Hi
I'm going to look at a 2001 XJR today with 75k miles. I'm a little leery of the car, I think I saw it for sale on CL last year for a low price (this guy's asking 2500 for it, after dropping it from 3500 last week). He doesn't know if the timing chain tensioners and guides have been replaced. He says it runs great and all electronics work, with only some minor maintenance stuff that needs doing (headlight, brakes)

I have read somewhere that the final fix for the bad tensioners came out in MY 2001, but can't find it on these threads. Is there a way to tell easily if this engine has the good tensioners?

What else should I be concerned about? I had a 1998 XJ8 and the tranny bit the dust, but I think the XJR had a ZF transmission similar to what I have in my current x350 that doesn't have the same failure rate as the one in the x308 base car.

any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

XJR has the MB trans that they used in AMG's. Very strong trans. The tensioners were upgraded to the 3rd gen metal type, on engines built August 13th, 2001. So a 2001 car will have the plastic spring loaded tensioners. Which yes, you'd want to replace. The 3rd gen stuff also has metal primary timing chain tensioners. Primary are the bottom, secondary are the top.

 

The only way to tell if the primary and secondary timing chains, guides and tensioners have been changed is to remove one or both of the cam covers.

 

There were several improvements to the timing chains and tensioners on the X308, the initial version beginning in Aug 2001, and some further improvements thru 2002/2003. You can check the date of the engine stamped on the left/driver-side of the engine block, this can be viewed through the left front wheel well and interpret as YY/MM/DD with the last 4 digits indicating time of day. (010621 10:11 would be 2001, June 21st @ 10:11am),

If you remove a valve cover you can make a visual inspection of the secondary tensioners, but not the primary tensioners.

I would think it would be good advice to assume that the car in question will need the tensioners replaced, and be pleasantly surprised if they don't.

The supercharged versions of the X308 have the sturdier MB 5G-tronic transmission which is a reliable item.

 

I have a 2001 XJR (July 2000 build) and love it. I’ve added about 5500 miles to the 51k it had when I bought it last April. I may be whistling past the graveyard, but neither I nor my mechanic see any need to replace the tensioners now. It has never made any unusual noises on cold start, other than a mild squeak that went away after he replaced both belts. With the higher miles on the one you’re considering, I tend to agree with the other posts that replacement probably will be required in the relatively near future.