Just took off my engine cover in order to change my spark plugs and I noticed to bags of what appears to be sand wedged between the intake manifold.... Car has been in the shop recently, and no one mentioned anything about this, wonder how long it's been there. See the pic, sorry for crap quality only have a camera phone. Anyone have any idea what they're for? Should I remove them?

 

Sounds like someone was trying to smuggle drugs I honestly have no idea, that looks crazy to me but maybe there is some logical reason... good luck

 

looks like heroin to me good deal from the size of those bags you have enough to buy a Stype R for cash

 

lol, silly.

They are insulation, holds heat in for faster warm-ups and keeps the engine sound to a minimum.

They were/are installed from the factory.

 

Unfortunately racerx82 seems to be right, they are definitely neither cocaine or heroin. Can also confirm they are not sand, seem to have the consistency of styrofoam/insulation.
However, I find it strange that my car has this as I have NEVER seen another x-type or pics from an x-type's engine bay that has this.

Few more pics

 

Woah that's cool. I've never seen that before. lol @ drug remarks.

 

You guys are pretty funny

 

I LOLed a that :-)

 

lol,
Most folks remove it when replacing the spark plugs. 6 of one, half dozen of the other...you can remove it, will help in cooling the intake runners....

 

oh, now that you have your intake off, port the runners a bit, you should see a crisper take off .....

 

For those wondering what the hell "PORTING" means...

http://forums.evolutionm.net/lancer-...-manifold.html

 

If you don't know what it means, you probably shouldn't be doing it.....

 

Hell boy, most folks here don't know how to change their oil..You shouldn't even suggest anything like Porting in the first place.

 

I doubt that's true. But you COULD stary a poll to see....

My own experience on this forum, is that MOST have come here to learn MORE about DIY-ing on their Jag.... So I think Racer'X's suggestion to try some porting is a good one. The originla poster quite obviously has some mechanical aptitude, since he's taken pictures of his intake runners removed.

Racer:
Are you specifically talking about port-matching on the intakes? Or are you into the runners themselves? Do you have any pics on what you hit specifically?

 

Yeah, it's the most bizarre thing...I noticed the bags of sand on my friend's 2002 3.0 X-Type Sport a couple of weekends ago when I was trying to help her troubleshoot an emissions issue. Had no idea what they were. I thought it was Ford's solution to engine balancing , or that the previous owner had forgotten to pull out his stash when he sold the car.

My 2005 3.0 X-type doesn't have them.

 

I don't have heated seats, so I use them on cold days. After car warm up, simply remove them and nice warm lunbar and fanny heat.

 

My 2002 3.0 has them. I figured they were insulation but did find it kind of odd!

 

As for porting, the plastic box that the fuel rail is on comes off easily and you can port match your runners to that.

I did it a few years back and made a big difference. I don't recommend porting the heads while it's still on the block. lol

If anybody is interested, i have 2 sets of the injector blocks.

 

That is crazy! That does look like sand bags/drugs! My 2002 didn't have it. I assume that would be a northern car thing?

I imagine they wouldn't put it on a car that would be in Florida or Texas, right?

 

My north jersey jag had it...lol

Jeez....whats the big deal on this? Lets move on