Doing new gaskets on a ‘04 XJR and decided to inspect the timing chain guides. I locked the timing with the necessary tools and marked the chains before pulling them and the guides off. Now I am struggling to get the drivers side chain back on in the same spot. There appears that there is too much slack on the non tension side. Is this a problem? Any suggestions?

 

Do you just need to remove the guide(s) to create enough overall slack to successfully work that half or one link of slack around the gear so it resides on the tension side, so when you do refit the guide(s) and tensioner you have still preserved the correct timing?

 

Yes. It really was that simple.