My mechanic says my 1999 xj8 has too much crankcase pressure and blows oil back into the oil filter box. messy garage floor and blows blue smoke.
took it to Jag dealer and he says the nikaseal coating is worn off and I need a new engine Has 97,000 miles. Would appreciate some advise.,

CD player needs to be replaced. Anyone have one for sale??

 

Unfortunately, the dealer could be right. It has been some time since a reported Nikasil failure but the engine could have been damaged years ago.

However, I would make sure that the part load breather tube is not clogged up first. The oil in the filter box is a symptom.

 

Everything I've read about Nikasil failure has said that the affected engines were dead years ago. Yours may have a serious problem - or not - but I wouldn't assume (or let your mechanic assume) that the issue is in the Nikasil linings. For a mechanic that knows a little about these engines - but not much - it's an easy, default answer that could be totally incorrect.

There are several things to look at. While my problem wasn't as bad as yours, I had oil in my airbox when I purchased my coupe last summer, and it turned out to be a very minor fix. Just checked my air filter this past weekend - seven thousand miles later - and the airbox has no oil in it whatsoever.

Read this thread to see what fixed it for my car: OIL IN THE AIRBOX

Good luck.



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Do a compression and a leak down test to confirm the Nikasil theory.

 

Mag,

You are getting some good "lines of enquiry" to follow up on, as we say on the police shows. Do get back to us on this as it's most interesting.

 

moved to correct section:

XJ ( X308 ) XJ8 / XJR - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

 

Good news on my Jaguar
Took it to Wayne Overall here in town. He replaced valve cover gaskets, repaired hole in air cleaner and replaced the air filter. No more oil leak.

 

Thank you for reporting back. The dealers appear to have a mindset when it comes to nikasil, based on the failures they observed years ago when high sulfur fuel was in use.