Last couple days I heard a "tapping / clicking" when in Sport mode, at slow speeds but higher RPM's. It started to get louder so I was going to bring it in; but yesterday it suddenly got VERY loud (I was in a parking lot) and it stalled. Started back up and sounded horrible and check engine + restricted performance lights went on.

I drove it home 2 miles slowly with the noise getting louder and it driving horribly.

I had it towed to the shop (local mechanic - NOT dealer anymore) this morning and will report back...

 

Well, it's been in the shop for 3 days and I still know VERY little other than there's like 30 codes (literally), it sounds awful, and they are leading me to believe this is a MAJOR problem; perhaps even the end of the motor??

I am a driver and not a mechanic so I only understand half of what's told to me. But, they plan to spend serious time on it next week and I will report back. 78,000 miles and I might have to dispose of it???

 

Hope its not all doom and gloom Mark. If it's any consolation I had to mercy kill my Audi S4 at 75K miles after twelve years due to the notorious cracked plastic timing chain guide(s).

It made little sense to me to spend $6K with the motor pull being the major part of the bill.

On the upside it got me into my XFR. Unfortunately I had a test drive in an F coupe this week ....oh dear,what have I started now...

 

F-Type SVR!

The not knowing is driving me nuts. I am actually praying for a $4K bill and my car back so I don't have a $50K problem getting into something new I like!!

 

Without your car details (have you seen how few you've put????) and the codes you do know people probably can't help?

 

Sorry about the bad times MarkN, from your description it's not sounding minor.

 

Yes, sorry about that. I don't have details yet but once I do I will share.

 

Well, I finally has what's close to closure and it's a sad story.

The motor is shot. Metal shavings in the oil pan, bearings are shot and a couple other things he told me. My options seem to be bad and worse.

There doesn't seem to be any or a lot of these 5.0 SC's around....I made a few calls and struck out. The shop found 1 in NJ ($31,000!) but is going to make some more calls.

The car looks brand new inside and out. It has barely 78,000 miles, I spent $1,800 on it in June and I am going to throw it out???!!!

 

Sad news Mark, is there any suggestion of what caused it ? Sounds like some kind of oil starvation issue...

I'm considering selling my XFR because that F-Type coupe fun is still messing with me ;-)

 

weird, LKQ should be able to source a lightly used engine for you.
I wonder what the initial issue was.
And why it cannot be rebuilt.

 

found an entire engine on ebay, for 14k, ouch.

 

Mark, I am sorry to hear about this.

The 5.0L supercharged engines are known to consume oil, especially when pushed hard. My XFR (currently 82,500 miles) consumes about one quart every 4000 miles or so. Ever since my dealer mentioned the oil consumption tendencies of these engines, I have always checked the oil level multiple times on a daily basis. The digital system in these cars makes this process rather easy.

According to the service departments I regularly visit, there have been instances of engine damage/total failure due to the lack of oil in these engines. Unfortunately, Jaguar states the service intervals are every 15,000 miles which may lead customers to believe that they do not need to be attentive to fluid levels under that timeframe.

I wish you the best of luck in rebuilding or sourcing another engine. Hopefully your local dealer will make the efforts to try and get some sort of assistance directly from Jaguar corporate.

 

Good idea to get Jag Corp involved although I suspect they may ask whether there were any indications of a 'check oil' light prior to the noise(s) and whether the decision "I drove it home 2 miles slowly with the noise getting louder and it driving horribly." had any bearing (no pun intended) on the outcome...it certainly sounds like an oil blockage/starvation problem but that might have been an oil pump rather than failing to check the dipstick. I seem to recall some of the Land Rover diesel engines could fail as a result of the oil filter being badly installed and crumpling inside causing a shut off of oil supply. You might want to pull the oil filter and look...maybe someone screwed up an oil change...

 

Are you saying the advanced system that makes it so easy to check the oil level electronically is not able to make a dash light come on when the engine oil level is low, or put on a light when the oil pressure is low when the pump is sucking air?

Really doubting that. Even my old school Esprit and Murcielago both put on oil idiot lights if the pressure drops because the oil level is too low.

Of course there are some people that will keep driving a car even when an idiot light is shining brightly in their face.

 

That's pretty amazing that you kept driving the car under those circumstances.

At least you killed it good!

 

77kmi on mine and I loose no oil, but I change the oil every 3kmi and the filter every 6kmi. Do you have a definite cause yet Mark?
You could always do what old XJ owners did and drop in a GM V8? LSA = 550hp LS9 = 630hp, and I'm sure they cost less than a AJ133SC.
I loose my AJ133SC I'm going straight to Katech.

 

YUP, saw this! 44,000 miles + shipping + labor to install....and who knows about the motor condition

 

I do NOT know the cause and it's driving me nuts.

In June I spent $1,800 for the bank of injectors.

In July I put on the Mina Pulley and pipes.

Does anyone think improper install of either Pulley or injectors could lead to something like this? Timing appears funny....

The shop said this is a sign of no oil usually - but I had plenty. I always did routine maintenance and fixed EVERYTHING as soon as there was a noise, etc. I changed oil around 7500 miles.

The car when running, as beautiful as she was is really only worth around $30K based on what I see on ebay so as much as it hurts; I don't want to be foolish and spend almost that much and still have a POS Jaguar that I can't trust!

I had a base XF before this XFR and from a style perspective I loved them both. Performance I loved the XFR. it was what I was known for around town. But from a reliability perspective - worst cars I have ever owned; both of them.

 

I don't think the upgrades of the pulley nor the exhaust would have contributed. But I'm not a mechanic. Worse than blowing up the engine is having spent money on things like that...

As I mumbled earlier, I'd be suspecting something in the lubrication failed - either the oil pump was on the way out (not sure if your shop could pull it and look) or something collapsed in the circuit causing oil flow to be dramatically reduced. Crazy as it seems, I've seen photos of collapsed oil filter causing the flow to drop enough to kill the engine if not discovered in time. Our engines use a replaceable filter rather than a replacement canister. So it's not implausible that whomever did the last oil service either used a sub standard filter or it didn't seat properly and something like this happens - oil filter collapsed ? Eitel Automotive Performance

Unfortunately it takes very little time to wreck the engine once the oil stops flowing and that 2 mile drive may have been the final straw...

 

FYI..... you're coming across in your posts as quite the bitch.....guy just lost his car....