Are there any major differences between those years ? I am looking to get into one to eventually do a Lsx swap and would like to know if it's worth finding a 2003 vs a 2000 for example.

 

Blackbird....as the American model year is always one advanced of the actual manufacture,
You are looking at effectively 1999 thru to 2002.
All these car have the later AJ27 engines and there is very little difference in these cars.
Mechanicly they are the same.
US market has the 4.0 litre version only...whether it be NA or Supercharged.
From August 1999, the engines were steel linered to replace Nikasil.
The gearboxes were uprated.
Suspension is the same.
The only real differences lay in the various levels of trim
Standard wheelbase or LWB, Vanden Plas, Super V8 or Supercharged plus a few variants.
Body wise they are all the same.
As usual with these types of cars later low mileage units are the best to go for.

 

A simple search of this forum will show numerous problems with the secondary tensioners failing in some of the 308 engines. The first generation tensioners were all plastic and would eventually break apart causing piston/valve clash that would ruin the engine.

They did a switch to a much improved design tensioner on August 13, 2001. You must look at the engine number (not the VIN) to figure out the production date of the engine.

This tells how to locate your engine number:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...99-xj8-102637/

The number is a date code:

Example: 0008181043 = 18 August 2000, time 10:43

The magic date for the engines with the second generation secondary tensioners is August 13, 2001 at midnight or 0108130000.

Note: You CANNOT go by the production date as viewed on the sticker when the driver's door is open. You must look at the engine date.

Even if the engine is past that production date you should still try to find out if the secondary tensioners were updated to the third generation (all metal) type that came out in 2005. If you can't get service documentation the only way to confirm is to remove the cam covers and visually confirm. There are tons of threads on this forum about that.

I just bought a 2002 XJ8 that has a production date of September 2001 BUT had an engine code of 010708XXXX. Sure enough, original plastic tensioners complete with cracks and ready to break.

My other comment is to spend more on a lower mileage car if at all possible. You are much better off having a transmission with lower miles than one with higher miles and the higher probability of having to rebuild it. Transmission problems on higher mileage cars is a know problematic area with these cars.

Please don't be discouraged by the above comments. With some simple upgrades and careful maintenance these cars are a joy to own and drive. And the camaraderie and support on this forum is stupendous.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Thank you, I have indeed learned of the tensioner issue, and the 2 cars I have found thus far have had the repairs to replace those components. The transmission issue is the other weakness I have read about. As for miles my ultimate plan is to replace both engine and transmission with GM components utilizing JaguarSpecialties swap components. I am long time GM owner and know the engines and transmissions pretty well. That and I am used to 500 rwhp so I know I won't be happy with the stock Jag drivetrain for long Thus figuring I should find the cleanest car I can and go from there even if it is high mileage. So I am just trying to figure out if you were going to replace engine and transmission anyway is there any other thing about a 2003 that would be better than a 2000. IE an option available in one but not the other. That sort of thing. Thanks!!!

 

No! The change made before the 2002 model year, the one in August is to metal 3rd generation tensioners and Morse style primary chains. Anyone with conflicting evidence, post it!

This bad info keeps coming up- Come on guys- don't post stuff you don't know to be true!

My source is my eyes, looking in my car, and then checking the Jag parts manual. Even though the diagram in the manual shows only one picture, go look online (or at your Jag dealer) at the parts numbers referenced for the 2002 model and you will see that they are 3rd gen tensioners and Morse chains.

 

Kindly resubmitted, the first part of the statement seems wrong.:

"The change made before the 2002 model year, the one in August is to metal 3rd generation tensioners . ."

With my hands (and eyes) I just replaced on my recently acquired 2002 the all plastic type tensioners - complete with cracks and ready to blow.

Is the engine number (date code) not the key to figuring out which tensioners are in the engine?

Additionally, the third generation tensioners did not come out until 2005 according to other sources on this forum. Is this not correct?

So when they say that the August 13, 2001 at midnight engines had the updated tensioners, which tensioner is this if the thrid (all metal one) didn't come out until 2005?

 

Robert:
Interesting. The date code you reference is correct. The parts manual shows a change to Morse style primary chains on the date code you reference- 0108130000. My MY 2002 built after that code came with metal tensioners and Morse chains- like the manual says. Now you say you had plastic tensioners and I assume is it is an engine built after that date. So, there is some discrepancy. I am sure no one sneaked into my engine and changed the tensioners, and I must assume no one put plastic tensioners in yours to replace the metal ones!
The EPC (available for download on this sight) shows the tensioner part number for engines after 018122359 to be AJ83982/ AJ83981 which is the same number as X-350 engines use, and they are definitely metal!
So, I make the following definitive statements:
I owned the car since new;
No service facility had the car enough time to change the tensioners!
My car came with metal tensioners (I saw them).
It has an engine date code one month after 010813000.
The EPC, and the local Jaguar dealer's paper parts catalog both agree with what i found- the engine had metal tensioners of part number referenced above;

So, No, it is not correct that the metal tensioners first came out in 2005. What is correct is that APPARENTLY, the repair/ replacement tensioner recommended for the cars built with plastic tensioners was changed to be the metal ones in 2005.

And... I believe your car is an exception in that apparently it is not built as the parts manual would indicate. Do you recall if your primary chains were Morse style silent chains or bicycle style, since those were the other changes made on that date?

Inguiring minds want to know!

 

Ross,

Well, I am still baffled on the when the "final" generation of secondary tensioners were introduced.

To clarify, my engine date code is 010708XXXX thus it was produced on July 8, 2001. My car's production date (on the door decal) is September 2002 and the car is titled as a 2002 model.

I checked with the Jaguar dealer and gave them my VIN and they confirmed the engine number was the same as the one I obtained off the engine.

My engine definitely had the all plastic tensioners - thus I have a 2002 that had all plastic tensioners.

Pictures of the original tensioners in situ are in this album:

Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum - robertjag's Album: Secondary Tensioners

There is this site:

Jaguar V8 Secondary Tensioners - Preventive Replacement

from which this quote is extracted:

"In 2005, Jaguar introduced a third-generation metal-based tensioner kit. (See the photos at left.) We now use the metal-based third-generation tensioners exclusively when replacing cracked first- and second-generation Jaguar V8 tensioners."

and "Engines subject to this problem include XJ8/XJR engines with the last six digits of their VIN numbers between 812256-F41862, and XK8/XKR engines with the last six digits of their VIN numbers between 001001-A24195."

My Car VIN is F43139 - well after 41862 but STILL has the all plastic tensioner.

So it that 2005 metal tensioner an updated version of the already released 3rd generation tensioner or actually a 4th generation tensioner (as alluded to on another website)?

It appears that I have the original type chain and not the Morse chain as picture here:

 

Robert:
So, your engine date code is before the change date. That proves the often mentioned warning to chek engine date codes rather than VINs. So, you are right that your 2002 car had an engine with old tensioners, and I am right in the SPECIFIC claims I made. Thank you, I learned something.

BTW, your reference is exactly the one I mentioned in another thread where this came up. (It's on the internet, so it must be right, right?) The website was written by a fellow who used the handle "JohnfromCalifornia" or something like that and he referenced it several times on Roadfly. He was full of it and would never back down, although I am pretty sure he never personally tuned a wrench in his life! Again, I believe that the new style tensioners were probably offered as replacements for originals after 2005, but they certainly were used in engines before that. All X-350 s had metal tensioners and they happened in late 2003.