1998 xj8 belt fire
#1
1998 xj8 belt fire
I don't know much about cars let alone jaguars but lately I had noticed a slight burning smell coming out of my a:c vents
stupid me thought nothing of it until today when it started smoking out of the front right side of the car only, headed home to see what was going on and it stopped smoking so I let it be figured it was just steam as it was a horribly hot day. Hours later I took off to the store immediately hearing a sort of squeaky noise I'm assuming came from the belt. Then started to see more smoke so I turned around and headed back home smoke getting worse and worse. Now I knew it wasn't steam so I parked and lifted the hoood to see where the smoke was coming from. Was coming from the belt area. At this point the car was off and the fan had shut off as well. Still smoking, I started to hear a crackle which then turned into flames. The fire was put out but I don't know what damages I'm working with or what goes into fixing it. Please help! All I can make of it is broken melted belts
stupid me thought nothing of it until today when it started smoking out of the front right side of the car only, headed home to see what was going on and it stopped smoking so I let it be figured it was just steam as it was a horribly hot day. Hours later I took off to the store immediately hearing a sort of squeaky noise I'm assuming came from the belt. Then started to see more smoke so I turned around and headed back home smoke getting worse and worse. Now I knew it wasn't steam so I parked and lifted the hoood to see where the smoke was coming from. Was coming from the belt area. At this point the car was off and the fan had shut off as well. Still smoking, I started to hear a crackle which then turned into flames. The fire was put out but I don't know what damages I'm working with or what goes into fixing it. Please help! All I can make of it is broken melted belts
#3
Hi,
+1 on checking the pulleys if they're seized or not. The only pulley you shouldn't able to turn by hand is the crankshaft pulley (the big one on the bottom centre of the engine which drives the whole belt assembly, No 5 in the picture). The pulleys of the power steering pump, the water pump, the AC and the alternator won't spin particularly freely if you're triggering them but should rotate without big effort when turning them by hand.
The idler pulleys however should rotate freely by themselves a few turns when triggered.
As soon as you hear or feel kind of a rumbling noise when turning one of the pulleys, the chance of having a bad bearing is quite high.
Cheers, Alexander
+1 on checking the pulleys if they're seized or not. The only pulley you shouldn't able to turn by hand is the crankshaft pulley (the big one on the bottom centre of the engine which drives the whole belt assembly, No 5 in the picture). The pulleys of the power steering pump, the water pump, the AC and the alternator won't spin particularly freely if you're triggering them but should rotate without big effort when turning them by hand.
The idler pulleys however should rotate freely by themselves a few turns when triggered.
As soon as you hear or feel kind of a rumbling noise when turning one of the pulleys, the chance of having a bad bearing is quite high.
Cheers, Alexander
#4
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...acement-65171/
Here's a thread with the part no. for replacing the bearings of the idler and tensioner pulleys (part 4 and 6 on the picture of my previous post).
As the thread also decribes the bearing change for the supercharger belt pulleys (which is not applicable for your car), you will only need 2 x *** 6203.2RSR.
It's a simple 30 minutes job- you'll need just some nuts, a ratchet, a torque wrench and a workshop press. Instead of a press you can also use a big hammer to get the bearings in and out (but carefully to prevent any damage of the side walls/races of the new bearings.
Cheers, Alexander
Here's a thread with the part no. for replacing the bearings of the idler and tensioner pulleys (part 4 and 6 on the picture of my previous post).
As the thread also decribes the bearing change for the supercharger belt pulleys (which is not applicable for your car), you will only need 2 x *** 6203.2RSR.
It's a simple 30 minutes job- you'll need just some nuts, a ratchet, a torque wrench and a workshop press. Instead of a press you can also use a big hammer to get the bearings in and out (but carefully to prevent any damage of the side walls/races of the new bearings.
Cheers, Alexander
#5
It's lucky you are still a Jaguar owner!
Jaguars don't normally smoke, steam or squeal. If and when they do, the time to investigate the cause is a.s.a.p. before something seizes or blows up. Others have already explained the various pulleys that could be seized so I won't repeat the message.
Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some information about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.
Graham
#6
#7
If the pulley or bearing seized that would have caused that melting from the belt slipping over the seized pulley. Replace BOTH of the plastic idler pulleys with metal ones, they're about 20-30 bucks each, and as long as you can run a belt and know your righty-tighty then you're good. (the idler pulley bolt on the belt tensioner is actually reverse threaded though) They're both the same pulley, and i've had good luck with the URO C2C22758 on rockauto, it's a bit pricier but does use a nicer bearing, and is manufactured much better than the cheap equivalent Gates pulley.
Last edited by nilanium; 07-25-2017 at 09:56 PM.
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#8
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It's not a difficult repair and you will get plenty of advice from members with the same model if you choose to do it yourself.
Graham
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