My timing chain has started to rattle on start-up but goes away after a second or two. The secondary tensioners have been replaced but it’s still on the original (second generation) plastic primary tensioners.

I’d love some feedback as to whether it’s time to do a full chain and tensioner replacement. If you have a moment, can you listen to the video and let me have your opinion? It’s a 2001 Daimler SuperV8 and has now done 106k miles.

 

It's hard to identify that noise.
I'd just like to mention that noises on the X308 are not always straight forward.
I swapped all my tensioners, chains and guides when I had "a noise" and in hindsight I'd say it was a good idea anyway, but my chain was not the reason for my noise!
Because the noise was still there (always at first start-up for around 10 sec.). I investigated further and found the culprit: The entire inner honey-comb-construction inside of one of the catalysts was loose and shaking at start-up only. I swapper both cats.

To find the source of any noise use a "mechanics stethoscope"...: Hold the plastic-grip of a huge screwdriver to your ear and hold the metal end to all points on the engine, where you thing the noise could be coming from...!

And here my DIY guide on swapping my chains (mine is not supercharged and I have no VVT):
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...e-swap-266724/

 

That certainly sounds like chains to me anyways. Given the age of the internal plastic parts, it’s definitely time to do all that. It is also highly suggested that you remove the oil pan and clear out the broken plastic parts that will be in there. Closely inspect inside the oil pickup tube with a strong light and have a pick handy to pull any pieces out.

 

I'm certain that it's the chain(s) and I think you are confirming my suspicions. I've always had a rattle when I start the car up and it hasn't been used for a week or more but it's now every morning. I love this car and use it every day so I think I do need to "bite the bullet".

 

Since it’s only getting worse, you may want to consider not starting it again until they get replaced. Nobody wants to pay to pull the heads and replace bent valves.

 

I bought a 1999 XJ8 with a broken secondary timing chain for $500 in about 2008 with the expectation of a HEADS OFF repair.
The rest of the car was great. I checked the valve lash on the broken side and discovered that the exhaust cam stopped in a HAPPY PLACE and no valves were bent!

I stripped the timing chains/guides and replaced everything.

Timed it all and it fired right up!
Still drive it to this day!!!!!!!!!!!!!(luck was with me and I should have bought a lottery ticket at that time?)

 

I've never won on the lottery and am not going to rely on that same luck, Bob! I spoke to Matt and North Wales Jag last night and have booked in to do the full chain/guide replacement (along with water pump and anything else worth doing while he's in there). Like @Addicted2boost , he suggested that I might not want to tempt fate by driving the car in the meantime so it looks as though the XK8 is going to be the daily for a few weeks... At least the worst of the bad weather seems to be over now and a heads off repair would likely bring a £1,000 bill.

I'd love to do this myself but Matt has done 100's of these swaps so I think better to spend the money...

 

That's really not that bad to get that lady back to an "A" state. It's really
good when we pay attention to what our ladies are saying.

 

Having taken everyone's advice, I stopped driving the car until Matt could book me in - he generously gave up his Saturday to fit me in so I dropped the car off last Thursday morning. Thank goodness I did because he called me Thursday night to tell me that the crank sensor had siezed into the block and so he had to order one. The challenge here is that SNG Barrat who had a sensor in stock don't deliver on Saturdays so I was going to miss my slot - Matt had a knee operation coming up and so if he didn't do the car over the weekend, I'd be waiting for six weeks to get it back.

I was heading south on the Friday morning so decided to go to SNG Barrat's HQ in Ironbridge, pick the item up myself and ship it overnight to Matt. I them met Peter on the counter there who turned out to be going to Deganwy that very evening and Matt could pick the part up from him (Llandudno is the very next town to Deganwy).

The gen 2 primary tensioners weren't too bad but lots of cracks developing on the plastic blades so good to get them replaced. The problem turned out to be that one of the new metal secondard tensioners wasn't doing its job so the secondary chain was rattling - it's less than 12 months old so not great... Everything has been replaced now, including the newish secondary tensioners so I can be confident in another trouble-free 100k miles....

We were ready to replace the water pump but it was clear that it had been renewed fairly recently so we saved some money there. We also found the source of a coolant leak - a breather pipe had fractured and previously been araldited back together unsuccessfully.

As someone said in the posts, the great value work from Matt is a low price to pay for peace of mind and the lack of rattles and squeaks at start up this morning was very reassuring! Terrific service from North Wales Jag Centre and SNG Barrat in getting us here.

Some photos of one of the blades and the breather tube below.

 

Nice to see pics of what came out, thanks for those.

 

Hey great repair! Love all the pictures as Hooli posted. We don't get enough feedback on closing threads and fixing problems but yours came out fantastic!
It's amazing what a mechanic who knows his stuff can do. Glad you found him.
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WOW! Those guides/blades were just absolutely done!