I know this is historical, but is there anyone out there that can give me anything official Jaguar released on the diagnostic procedure in determining if the engine was viable or not ? ORIF YOU CAN SEND ME A pm I CAN GO IN TO MORE DETAIL WITHOUT HOGGING THE FORUM

thanks in advance guys.

 

The first steel-lined AJ-V8 (superseding Nikasil) came off the production line on August 18th 2000 at 10.43am. The engine number was 0008181043. Anything after that number is not Nikasil coated.

The official Jaguar test method for assessing Nikasil engines was the 'BlowBy Test' and they developed a machine for this but I can't find the TSB on it.


Graham

 

Hi Graham, Thank you for your response, yeh its stuff like this I would like, but I am in need of proof of some sort from the car industry of in particular the "compression test" that we are talking about, as I had a mechanic do the dirty, he desided to do the "compression test" last on hi diagnostics when I instructed him do do this first, obviousely to check engine viability.

 

Hi once again Graham, or to any guys, it seems I need someone who is a qualified mechanic or engine expert on this matter
Thanks in advance

 

I'm surprised you're concerned with nikalsil failure.......?

This was a major issue sixteen years ago but the sulphur content in fuel which caused it to fail has long since been removed. Any nikasil engine still running is unlikely to fail now as the coating hardens over time.

Graham

 

I'm not quite sure what question you're asking. A standard compression test would likely indicate a serious problem.

 

Hi Graham, the issue is, I got caught with one that had the nikasil problem, took it to a mechanic, told him to compression test before he carried out any work, he led me to believe he done the test, charged me £1000 for parts and labour, gave me the vehicle back the same way, but on his breakdown, he decided to pressure test last! After me telling him everything I had read, lol, so it has got to the stage of just about 2 years motor codes have actually got a response from him, oh by the way he got nearly two years to respond I got 2 week, and they say they are mutual! NOT lol

 

Does your engine have low compression on any/all cylinders?

 

Hi Mikey, thanks for your input, I had the engine at the stage of putting oil down the chambers to start it, so with this, my own knowledge of the combustion engine, combined with research, I purchased a compression tester myself, but it was delivered broken lol, so I took it to this garage who recons he was up to scratch on jaguar, I asked him to compression test first as to make sure the engine was viable before any other repairs, so he was leading me on that the compression test had been done to get the ok for the rest of the job!

 

Sorry, don't have the Jag bulletin, but my XK8 was checked using a standard compression test, i.e. looking to see that the rings are tight and cylinders hold pressure. Jag's blow-by test was the reverse - it looked to see if the crankcase got pressurised by gas getting past the rings. Blow-by testing has the benefit that it checks all the cylinders at once, usually with a gauge on the crankcase breather or somewhere like that, so it's quicker & thus cheaper, if you have the right tool. It doesn't tell you which one is leaking, but Jag didn't care - if the compression was bad, they just replaced the engine.

I'm really surprised that any Nikasil engine that was affected by the late-90's high-sulphur petrol is still running. I dodged the bullet, because at that time I lived close to a Texaco and didn't use much supermarket petrol, and my daily trip was 100 miles so the engine always got nice & hot. But if the bores were eroded by sulphuric acid condensation back then, it's a minor miracle that the car hasn't been emitting huge clouds of smoke for ages.