Hi guys, I am new to the forum and a new owner of my first Jaguar. I have a 2012 XJL that needs a head gasket replaced. I've done dozens of head gaskets but not on a Jag. Any help would be appreciated. Is there a good place to get a manual for the job. And is locking tool kit the only special tooling I need. Also where do you guys buy your head gasket set from. I have a good machine shop that will do my head work just a little insight needed before I start the job. Thanks

 

littledan, lots of good information here. I would start with looking at the top of this page at all the stickies that are there. I seem to remember that there is a service manual in there that should give you a lot of step by step instructions for what you are looking to do.

As for tools, yes, you will need a cam lockdown kit to hold the cams in place to do the timing. You will also need a torque wrench and an angle wrench (one that measures the number of degrees that you turn a bolt) as when you tighten the head bolts, you are going to need to know how many degrees you have turn the head bolt (this car has torque to yield head bolts, so, DO NOT!!!!! reuse your head bolts). The rest should be fairly common tools. The only other specialty tool that I can possibly think of is you may need an injector pulling tool, especially if you need to resurface the heads. Now, on that subject, why did the head gasket fail? With this engines, because they are almost all aluminum, you overheat the engine, things are going to warp and the possibility drops as the amount of overheating gets greater. No amount of machining will get the engine back to where it needs to be. So, do not be surprised if the shop says that the damage it too great and it can't be fixed through machining.

Granted, if you are thinking of getting a bit more out of the engine, this is going to be a good time to send the blower out for a good polish job and then to take some time with the heads and give them a mild port/polish job. The heads are more your time than anything. But the blower polish/port isn't that bad price wise.

 

Thanks Thermo, Did not find a stickie for 5.0. I did see one for 3.0. Thanks for info on tooling. I will get a puller for the injectors and cam holding tool. any info on head torque and timing would be great. I do have a machine shop that can straighten warped aluminum heads and shave if needed. Thanks for info on polishing blower and head. I am excited to get started tomorrow on the project.

 

Dan, get a few more posts under your belt and then send me a PM with your e-mail address. I can then send you a service manual that will have all the directions that you should need.

 

Found the source of the leak that lead to the head gasket blowing.

 

Replacing mine today. 3.0 engine, just enough room to take it out without removing the S.C. Those bottom bolts were a pain!

 

I was just wondering how someone would change this without taking the supercharger off. Way to go tstealth. This one may have been leaking for a while firewall sure was a mess.

 

littledan,

Good work so far!

If I may offer a little advice to save pain in the future?

In your 1st pic there are 2 identical, circular plastic caps next to the left head, towards the rear. Change them. They are the crankcase pressure relief valves, and are difficult to change (but not impossible) when the engine is together. They are not expensive and are pretty reliable...just saying. Your knuckles!

wombat

 

Thank you wombat I will change them

 

I can't tell from the picture, what exactly is it that caused the leak. I have a small leak that I cannot find. I have had multiple leaks since I bought the car. I have changed the water pump, around 2 or 3 hoses, and the reservoir tank. No sooner do I find one leak, than it starts leaking somewhere else. I have it in the shop now, for them to do a pressure test, and try to find what I hope is my very last leak.

 

That's the the rear crossover pipe. Or a heater pipe. It leaks right at the pressed seam, horrible design. I replaced mine yesterday.

 

I agree that there’s no real way of knowing if this was the only thing leaking on this car. I got it after the head gasket blew. I’ll keep looking. I did find something out that was very important. My bolt for the crankshaft has a 12.9 on it which I understand is a reverse thread. And yes it is here’s a picture of my set up.

 

What's even more confusing is that bolt can be either RH or LH thread depending on whats printed on the bolt head.

I did not realize you could remove the heads with the engine in the car?
Also take a look and make sure all the plastic stuff has smooth seams the original problem items all have large square seams sonically welded together.
Be sure and use the latest 3909 water pump too. No since having to go back in there after all your hard work!

Be sure and pull your Aluminum "Y" pipe and check if the bottom plastic bit is rotten. I would replace it all with the updated plastic parts even though I wish Jaguar has stayed with the Aluminum versions.



Looks like a big job!
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Is that under the intake manifold? My mechanic can't find the leak, but is suspecting one of the hoses under the intake manifold. However, it is just a "guess", and I don't really want to pay for the labor of removing the intake manifold if there is no leak there. Going to take it somewhere else and see if maybe someone else can actually find the leak. It is such a small leak, that they don't see any decrease in pressure when they are testing it.

 

If you have supercharger the crossover and hose will come out from back of engine. I’ll post a picture of my crossover pipe and hose where it sits under manifold. My hose that was under the supercharger was pinched and in bad shape.

 

Engine is out. But now I have a question. I disconnected the engine harness and removed it and the transmission harness with the engine. Now I realize that my driver’s window is down. I really want it up to park this car outside for a while. Does anybody have any ideas on how to run the window up.

 

figured out getting window up. Just had to put a fuel line in a bucket connect the battery and it went up normal in accessory mode

 

Been busy getting parts together. Decided to rebuild my engine. Found a block and have rings coming. The plan is to clean inspect and reassemble with replacement block. Heads are rebuilt with new valves, guides and seals.

 

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Received replacement block and started building engine.

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