Jim, firstly please let me say, I am blown away by your perseverance and dedication to this project.

I have to seriously commend you for the work and no doubt many man hours taken to get even this far.

Points of note - after a quick look through I notice that the XJR TCM button does not work and thats about it.
I'm sure there are many more posts we could add, and more info to round it off but personally I think it could be a really good addition to the site and possibly rolled out in ALL sections.

We would need to copy the pdf files into our mediafire account to have control though Jim. This as as we've had members in the past who have done good things, become disillusioned and left the site, but not before deleting all their posts - I'm sure you understand?

Thanks so much for your time on this Jim and I look forward to hearing from you soon

All the best

Jim

 

Hi Jim,

I'm a new Jag owner and will be picking up my 01 VDP this week. Your post intrigued me and I wanted to ask your opinion.

In the first post here, you said the following are problems:

Secondary Timing Chain Tensioners
Forward transmission drum
Forward Clutch Drum
Transmission - TCM & Valve Body

Are there any others that are known common issues to watch out for?

Also, are these things that my mechanic can actually CHECK? Or are these things that the only way you know they're bad is when the malfunction occurs? I thought maybe if I could get a jump on them since my car has 74k on it, it might save more costly repairs.

Thanks so much for sharing your expertise!

Sincerely,
SirJag

 

SirJag, I hope this will answer your question.

All items on that list are just known weak points in that size engine, the only one you can actually visualize is the secondary tensioners. Their color will reveal which generation they are (orange = old), and if you look close enough (with a scope or camera) you will see cracks from the base extending towards chain. Many members inspect tham post-removal, only then to reveal the severity of their current state. Also, the chains 'glide' over the top of the plastic, wearing it down to the metal pretty rapidly, that also is not good and could wear the chain in the long-term, time to change them.

 

SirJag
I will send you a private message with my personal experience with our 2001 XJ8 that has 98000 miles on it. I have an Excel Spreadsheet file that been kept up-to-date on the service/repairs and costs since we have owned the car (bought in 2003).

 

I wish I could help more. Although I work in computers for a living, I am on the other side of the fence. I do hardware infrastructure, not software development. I will ask around to my contacts though.

 

jimlombardi
Could you please send me the service costs spreadsheet as well? I'm looking into getting an 2001-2002 XJ8 but trying to understand if it will break my heart to keep it on the road I checked with a local Jaguar garage how much forward drum replacement and timing components replacement would be (as I understand these are the common big ticket items), but having a real world example of all expenses would be great.

 

Hi timpb
I started a new thread that has the up-to-date service history spreadsheet attachments in it.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...14/#post506523

There are 2 file attachments - the 1st one is in the PDF file format, the other is in the Excel file format.

Jim Lombardi

 

Thanks for this pdf file

 

Hi:


Obviously a lot of combined knowledge here. I have a 2003 VDP with 75,000 miles and am a new owner. 2 questions:


1) RE timing chain tensioners in my 2003, are they prone to failure like the earlier models or does the 2003 have the better Gen 3 versions and if yes, are they problem free? My car makes no troublesome noises at all at start up.


2) RE the drum in the transmission, does mine have the same issues or is it of a better design that has eliminated the issues mentioned? If there are still things that I should get done what do you recommend and what might I expect it to cost? Should I make the upgrades before a problem becomes apparent or just drive it until the issue crops up? Is it a good idea to change the transmission filter and fluid as a preventative maintenance item? An old Amco Transmission guy once told me to change the filter & fluid every 50,000 miles if I wanted my transmissions to last. That has typically been my habit with cars. What do you think?


Thanks in advance!


Tom

 

If you still need help with the web page, let me know. I'm a little rusty but i have worked with xhtml, html 4 and 5, css, css3, and some JavaScript. Ive actually got my computer programming degree, but its been a year since ive done any.
Ive even got lots of code saved, if you want to use it, and alter for your own use.

Also, Do your page in html 5, you will thank yourself later!

I work a lot but can offer help here and there.