I bought a beauitful 99 xj8l. This car runs like a dream. But i did my research on these cars when I bought it. I poped a vavle cover off today and seent the red plastic tensioner no cracks that i can see. Car had no knocking sounds. So im gonna replace those anyway. So if any one can point me in the right directions as far as parts and any tools i may need. THe car has 116,000 miles on it. I have a question should i change the tranny fuild or not if so can someone point me to the parts i would need for that thank you veary much.

 

Sticky is your friend (click here)
Tensioners are $70~$80 a piece. Supposedly Lincoln LS (V8) uses the same tensioners and they run ~$30 each. Do some digging for exact part #. You may wanna rent the cam shaft locking tool ($75~125) Also, I'd suggest aluminum termostat housing (~$75) and metal propeller water pump (~$120). Motorcarsltd.com is where I was getting my parts while living in Houston...

 

Congrats and welcome
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Happy safe driving

 

Yes it's a very good idea to replace the tensioners now. The longer you wait the more you will need to spend. I did check the prices at a Ford dealer and the part numbers and prices I was quoted are:

RH Secondary tensioner - W0133-1655533 (Jaguar part #), 2W9Z-6K254-BA (Ford part #) was $78.82

LH Secondary tensioner - W0133-1655532 (Jaguar part #), 2W9Z-6K254-CA (Ford part #) was $87.98

You will also need 4 new shorter screws for the new tensioners.

Screw 4 each - W0133-1841258 (Jaguar part #), 2W500301-S300 (Ford part #) was $2.00 each

All prices above are the Ford dealers prices I was quoted. I ended up ordering from autopartswarehouse.com

Don't forget new gaskets for your cam cover. I can provide those later if you need.

 

Thanks for the info I ordered the parts to change them. What about the special tools are they a must have? Plus what about the tranny fluid do I change it? If so what kind of fluid does it take? I'm realing loving my car it is spotless other than the headliner.

 

My marker lights on the front for the car on the finders close to the bottem are not lighting up. The back to side lights work just fine. The bulbs are good.