On my 2004 jaguar xj8 with about 105k miles I have noticed it has a ticking sound coming from the passenger side of the engine that sounds exactly like lifter tick. I put motor honey in it too thicken the oil and that did quiet it down but it still ticks.

has anyone else here on the forums had an issue with the hydraulic flat tappet lifters failing? According to the research I’ve done our engines don’t have valve buckets they have hydraulic flat tappet lifters. This vehicle sat for a long time so most likely that lifter was compressed for that entire duration and not only that the car used too have a pretty bad oil leak before I got it so I am sure it ran low on oil before in its life.

this I am sure is gonna be an expensive repair as the camshafts have too be removed too replace the failed lifter.

it’s not as bad yet but it definitely has lifter tick. How common is it for our engines too get lifter tick?

 

The Jaguar AJ V8 engines DO NOT have hydraulic tappets.
The valve clearance is set with SHIMS. (all 32 of them)

 

Ah okay after your post and reading the engine assembly service manual you are 100% correct. Now I put 20W-50 and Lucas high mileage oil stabilizer this tick is completely gone. What do you think has failed it definitely sounded top end and like valve tick

 

Perhaps the valve lash needs adjusting after years of use?
Did you read through the Engine Course 168 I had copied from my Jaguar Training?
I had it in paper form but went to a COPY STORE and had converted to .pdf.
It is all over the internet as well as jagrepair.com.
I also had my WDS training guide converted as well.
Jaguar did issue some documents in .pdf from the early 2000s but before that it was PAPER ONLY.

 

It might be worth pulling a cam cover to inspect, the cam lobe may be damaged or worn if it now has excessive clearance. The other item that is known for ticking is the VVT actuator. There's a locking pin or something that wallows out its hole and ticks on cold starts. There's old threads with photos of this.