

Could I get a sanity check on this work from a Jag veteran for price and accuracy? Some of you guys really seem to know your stuff and I am concerned about only getting the upper tensioners down in lieu of all four (details below).

Car is a 2000 S Type w/ 119k

Note all parts are Jaguar genuine from a dealer on the east coast. He wont work with non OEM parts.

$525 flat - Upper timing chain tensioners - mechanic tells me less than 2% of the Jags he works on needs the lower tensioners and since they require pulling the engine part way out, the labor and gasket costs saved by just doing the uppers is his recommendation (with the understanding that he will look at all 4 when he is in there). If I want all four (or if needed) the cost goes from $525 to $1143 for extra labor, new gasket set and timing cover seal.

So has anyone just done uppers?
Is the 2% comment accurate?
Any stats on failure rates upper vs lower?

Remainder of work

$460 flat - Front ball joints (using existing control arms)

$376 flat - DCCV/Heater valve (no heat)

$225 flat - Replace exhaust mainfold (if cracked). He wants to check gaskets and cats to confirm cracked manifold as the dealer told me when I bought it.

Any and all feedback is very much appreciated!

 

I'm not sure how much a DCCV is in the States, but here they are £80, so about $120? He's charging $250 for labour.

Balljoints at $30 each, is that what you posted before? He's charging $400 labour.

I may be well off the mark, I'm not familiar to US labour charges, but his labour seems rather expensive.

 

Good points

As I noted he says he will only use Jaguar OEM parts.

The ball joints are $80 each and while I found a $164 dollar heater valve/DCCV the Jaguar one is 282.

 

Plenty of people have done just the uppers. If you plan to keep the car do them all. They are all plastic and are now over 13 years old along with having 119K miles on them. They will fail. It's just time.

But with your mileage are you sure they have not been replaced already? You can pull a cam cover and see the secondary tensioners.

Yes the secondary’s tend to let go first. But no statistical analysis has been done so it's all just guessing. That 2% seems way, way too low. Remember the early (2000-2002) Lincoln LS suffers from the same problem. So if you are interested take a look at the several Lincoln LS forums and read the timing chain tensioner threads to see what you think.

Just remember that the valves will hit the pistons when something lets go. Don't forget to change the chains as well as the tensioners. Several people have only done the tensioners and the car won't run right because the chains get stretched with time. When Jaguar finally got to the 2003 and up cars they went to a double chain to stop this.

With all that you are doing it looks like you plan to keep the car?

I have to say this will be a money pit if you will not DIY the repairs. It's just too old and too many miles.
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Out of interest, does the 3.0 engine have plastic tensioners?

 

The V-6 seems rock solid. But I don't know how the valve train is set up. Never hear of those problems.
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Phew! I was starting to get worried.

Just going back to price for the DCCV, I gather that the OE item is Bosch? The aftermarket £80 ones are also Bosch, in the UK at least. Point being, you don't need to spend top dollar just to have the Jag name on the box, it's what's in the box that matters.
New Heater Valve for Jaguar S-Type Cars (From Vin M45255) (OE Parts) | eBay

 

The idea of replacing only 2 of 4 badly designed (aka plastic) tensioners was bugging me so I negotiated a bit and am now doing all 4 plus the idlers, guides, etc.

Was previously quoted 1143, got it down to 900 plus I talked the mechanic into installing my amazon purchased 122 dollar Bosch heater valve instead of the OEM 372 dollar one which saved me some money.

Car is at his shop now and hope to have it back by the weekend.

/crosses fingers that I do not get a call with more issues

 

I sure they are the same, so money well saved there.