Finally got around to doing the left side, right side done a couple months ago. Got everything out, taking my time so I don't break anything and, well, I broke something.

The little tube that comes out of the top of the cam cover towards the front, trying to get it off and I saw a video on youtube and the guy twisted it counter clockwise 90 degrees and squeezed the sides and it came right off...mine came off, but unfortunately it was about 2" from the cam cover. Snapped right off, photo below. Interestingly the damn thing still won't come off the cam cover so I'm obviously not using the correct method, so first I need help getting it off and second I need some advice on replacement...what is it called, and is there a horrible process I'll need to go through to replace it, like remove the supercharger or something, or is it a bit more straightforward than that?

Is this the crankcase breather hose? Also possibly called the part load breather hose?

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/jag...004880#fitment

Thanks!

 

Sounds like its something I'm not going to want to replace right away as it seems to run in the valley under the supercharger. Maybe a creative diy fix is in order since its really just holding vacuum and oil fumes? Just need the right size tubing and a way to seal it up, right?

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...er-tube-48935/

 

I use heat-shrink tubing in a pinch.

I have one that has been 'heat-shrinked' for several years now. (no leaks)

Tool for 'quick-fit' connectors

 

+1 for heat shrink!

 

Heat shrink it is then! Was kind of thinking that myself after putting everything back together, glad to see I came to the right conclusion!

Thanks for that Bob, I managed to get the stupid thing off after a bit of effort and finding a couple photos of people sticking fine needle nose pliers in the socket...I was doing it completely backwards, thus the break.

 

OK, took me a couple tries to get a good shrink fit without misligning the parts and burning myself, but I thinkk its good...now I just need to get the damn connector back on, but it doesn't seem to want to snap on. Is there a trick or am I just not lining it up straight or something? I'm applying more force than I think I should need to and I'm feeling like I'm going to end up breaking some other plastic bit so I'm taking a break.

What am I doing wrong here?

 

Maybe one of the two o rings is sliding upwards and causing it to bind? Look at the backside of the o rings and see if it looks out of place. You can always put a little bit of lubricant on one or both of the areas and see if that helps.

 

Bingo! I cleaned both sides with sdome brake cleaner and let them air dry and then dribbled a bit of WD-40 on the o-rings and with a bit of a twist it snicked right in there. Seems to be a solid contact and a short test drive has no obvious vacuum leaks and no oil seepage from the cam cover thus far.

Seem to have used about 1.5qt since my oil change about 2500 miles ago. Not bad for the age I'd say. Definitely 3 of the 4 plug wells on the left side had oil in them, back one was pretty significant so hopefully I've just cut down on my consumption a bit. Plugs are pretty bad, gaps were all over the place...one was so tight I had trouble getting my feeler gauge on it. I have a set of NGK Iridium IFR5N10 plugs on the way this week, so they'll get swapped out probably next weekend.

Thanks for the assist gents!

 

1.5 quarts in 2500 miles seems a bit high to me, but I guess you have some leakage. Also depends on your usage. Probably within spec, but a bit higher than I'd like to see.

 

Its all relative...normally I'm used to my vehicles not really using oil much at all, my old 07 Durango with 217k on the motor uses almost nothing between 10k mile oil changes, but my wife's 2017 Hyundai Tuscon uses about a quart every 1500-2000 miles and is considered "normal" by Hyundai and generally other Hyundai owners.

I topped the oil level off the the high mark on the dipstick last night, so we'll see how my consumption is with the gaskets changed. I had to do borh as both sides were definitely leaking and I had oil in the pulgwells on the right side as well, haven't rechecked for plugwells there but I did those gaskets at the same time as they're all part of the kit. I've had no visible seepage whatsoever on the right side and its been about 8000 miles since I did those in August. I'll be checking those plugwells when my new plugs show up and I have the chance to install. Hopefully I did it properly and they're dry.

I have no obvious blue smoke at any temperature coming out of the tailpipes, no oil slick in the coolant overflow and no milk on the dipstick. Hopefully I've at least cut that consumption down significantly with all new gaskets, if not eliminated it.

 

Yeah, its funny how different the specs can be. Porsche famously specs 1.6L per 1000 km. Thats a quart of oil in about 325 miles, which is absolute insanity, but thats their published spec as being A-ok. My 200k mile E46 straight six uses no oil at all on the other hand.

Hopefully the leaking was the majority of it. I just checked my oil and I think i've used maybe an 1/8th of a quart since my head gasket work, which was roughly 800 miles ago. That gives me some confidence that my nikasil is just fine (the cyl walls looked good also).

give us an update when you get some more miles.

 

Mayhem, did you by chance stick a drill bit down the part load breather in the valve cover to make sure it’s open and breathing? If not, that small breather opening could be closed shut with caked oil and causing more oil consumption due to lack of air flow. There is a particular size drill bit to use that I cannot remember at the moment. Search the forum. I know Bob has posted the TSB before.

 

TSB for you.

 

if you can fit silicone hoses is better and I believe its cheaper I use them for the intake and the breather peace of mind the original hoses get dry and broke very easy

 

I always use white lithium spray grease when I put those little tubes in. Helps slip in and you don't break the o-rings. But if they're broken, you can buy a metric o-ring kit and replace any broken ones to make sure there are no vacuum leaks. (I got my kit at Advance Auto; probably can find them anywhere car parts are sold.) I spray a bit of lithium grease when installing water hoses on as well.
As for oil burning, I have had five 308 Jags and they all go through a quart about 2,000 miles. Of the current cars one has about 120K and one about 300k and there's no appreciable difference in the oil consumption. In the Atlanta area I use 20-50 summer, 10-40 winter.
On one of my cars I removed the broken hose from around the connector, heated the plastic hose a bit to make it pliable, and stretched it onto the connector. Then a little heat shrink to hold it in place, Gotta be careful with the heat gun or you'll melt the plastic hose! ( I know by experience) Just get it hot enough that you can shove a pair of pliers in there to stretch it and push it over the connector.

 

I did do the cleaning while it was apart. Dropped my brand ne 3/32 Milwaukee drill bit right into the cam cover too. Tried to get it out, but even turning it upside down and shaking it, it wasn't coming out. Can't see any way its getting into the cams with that plate and steel mesh in there, so i left it alone and reassembled.

No seeping noted yet, put about 100 miles on it today.

 

That is kind of scary about the drill bit, however I have had something similar happen
while tinkering around.. I never did find that socket.

 

Funny thing is, it was right after I had read about other people doing the same fool thing and I was thinking to myself "don't drop the drill bit, don't drop the drill bit, don't drop the...dumbass!"

 

Quick update on the oil consumption since I brought it up in this thread. 2500 miles have passed, i have zero obvious oil seepage from the cam covers, but I'm still using some oil, seems less though, I'd say barely a quart in those 2500 miles...I'll take the improvement, but will keep looking for issues.

 

I had a VW Rabbit Diesel that I had to put a quart in every fill up. I am glad the
Duchess, which recently switched to synthetic, uses no oil at all.