XJ XJ8 / XJR ( X308 ) 1997 - 2003

Big Explosion...total loss of oil :-(

Old May 9, 2017 | 12:06 PM
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Unhappy Big Explosion...total loss of oil :-(

Hi Community,

Just got back home after "loosing" my car on the side of the motorway....

Suddenly a big explosion after changing gears and total loss of oil....

Anybody can tell me if I can still save the car ? What could it be ?

Thanxs
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 12:15 PM
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Hey.. sorry to hear..

What of model and year of your Jaguar?

When, where, how and how much.... circumstances?

If you are at the doctor you must tell him where it hurts... :-D

I would say that it is quite rare that something just blows... but when oils is involved it usually looks worse than it is.. (i have owned my fair share of hydraulic Citroen cars and have limped home with kilometers of hydraulic fluid soaked road behind)


/E
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 12:20 PM
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Hi,

XJR 2001. Just happened this afternoon. Got on the motorway, driving around 100km/h. and suddendly a huge explosion with rattling noises (seemed like plenty of nuts and bolts were breaking / taring a part). total lose of oil.....fully empty on the side of the road...the car was bleeding to death :-(

I cant say more
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 12:24 PM
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Have you opened the hood to look?
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 12:29 PM
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Yes, nothing special under the hood but loads of oil underneath (the car is litteraly empty). I wasnt able to drive it back home, had to call the breakdown service. They reckon the engine could be dead (for having lost all of it's oil and pressure in one blow)
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 12:54 PM
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If everyting was happy and dandy and the engine from a clear blue sky, without any warnings or cautions just blew... it sounds to me that a connecting rod said goodbye, cracked and pushed a hole in the crankase... pieces tumbling around inside engine...

It is always tricky to figure out why something like this would happen.. especially is the maintenance is done by the book..


Look for a hole in the crankase..
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 12:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Einhead
If everyting was happy and dandy and the engine from a clear blue sky, without any warnings or cautions just blew... it sounds to me that a connecting rod said goodbye, cracked and pushed a hole in the crankase... pieces tumbling around inside engine...

It is always tricky to figure out why something like this would happen.. especially is the maintenance is done by the book..


Look for a hole in the crankase..
Thanxs, if this is the case, is this labour intensive ? can it be mended ? many parts to change ?
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 01:14 PM
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Well... first of all you need to investigate the extent of the damage... what on earth, from what you actually can see, did happend?.. if an engine goes to hell... so to speak.. in smoke and thunder and, as you put it, bleeds out at the roadside -then its really bad..

If what i think happend, did happend... to hand it to an repairshop and tell them to fix it... is going to cost you dearly. Then its cheaper to get an spare engine of the right model and have it changed...

Its just to wipe your tears, take a deep breath and get to it.. but first of all, have it investigated.. then, depending on the seize of your wallet, from the number of options you have, figure out what to do..

/E
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Einhead
Well... first of all you need to investigate the extent of the damage... what on earth, from what you actually can see, did happend?.. if an engine goes to hell... so to speak.. in smoke and thunder and, as you put it, bleeds out at the roadside -then its really bad..

If what i think happend, did happend... to hand it to an repairshop and tell them to fix it... is going to cost you dearly. Then its cheaper to get an spare engine of the right model and have it changed...

Its just to wipe your tears, take a deep breath and get to it.. but first of all, have it investigated.. then, depending on the seize of your wallet, from the number of options you have, figure out what to do..

/E
Thanxs for your feedback. I must admit that I am getting slightly paranoid because the car was fully serviced (always), had 100k on the clock and had just passed the severe yearly govt. check...

I must admit that I got in a argument with my mechanic because after chaging the upper pulley, the car was squealing and chirping like mad (apparently he had pushed the pulley to far in the supercharger snout). In the end he agreed to repair it at his own costs by changing the whole supercharger pullley system with this https://www.britishparts.co.uk/produ...t-NCC7739ACKIT. I had litteraly picked up the car 4 days ago and drove it twice and then BOUMMMMM.

Would it be possible that either :

1) the fact that the car drove about 1000 miles with a misaligned supercharger pulley. this weackened the engine ?

2) he did something to it (to program it's death) ?
 

Last edited by Benson7; May 9, 2017 at 01:28 PM.
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Old May 9, 2017 | 01:42 PM
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Hmm..

1) Is the drivebelt to the supercharger in shreds or have jumped the pulley? If so, is it possible to turn it freely? By force? If the supercharger have had a breakdown (i am by no means a guru on superchargers) maybe its possible that something has caused it to give off metal that end up inside the cylinders... --> BOOM.

2) Its better to not, atleast at first, speculate in thoose terms.. The bottom line is; has he done the maintenance in accordance with what is stated/written in the manuals? If not, and he has "winged it"... well.. who knows..

Present the car to him and just ask him; Ideas?

E/
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 01:56 PM
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You really can't know until you start taking things apart. If all the oil was lost rapidly there should be an easy to find hole. The broken conrod sounds like the most likely situation.

It's unlikely the blower sent bits into the engine to cause it to explode... The rotors would need to seize and lose timing to cause such bad breakage, and even then many parts would be caught by the intercooler. If you're curious, take the sc belt off, spin it by hand. If it doesn't spin smoothly, drain coolant, take the v8 plate off, and look inside at the rotors.
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 01:59 PM
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Ok thanxs all for your feedback and advice....So sourcing a second engine is the best option really I guess
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 02:06 PM
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by the way the engine of the xjr2001 is the same one as the xkr ?
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 02:17 PM
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Speculating at this point is a total waste of time. I have piece of string in my hand. How long is it?


More hard info with pictures please.
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 02:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Mikey
Speculating at this point is a total waste of time. I have piece of string in my hand. How long is it?


More hard info with pictures please.
You are right...but hope for better and prepare for worse
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 05:31 PM
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Timing chain tensioner failure possibly - either way the car will need a new engine, so if you're looking to add power buy the 4.2.
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 05:54 PM
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Originally Posted by Sean B
Timing chain tensioner failure possibly - either way the car will need a new engine, so if you're looking to add power buy the 4.2.
can timing chain tensioners go without any warning ? There was no noise in the engine
 
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Old May 9, 2017 | 06:09 PM
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at that engine speed things happen quickly, tensioner collapses, chains skip, valves meet pistons, crank binds on chains, pistons disconnect from rods and exit along with all the oil in under 100th of a second, so yep.

I've rebuild a V12 E type that timing failure caused a blown engine, trans and diff!
 
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Old May 10, 2017 | 12:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Sean B
at that engine speed things happen quickly, tensioner collapses, chains skip, valves meet pistons, crank binds on chains, pistons disconnect from rods and exit along with all the oil in under 100th of a second, so yep.

I've rebuild a V12 E type that timing failure caused a blown engine, trans and diff!
so sad...did you do an engine swap or rebuild ? How long did it take ? How did you source all the parts ?

thanxs for your feedback
 
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Old May 10, 2017 | 02:12 AM
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If you can find a good original spare engine with the correct partnumber and with preferebly low milage and a known service history, its a matter of pulling the old egine out and tuck the "new" one in.. that should be pretty straight forward.. or not.. hmm

What you would need is new packings to exhaust, consider the status of the engine mounts etc. etc.

The price on an spare engine may vary depending on how it is equipped.. if it is stripped from generator, starter, kompressor, inlet etc., you may need additional packings in order to move over ok parts from your own engine..

Some homework to do im afraid..


/E
 
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