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Dan, I know it is a bit late now, but I would have gave the heads a little bit of a polish job to smooth them out, let the air flow a little bit better in the engine. I did this on my truck and while it wasn't anything spectacular, it made a nice difference. I can only imagine what it would do with an engine like yours as mine was only a 235 HP 5.4L truck motor. The 470 hp 5.0L would have liked that a lot.
littledan you do great work!!
One thing that people have reported to cause check engine lights are the PVC caps I have circled in red on your pictures. Did you replace these?
They do give out with time.
Dan- If you're still here...
How tough was it to access the valve cover bolts with the engine in the car? How were you able to get to the bottom bolts?
What tools could you reach those bolts with? I don't see what would fit.
I've got a 2012 (but our is N/A so no supercharger) that's leaking from the valve cover gaskets.
Same story with my 2012 Range Rover (same engine), but it's got more room to access the sides.
With the coolant pipe removed it was easier to reach with 1/4 extension and a swivel socket. I used a long ratcheting wrench to get the one bolt out on passenger side #8 bolt. Also I removed the sound baffles from the firewall first. Not much room with them in.
With the coolant pipe removed it was easier to reach with 1/4 extension and a swivel socket. I used a long ratcheting wrench to get the one bolt out on passenger side #8 bolt. Also I removed the sound baffles from the firewall first. Not much room with them in.
Thanks for the tips.
The injectors don't look very easy to get out/in either, but I'll likely be doing a week of JLR Topix subscription for details and specifics.
The sticky post manual is for the 3.0 diesel which helps with a lot of things, but not with work on the 5.0 N/A .
I may do the Range Rover first, since it's the same engine; but the difference is that it has a deeper problem than leaking valve cover gaskets.
On the Range Rover I'll need to pull the heads since it's got some strange head gasket problem (hopefully not cracked heads or block). So that'll take a bit more time including the 'timing drive components' which I'll do on both, along with the plastic cooling system pipes front & back. (both at ~147k miles & 10 years).
But doing that, I'll have an easier access look-see at what I'll need to do to replace the valve cover gaskets on the wife's XJ (same engine, same year, less room)
I'm about to order the (Baum 310-197) injector puller tool and either a set of injector seal kits or maybe a new set of injectors.
Just for seal kits it looks like 8 x $21, but I can get whole new injectors (with seals) for $73 x 8. So either $170 for just seals or $600 for all new injectors.
I've got a set of Mahle cover gaskets (full sets) for each.
Last edited by 12jagmark; Mar 8, 2022 at 08:23 PM.
Hello again, Dan,
When you reassembled it, did you replace all or any of the injectors? Or did you re-use the same injectors with replacement seal kits?
Also, did you need to use the 320-197 injector puller when you removed them with the engine still installed?
When removing the fuel rail, DO NOT use the cam covers for leverage to pry them free as they can break. Use cloth shop towels wrapped around the fuel rail to pull it free of the injectors.
Some injectors may come out with the fuel rail. The slide hammer must be used for injectors that remain in the cylinder head. I've found some injectors require over 100 hits with the slide hammer to become loose.
You can use a penetrating oil around the injectors in their respective bores to help free them. Clean the outer bore and injector nozzle bore with brass wire brushes to remove carbon deposits before fitting new injectors or refitting the used injectors. If you're refitting the used injectors, be sure to keep them with the same retaining clip that fits under the fuel rail.
Use the fuel injector seal resizing tool (9899) to correctly set the diameter of the Teflon seals on the nozzles with new injectors or replaced seals if you're refitting the used injectors. DO NOT lubricate the Teflon seals with engine oil or grease. You can use a small amount of engine oil on the seals that fit into the stainless steel fuel rail.
When removing the fuel rail, ............ the seals that fit into the stainless steel fuel rail.
Thanks very much for that bunch of valuable (both $$$ and time-wise!) tips, I absolutely appreciate it!
I wouldn't have thought about the limits of the valve covers, and I did wonder about using a break-free or penetrating oil in the injector bases.
And I also wondered about using engine assembly lubricant in the injectors going in - but I won't do that, and I guess being a Teflon seal, it shouldn't need it.
I still need to buy a few things; the re-sizing tool, the cam shaft tool kit (for the Range Rover work, not the Jag).
I plan to replace cam chain guides/tensioners and cooling pipes on both.
I think I might invest the $600 for new fuel injectors for the Jag, since they're much harder to get at. Hopefully the RR injectors will survive the removal process.
The JLR Topix subscription went up in price since last time I used it - $47 for a week now. But I only need to get the Jag-specific tech manual stuff that I can't get from the Jag 3.0 diesel manual available in the sticky posts in here, or the RR tech manual data I already have.
BUT much cheaper than the dealership estimates. As involved as it is, I can't see 24 hours to replace the valve cover gaskets (Jag estimate, not RR) @ $195 an hour.
I'll definitely be re-reading everyone's advice before & after digging in.
Thanks very much for that bunch of valuable (both $$$ and time-wise!) tips, I absolutely appreciate it!
I wouldn't have thought about the limits of the valve covers, and I did wonder about using a break-free or penetrating oil in the injector bases.
And I also wondered about using engine assembly lubricant in the injectors going in - but I won't do that, and I guess being a Teflon seal, it shouldn't need it.
I still need to buy a few things; the re-sizing tool, the cam shaft tool kit (for the Range Rover work, not the Jag).
I plan to replace cam chain guides/tensioners and cooling pipes on both.
I think I might invest the $600 for new fuel injectors for the Jag, since they're much harder to get at. Hopefully the RR injectors will survive the removal process.
The JLR Topix subscription went up in price since last time I used it - $47 for a week now. But I only need to get the Jag-specific tech manual stuff that I can't get from the Jag 3.0 diesel manual available in the sticky posts in here, or the RR tech manual data I already have.
BUT much cheaper than the dealership estimates. As involved as it is, I can't see 24 hours to replace the valve cover gaskets (Jag estimate, not RR) @ $195 an hour.
I'll definitely be re-reading everyone's advice before & after digging in.
Do you have a copy of the AJ133 Technical Training PDF? Covers both the NA and SC versions and both the Jag and RR versions.
If not get a copy from my Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8y4iax9hm2...%20V8.pdf?dl=0
I ran in to a bit of a 'challenge' in removing the fuel rail while I'm doing the drivers/left side valve cover gasket.
After a lot of pulling, wiggling & tugging, I used a large strap wrench to wrap around the rail, then leveraged it against the shock tower (for cyls 2 & 4) and the master cylinder (for strap between cyls 6 & 8) to get it loose. It helped.
