Thanks all for responses.
Not negotiating on tensioners....Just don't know if they were change to stage three.
As far as drilling a hole, as you drill the preponderance of the debris comes up (Plastic)
As far as the size of the hole, as your friendly Urologist
And, by God, Jaguars do not leak, it is controlled seepage!

 

Well, have at it! As far as your concern about looking at the tensioners and finding no wear or cracks, unless they have been changed, don't worry about it a bit!

I can see my position as biggest hack mechanic around here is in serious jeopardy!

 

That Florida XK8 a 2001 was a cream puff, but there was no history on the tensioners. I just let it go. I didn't want to drive from Florida to Texas and worry all the way.
Looking over the internet I see the early XK8's and XKR's and no noticeable difference.
Briefly, what is the difference in these cars?
Is the R more desirable than the 8 (Don't want to start a war on that question!)

I AM LOOKING FOR A VERY PRISTINE XK8 OR R??? WITH STAGE 3 TENSIONERS

 

To Spakenzap
Your in big trouble I put an engine oil cooler in an XKE, Rebuilt a Lucus (God of Darkness) electronic distributor with Crystler parts. and and and are you ready
Have the only schematic for the electronic amplifier control for the air conditioning in the United States and and and maybe the whole world except Coventry England!!!!! How about them apples?

I've been out of the Jaguar business for twenty year and just decided to get back in with an XK8

 

There are several different kinds of fiber optic scopes but I believe that the type that I have borrowed to use on my plane could be used to go through the oil fill hole and snake it up to the tension. At least you could tell if the left tensioner is metal or plastic.

Dean

 

I just revisited this post, and found the question of drilling the valve cover. I think it's a great idea! Since the cover is plastic, it IS possible to drill it in such a way that a VERY minimal amount of shavings (if any!) ends up in there. And even if some does, if you drill in the right place, it won't matter.
A rubber plug afterwards, and there will be no leaks. Great idea!

Maybe Afterburner just paid for my kickass vacation! (considering buying 2003, but I can buy 2001 for 1/3 of the price!!)

 

This post is somewhat out of place...Tools for replacing tensioners


I agree, get the tools. I remember working on a Lotus Elite 1969 Ford 4 with DOHC Cotsworth head. The chain got loose and I had to search for timing marks on the cams and crank. Took a protractive period to get all three aligned properly. I am not familiar with this motor to give you specific advice, but before I would start I would have the crankshaft on the alignment mark and then find the valve marks. Then if a tool slips or something unexpected happens you will have a recovery point


Afterburner

 

Danialsand...Thanks for the agreement. I don't know how you can drive a car comfortably when you are apprehensive about the chain slipping and having a major disaster out in the boonies. I can remember driving to California in an XJ and driving around Shiprock New Mexico, alone, and talking to my Jag about breaking. When you are trying to convince your car not to break down...that's apprehension. it never did! That was a time when there was no driver assist or cell phones

 

Yup,.....we older guys have some stories to tell! No Internet, no cell phones, Haynes manual in my Porshe 911, spare timing belt, spare plugs, oil.........tools, driving from MN to CA, changing timing belt on the side of the road in CO.........

Anyway,.....I am not scared of the tensioners. I can change them in couple of hours,.....but why? I'll go and get a 2003 without that work. IF an older one "falls in my lap", I'll check the tensioners by drilling (unless the gaskets are leaking anyway!).

 

When I changed mine, I did the secondaries a well, and very glad I took the time. There was some serious wear on them, but they are not as crucial as the primaries. However, they WILL need replacing one day so why not bite the bullet?

 

Danialsand
I have never looked at an XK8 motor; all I know is from these posts. Wanted to buy one so did a little research. The reason I would change the tensioners is because of the two link skip disaster. We ole guys can do a lot on the side of the road, but if you were to do an engine change, you might have to call some geezers with an AARP card!
I have decided not to buy a XK8; I am going to look for an XJS
So I'm going to sign off this site and mosey on over to the XJS site Good luck to you all and as they say in Jolly Ole...Keep your pecker up!

 

Afterburner:
An XJS certainly has "the" styling... My experience is that a V-12 XJS is sort of like a helicopter- for every hour you drive it, expect an hour of maintenance! For an X-308, not nearly as much.

 

My experience as well. I owned XJS. Nowadays, they look "dated", that body style did not age well (my opinion).

Afterburner: Guys our age should not drive sports cars (like XKs). It's like telling the whole world "I can't live without Viagara, and a sports car to compensate". I'm staying with X308, and MAYBE the next one in line (looking at 2004). Not ready for Viagara yet,.......but pretty sure it's just a matter of time!

 

I like esthetically pleasing automobiles; Started with a1947 Studebaker coupe, a 1951 Kaiser,a 1959 chev, an alfa spider, Facel Vega Facillia, 1969 Lotus Elite, Lotus Europa Kinda ugly,
XKE, another XKE (burned up the first) XJ6, XJ12C and now a
1998 Lincoln Towncar
I find that the current stable of American cars are based on jellybeans and the exotic sports cars, which I can't afford, have an exaggerated racing look that lack the class of the English styling I.E. Jaguar
I would compare my taste to an F104 rather than an A-10. I like going into my Garage and saying to myself: That's a beautiful automobile and lift the hood and admire the superb power plant Isn't that the reason we go to auto shows to admire and fantasize over the exhibits? That's why I want an XJS
As far as the Viagra goes, I don't need it; at 85, the only thing I need when I awake in the morning is a pulse, and the hope at night I will have one in the morning.

 

" At my age,..... ANY day above ground, is a good day!" That's what I say to people when they ask me how am I (I'm 58 BTW, and my time is running out FAST!).

 

Welcome home Danny.

 

"I would compare my taste to an F104 rather than an A-10. I like going into my Garage and saying to myself: That's a beautiful automobile and lift the hood"

Four burner: I guess you have some time on to know the difference between 104s and A 10s. I remember when I was younger East Germans had an air defense system to knockdown starfighters: buy an acre of land and wait!

 

The F104 was a Mach two aircraft and some say could give the F16 a run for its money. The reason it was dropped early from the inventory was because of it short wing Their were limited stations on which to hang anything...but beautiful! They are still being flown by some air forces

 

The problem eith using a boroscope or other optic tool
Is that the cracks are not visible. They occur on the dude butted up to the valve train housing. You cannot observe them even by taking the valve cover off. They have to be removed. They did change to the 2nd generation tensioner around June of "01 but the 2nd generation are not infallible either . There is a way to figure out if your engine was initially assembled with 1st or 2ng gen tensioners. If you can obtain the engine serial number. If I remember correctly , read it backwards and it will generate a date xnd time of assembly. There is s posting on this forum somewhere of how to go that... Sorry I can't direct you to that but it is there. I changed my tensioners at Easter last year tool me about 8 hrs. I do recommend borrowing the tools , though.

 

I suggested that a scope may be useful to those who may not know which tensioners that they had. I ordered all of the parts to change mine, started disassembly and discovered that everything had already been changed. If I had known that 4th generation tensioners had already been installed I wouldn't have ordered all of the parts or worried about the failure everytime I drove the car.

Just thought I would pass my thoughts along.

Dean