Hi new to jags, just got a 2000 Xj8 yesterday with 122,000 miles but it has 3 dead cylinders. Both of the front cylinders have 0 compression and the very back cylinder on the drivers side has no compression, but they others have 150ish. Any advice on what to look for or where to start with it?

 

The first thing that comes to mind is that you have a broken exhaust cam chain on the driver side and valves open or bent. The dead A bank cylinder addition is a little strange. Both side chains do not usually fail at once.

See the FAQ Sticky at the top of the XK8/R forum and then look for 'Tensioners'. Same engine as XK8/R.

Even worse is a badly overheated engine with warped heads and blown head gaskets.

Good luck, let us know and welcome to the forum.

 

Does this car run?

 

It runs very rough and is hard to get started and keep running......

Also the car is low/out of antifreeze so this may be a sign as to what happen that the previous owner over heated it.
Thanks For The Help.
Tommy

 

well yea.
I would say you have a seriously cooked engine. You might notice another thread abou engines here that has turned into a spirited disagreement of sort (and is headed towards a pissing match!) about what to do first. I say either find a different engine (fleaybay, breakers and so on) and/ or pull the heads and see what you are dealing with. Check the block deck flatness and go through the heads. For one this screwed up, I would sure have someone check the valve seats if the aforementioned are OK. I predict this is not going to be pretty.

 

ya i have a feeling it won't be good at all. but hopefully it will just need new heads and will be alright. I'm taking it to my mechanic here in the next week so will see what happens