I am looking at picking up a potential 1997 XJR that has 116k on it and a cracked piston in cylinder 4. What should I worry about if I pick this up? What gotchas need to be considered when replacing a piston? What would cause a piston to crack?

1997 Jaguar XJR white exterior w/off white interior, ext/int great condition, 4th cylinder piston cracked, done with car, has custom 18" wheels w/255/55/18 tires, can make great car for someone either replacing engine or convert to Chevy V8, already has Chevrolet transmission due to supercharged engine (Jag used GM trans in supercharged models) Can make great parts car, although the car is worth getting running due to great condition and looks. I'm done with car and have no time to mess with it.

What is the cost of a piston and rings? Should I do all rings in all cylinders? What would

 

Make sure you can get the parts.

According to.....

Genuine Jaguar Parts and Jaguar Accessories for Classic Jaguars from Jaguar Classic Parts UK


....pistons are no longer available from Jaguar nor are standard sized piston rings.

You could shop around for aftermarket suppliers, though.

Cheers
DD

 

I would be surprised that a piston would crack on these motors, my belief was that that the bottom end was bullet proof. Have you seen the damaged piston, or these claims are made because that cylinder has low compression. You can pick up a complete brand new jaguar head in the box for under $500.00, I bought one just to save for later. But a piston would have to be taken from a donor car, I can get you a number of a place that is parting out an xjr. 94-97 xjr's are hard to find.

 

Any help would be great. I talked the guy on the phone. Has rebuilt the motor twice now...said that after the second one blew the shop did some quality investigation and said that he was running a lean condition because of a faulty MAF which caused the problem. Said his wife wouldn't let him put a third motor in it...had everything serviced regularly including the tranny fluids etc. Inside is immaculate, outside looks brand new. White with black power rims.

 

This place is located in California and they have three xjr's that they are parting out. Or you can check ebay.
PARTING OUT WRECKED & RARE:
1997 JAGUAR XJR 6-Cyl SUPERCHARGED
Vin# SAJPN1149TC777224 & 105,954 MILES!
CALL 8AM-4PM: 818-767-0445

 

Shoot, if it's that nice...and the price is right....buy it and just get a good used engine to drop in.

Cheers
DD

 

If the engine was run at very lean conditions for a long time, especially at higher rpms, this raises cylinder head temps dramatically. Very bad for the engine and that would explain the cracked piston. But I would suspect a lot more wrong if that was the case. Perhaps a warped head? IMO no point in just trying to replace one piston, a complete strip down and rebuild would be prudent.

Of course that would be pricey and time consuming, so I agree with Doug, you can probably find a good used engine for very reasonable money. If the car is sound and cheap enough, this would be the way to go.

 

Plus
Inside is immaculate
outside looks brand new

Minus
Has rebuilt the motor twice now

The straight six is a very reliable engine unit. The need for one rebuild is unfortunate but now requiring a third suggests chronic incompetence. It also raises the question of how effectively the rest of the repairs and maintenance have been carried out.

My golden rule with Jaguars (and I've been driving them for over forty years) is "if in doubt - walk away". This is a situation where I'd be applying that rule.

Graham

 

In this case I respectfully disagree, GGG.....only mildly, though. Cars like this are always 'iffy'.

It has internal engine problems so we *already know* it'll be a project car. And, as projects cars go, having outstanding cosmetics is a huge 'plus' ....as cosmetic repairs are very costly. Mechanical repairs are generally much less expensive. In this case I betting even a used engine can be had quite reasonably as there is very little demand for them.

If a person really wants an XJR/6, goes in with both eyes open, provides DIY labor, and IF the price is right (that is, dirt cheap), it might be a good thing.

The downside, despite all that I've already said, is that market value is low on these cars so, if lots of other work is needed, there's a distinct possibility of spending more to put this car back on the road than it would cost to buy a good, running example.

Still, if the cosmetics are truly as good as described, I'd be very tempted to take on the project, personally.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi
I love the car but I'm inclined to agree with Doug.... consider your options carefully.


You may be able to get a better buy for some extra cash.


BigBoss in dallas TX

 

Are you equipped to pull and install the engine yourself?

Or do you have a friend that is experienced, equipped and is willing to help you do it for a few beers and fishing stories?

If not, please factor in the shop cost to install the motor, as well as the cost of the motor itself.

I have never had a Jaguar engine swap priced, but just as a "ballpark" I had a Saturn motor quoted to pull/install and it was 10 hours. So you would need to take that approximate $1000 install cost into account. That may be cheap compared to a Jag independent shop? I really don't know. But I'd recommend calling around for a ballpark quote before you commit to the car so you know what you are getting into.

For the engine itself, I thought I saw a used AJ6 or AJ16 for $500ish the other day online, but the latest I just Googled was $1500. So it is probably somewhere in between. Again a local independent Jag shop could give you a better idea.

Since I just bought a low mileage 97 XJR in "excellent" condition, I recall that the top NADA/KBB is about $7000 for a 97 with 117k miles.

So you'll need to keep that in mind where you'll have $1500-3000 in a motor swap.

Just as a point of reference, a nice 97 XJR with 73k miles sold for just under $7k on eBay recently, and another really nice white 97 XJR with 83k miles sold for just under $5500. The white one was essentially "like new" or appeared that way.

Take it from me where I took a few months to find mine, although the 95-97 XJRs are somewhat rare, they aren't unobtanium and actually seem to pop up pretty regularly with low mileage and having been well cared for (even pampered). I think this is just the nature of the car, given its exclusivity and price at the time.

If you can't get this car for dirt cheap, and you don't feel confident about the engine swap or other condition, I'd recommend taking some time to let the "fever" pass and see if you really want this car or can wait until another comes along.

As it has been mentioned several times by long time owners, it really pays off to spend a bit more up front if possible and buy the best condition car you can as any major or notable issues associated with reliability (all models have some lemons) or condition (some just aren't well taken care of) may be tell-tale signs of bigger problems down the road.

Do you have some photos to share of the interior, exterior, mechanicals etc? There are a lot of folks here that can tell a lot from the photos alone.

Good luck though! If you can get it cheaply enough, and everything else looks great, it may be a good deal and a fun project.


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I think you meant to reply to the following thread?

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...rchase-199165/

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True, no idea what went wrong there!