I'm certainly at a crossroad right now on what to do with my wife's 2003 S-TYPE R. Over the 4 years that she has owned it she has totally enjoyed it. I have never seen her so happy to drive an automobile.

For the most part the car has been pretty reliable....until about 1 month ago. At that time she was driving on the freeway when she noticed the "check engine" light had come on. She called me up and asked what she should do. I asked her a couple quick questions as too the cars drivability and she indicated that except for the light the car was driving the same. Since she was in the vicinity of the local Jaguar dealer I told her to drive it in and drop it off.

Two days later the Jaguar dealer calls me up and tells me that we have major problems. Apparently the engine valve spring failed (while my wife was driving it) which dropped the valve into the cylinder (after she dropped the car off with the dealer) which in turn damaged the piston and cylinder wall (when the dealer tried to later start the vehicle). Long story short they want $11K to replace it with a whole new engine.

I called up Jaguar Corporate to see if they would help on offsetting the cost of the new engine as the engine only had 80K of pampered driving on it. They are still reviewing my case right now.

So some questions:
1) Has anyone else experienced this type of valve spring failure.
2) Does it make sense to put in a new engine? The high blue book on this car is about the cost of the engine, however, i'm worried about other items going south like the transmission which just started to do the reverse clunk before this issue.

Thanks.

 

I would never drop $11k on the car, you may as well buy another used one and sell yours as a donor.

I'm no mechanic, but back in the day I turbo'd a non-turbo car and the pressure on the block (and of course cylinders) became a concern so I discovered cylinder sleeves. Perhaps you can get one custom made by Melling Cylinder Sleeves (their website advertises custom made sizes). Here is their website....

Cylinder Sleeves > Home

Then have a very good shop bore out your block ever so slightly just enough to drop in the sleeve and keep it to factory displacement. Then all you would need (assmung this can fix your problem) would be a new piston (I assume the rod is good). I think all of this shouldn't be more than $1,500 - $2,000 in labor/parts. Again, I am no hardcore mechanic, just offering a potential solution? Best of luck!

 

I call bs, if it did drop a valve, it almost certainly would lock up the engine. Also running on 7 cylinders, i doubt any woman would say it runs the same

 

Go with what Brutal said!

Could just be a failing battery, bad coil or whatever. More likely than what you've been told, I suspect.

I'd take along an OBD scan tool and see what the car reports, you don't even need to start the engine to see if there are codes. I'd also plan to take/tow it away from that dealer.

 

Sad to hear about that.

Honestly, I wouldn't drop $11,000 on a car for repairs. I think it will be best to spend the money towards another vehicle.

But do check out what Brutal and JagV8 mentioned...

 

Ya Ive had a check engine light pop on a few times in the STR. Usually a misfire code from a bad coil pack. If a valve dropped it would have been just a bit loud.

 

Thanks for your posts but as strange as it seems that's what actually happened. My wife has also been around me long enough to know if she there was any obvious problems with the car she would pull over immediately hence the reason she called me as soon as the check engine light came on. Anyways, the dealer has already taken the top of the engine apart (he was hoping that the damage would only be limited to the valve since my wife had brought it in immediately) and sent me the pics: broken valve spring, broken valve, and damaged piston with two marks on the piston head where it contacted the valve. The dealer thinks the compression from the engine kept the valve from falling through until my wife turned off the car when she arrived at the dealer.

 

How unfortunate. I would definitly consider the cylinder sleeve and new piston idea I proposed. I do not see why that wouldn't work. And although it may sound a bit like a fix, that cylinder and piston will be the best of the eight because it will all be like new.

 

If Jag HQ won't do anything for you, look into a rebuilt engine.

 

Well since you have pictures it must be real. I am sorry but you really have a rare and freakish failure. It has never been posted before.

Only way to recover would be a used engine. There is one on EBay for a little under $6K but it's a 2006 which has VVT and is not compatible with your model. I would start calling around. I would not spend anything on the broken engine. Consider selling it for parts to recoup some of your money.

Otherwise dump the car and move on.

If your willing to gamble a bit just replace the valve and the spring. Can you post pictures of the piston damage? It might only be a few dents.
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You need a new dealer if he honestly told you that, WOW! Either way its damaged now, sorry to hear that. I would buy a new STR before I dropped 11K on the motor personally.

 

If you could include pictures of the damage that would be helpful. Thanks.

 

Seems to be many to choose from on www.car-part.com even with the Cali emissions

 

Thanks for all the information. I'm still sorting out all my options and will let you know what I eventually do. In the meantime here are the pictures that the Jaguar dealer took for me.

 

Thanks for posting the pics, and sorry it was your car that was blessed with such a rare event. In looking at the fracture surfaces of the valve spring, it seems that the dealer's diagnosis was correct.

Has Jag HQ commented on any sort of extraordinary support?

 

Yes, thanks for the pics, they are a sorry sight.
Is there a plan?

 

If there is no hole in the piston, take the risk with one new valve and put the lot back together.
I bet it will run fine again

 

Is the head damaged? With the head of the valve separated from the stem I would guess it hammered the combustion chamber and maybe ruined the valve seat?

The piston does not look bad. I would smooth the top of the piston as much as possible then replace what's broken in the head and put it back together.

I have seen much worse and it ran just fine. The correct used engine did just pop up on Ebay but it is $4500.

ENGINE 2005 JAGUAR XJ8 4.2L 64K MILES | eBay
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Just wanted to give everyone a quick update on the status of my wife's 03 STR. Again I want to thank everyone for all your great suggestions. I have researched a number of leads as well as continued my negotiation with Jaguar HQ. After much thought I have decided to go with the offer from Jaguar HQ as it ended up being the most cost effective (from my point of view). I will let you in on the details once everything is hammered out. In the meantime Jaguar has been most gracious in allowing us to drive a fully loaded XJR loaner car which, I must say, has been a "fun" experience. Although it's a great looking and performing car, after my mother's comment that I "look like an "old" man driving it", I am looking forward to getting my wife's 03 STR back so I can once again drive my 06 STR (which my wife took over).

 

For some reason the pictures didn't upload.