So I was replacing a fog light bulb earlier today, and looked up to see the water pump leaking a bit. Already have one coming, but I got to thinking that I should go ahead and do the timing chain and tensioner while I'm in there. My '96 has just a tick over 105,000 miles on it, and I don't know the service history prior to buying it five years ago. Would you?

 

You won't be going "in there" very far when replacing the water pump so the timing chain is scarcely a related job.

Chains seldom fail on these cars anyway. The little hydraulic tensioner thingy has been known to give problems, though. It's externally replaceable but not related to a water pump job.

Cheers
DD

 

where there? under the hood? Water pump on xj not under timing cover, like on most other cars, if chain is not make any noise just leave it. Water pump just 2.2 hours labor and 10.8 hours labor for chain. While you replace water pump, you don't need to remove chain cover.

 

I thought it looked separate, but didn't know the spread on the hours. 8.6 is a big spread. I'll look at replacing the tensioner, as the chain does rattle a little when starting cold.