Hard to say but I will watch to see what you find out.
MMO is very thin and will run right past the rings. I would use standard motor oil.
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Okay friends, I stand humbly corrected. Adding engine oil to the cylinders did indeed cause some compression, but the best cylinder only made about 35 psi. and a new leak down test with the valve covers removed has air escaping from the crankcase. So I can't imagine that it is anything other than a ring/cylinder problem. The very idea that a fuel wash or overheat can do so much damage is disgusting. Engines of the past were so much more tolerant. I am now wondering why I am also getting air from the exhaust. I suppose I'll find out when the heads come off. I will be saving them for spares or resale. I am finding engines with car-part.com but most are not nearby. I am near Traverse City Michigan if any of you know of an engine near me, I'd be grateful. I'm so tempted to do an LS conversion, but I simply don't have the time.

 

just crank the thing already the rings will seat

 

With spark plugs or not?

 

put it back together crank in clear flood mode (100% throttle) give the starter a rest from time to time. when it stops sounding flat you know compression is back. you have nothing to lose

 

That sounds great, and I won't need to hold the throttle open because there is no throttle body to hold open. So I'm guessing this operation is with 'spark plugs in' ?

 

I have seen that some engines, especially replacement engines now have a overheat indicator button affixed that indicates if the engine was overheated. By any chance, did Jaguar put these anywhere on this engine? I haven't seen one, but I really haven't been looking, yet.

 

cranking with throttle 100% cuts fuel to injectors so you won't flood it again, given no throttle, just unplug injectors or fuel pump relay in boot

 

I don't remember if the REMAN Jaguar engines were fitted with the overheat indicators but not factory original fitted at the assembly line.

 

I agree with xalty. Get the engine started any way you can. I use a shot of starting fluid but some don't. Once the engine starts it will seat the rings. I don't think is anything wrong with the engine.
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That would be great, I hope you are right. What about the oil I poured into the spark plug holes? I'm concerned about the cats.

 

That tiny amount of oil won't matter at all.
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Well gentlemen, I'll be dipped in ****. I did as you suggested, and the more I cranked it, the more the compression went up. Last night I measured 160 on one cylinder. I didn't check the rest because it was late and I had to go, but I have no reason to suspect that the other cylinders are not similar.

I'm not certain if the oil pressure is enough during cranking to tighten the primary chain tensioners but left side is tight and right side is as loose as it can get. I held the guide as tight as I could with a large screwdriver while I was cranking to try to prevent jumping and it didn't. I am going to go ahead and order a timing chain/tensioner set and a throttle body now. The rubber valve cover and timing chain cover seals are not squished flat and appear to be reusable, is that a no no? Any special coolant requirements?

 

just get guides and tensioners do it one side at a time for the primaries and zipties to swap secondaries. get the timing cover gasket from the dealer unless you wanna be back in there. felpro lincoln ls 3.9 valve cover gaskets are cheap and fit good

 

Correct coolant is DEXCOOL, which is available just about everywhere.

 

Thanks guys, now I'm just waiting for parts.

 

If you have 160 PSI the engine is fine. I still bet once it starts you will be fine.
Keep at it. Your making progress.
Listen to xalty as he does this for a living.
Also as NBCat said just use the correct coolant and yes it's plain old DexCool. Ignore the claim that you must use a special Jaguar coolant from the dealer for massive prices!
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I may have missed if someone mentioned it in this thread, and sorry if I'm mentioning something obvious, but, consider checking your oil pick up. I'm glad I did. I got these tensioner bits restricting mine. A friend completely seized up a motor this way.

jeff x-j8

 

Thanks for the tip. I will carefully examine the tensioners and guides for missing plastic. If there is, is the oil pickup accessible without major surgery?

 

They do that, it depends if the valve springs are pushing the exhaust cam backwards or forwards. Turn the engine slowly by hand & you'd see the RH side go tight & the LH side go slack. Apparently it's that pulsing though the chain that causes vibrations which cracks the plastic tensioners for the secondaries.