I was lucky enough to buy an '11 xj with a bad motor, that was advertised with just a bad starter. Its starts and runs with "engine reduced power" message, but Im pretty sure the motor is hurt. Figured it was a standard Ford V8 and was extremely surprised to find out how much a replacement engine is from Jaguar and even more surprised to see how expensive even a junkyard/LKQ used motor is. In my very recent and minimal research, it seems like a TON of these cars are blowing up engines. Before I tear mine down, what is the most common issue that causes these engines to fail? My car is relatively low mile and has receipts for maintenance from the Jag dealer, so I can't imagine its from lack of maintenance, but rather from an internal failure point. Like most jaguars, repair information online is scarce at best. Is it possible to rebuild these motors after a failure and, if so, where is the best place to source a rebuild kit? I guess figuring out the cause of the failure is the most important first step. thanks!

1. It's NOT a Ford engine!!!!
2, The most common serious engine problems are loose/stretched timing chains due to the poor design of the timing chain tensioners (really the soft spots on the guide rails that the tensioners push against) and leaking/splitting/failing coolant system plastic pipes and hoses.
3. A major cause of many problems is dirty/old oil, the specified oil change interval of 16,000 miles (sometimes 15,000) or 12 months whichever comes first is waaay too long for these GDI engines.

m3j0n, I would first start with doing a compression check. If your engine is truely toast, that will tell you definitively. I had a similar issue in that the motor would not start and if it did, it took all sorts of work to keep it running. It turned out I had a bad fuel injector. So, I would not rule out the engine quite yet. Granted, a new set of injectors installed was $2500.

thank you!! My cost on the bosch direct fuel injectors is under $150 a piece. Gonna do a compression test and report back. I had replaced the starter only to find out, the motor had some horrible internal noise... I had also fixed the valve cover leaks while doing the starter. Hopefully this one is salvagable.

Ignore the above post. A shallow bit of entertainment filler.
All the information on Jaguar failures is in this forum. We have thousands of members from all over the world.
We know what the problems are and how to solve them.
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Is a replacement engine available? Im curious how much they want for it.

and why do you say you think the engines toast?

Hello my 2012 xj 5.0 n/a had a loud start up for about 10 seconds and then sounds fine and drives great. We did the timing job, waterpump, coolant pipes, idler and tensioner pulley so far. The chain was definitely was loose but I have driven it like that for.a year now and the noise has never changed. Day of startup after timing and it sounds the same! And now the mechanic is getting clicking from the a/c compressor which has never happened belore. Any advice is so appreciated. What else is noisy for 10 seconds on start up? Oil starvation or hydraulic tensioner not getting oil soon.enough? What else makes noise or fails with the aj133 motor please

Probably best to start your own thread?
Sounds like you have multiple questions too.
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