It's been said before, but your XJ is living on borrowed time if you haven't done your tensioners!

Mine supposedly has slightly better materials than earlier cars being an '00 XJR, but look at the cracks!!

Well worth the time and money.

 

Just had mine done on my xk8 with 68000 on clock, tensioners looked fine, guides were cracked in a dozen places dont know what was holding them together luck i think good luck on your car.

 

Help me out here .... I'm a little confused by the pics.

Your pics 1 -3 are pretty self explanatory, but what's happening with the other two?

Pic 4 shows collection of parts. I'm seeing what appears to be original style primary tensioners, but later metal-bodied secondary tensioners?

Pic 5 shows what appears to be an original primary tensioner. I realize these need to be replaced regardless, but if the image was supposed to show specific damage or failure, I'm not seeing it.

Just curious.
BTW, thanks for taking the time to document and post this.
Regards,
Retro

 

Hi Retro,

Everything actually looks good except the guides, which are badly cracked. My original primary tensioners look OK, but I've seen them badly cracked as well.

Happy motoring.

 

This is already on my list... My 3.2l has just covered 145k km (so around 80k miles) and runs very quiet. No chain rattle at all... And being a 1997 I assume it has either been done some time OR it is a newer engine. I will still be doing them... Better twice than never!

 

Yes, it's nice not having to hold your breath every time you start the car! (Even if it was done twice!)

 

I just had my tensioner's replaced last weekend. I have an 02 XJR so I had the second generation with the springs. I have 64k miles. The old tensioners actually looked pretty good but one of the springs was frozen. I'm not sure what bad things a frozen spring can cause but I'm really glad I changed the tensioners and its behind me. I put it off too long!

 

With that low mileage it's unlikely they were changed or the engine replaced. Best to get the right side valve cover off and take a look.

But keep in mind that there have been a couple of instances where only one was replaced, so a metal body on the right side is no guarantee.

 

Like said, they are on my list to do So I'll be tackling them in Summer... Got to get the rust off before I can do anything else

 

There have been a lot of sad stories from people who put it off and kept driving. I wish you luck.

 

Strongly Disagree - you need to do the tensioners before anything else