Whoops! I thought I had put this info on the UK site, as I got it, as you rightly stated, from the US one.
Really good to have the info about it being the "date reversed". Does that apply in general to all manufacturers VIN/engine nos?

 

Does anybody know what year T'bird/LS and what engine size? I imagine if they came in a Ford derived box they should be considerably cheaper.

 

The tensioners from a '00 -'02 Lincoln LS and Ford Thunderbird 3.9L is used in the Jaguar '97- '02 4.0L. I suspect that they also fit the the later 4.2L also but they do not seem to have much need for replacement. You need the shorter bolts also.

Careful about the gasket set as they fit only the AJ27 engine. That leaves out the '97 - '98 XJ/K8 and the '99 XJ/KR.

 

Yes, the important thing is the date the engine was made, not the date the car was sold & registered. My UK car was registered in October 2001 but the engine was made in June 2001, so I had the 2nd Gen plastic tensioners-I checked this by removing the cam covers.

 

Forgive my ignorance. On a UK car, where is the "driver B column" i assume this neither dash by the screen or the VIN plate on the bulkhead?

 

Driver side, the second column back holding the roof, so the surface where the driver door latch is!

 

Thank you to everybody for the advice and help with my car. It turned out to be a combination of low battery voltage and stability control fault. Once I got into the ecm and was able to cancel the gearbox/ stability control system fault, Geronimo. Engine cranked properly and as soon as I put injector fuse back in place it fired. Smoked like a man on a 40 a day habit but once oil was out of cylinders she ran fine. Just hope tensioners hold together till after holidays when I can allocate money to replace them. Once again many thanks to everybody and have a great Christmasn Holiday.

 

I recently (December 2012) replaced the secondary tensioners on my 2001 XK8 with 115,000 miles. The existing tensioners were second generation and the only problem was one had a crack in the body of the part. I was told that a crack at that location was not a big problem.

The top portions that the chain glides on were in good shape. The tech said if there are cracks on the top part the secondary tensioner they will break apart. When that happens the chain will destroy the engine.

Glad I had it done because during the replacement I had him replace valve cover gaskets (2), spark plug seals (8), valve cover bolt seal and load breather hose. It is nice to drive the car and if I need to turn on the heater I don't smell oil burning. Total charge including replacing the secondary tensioners and an oil change was $804.34. Having the peace of mind knowing my engine will not be destroyed anytime soon - priceless.

Now I need to give the tech a plug. His name is Jeff Flynn and he operates a business called Special Interest Auto Service. It has an address of 3855 Edgewood Ave. S., #103, St Louis Park, Minnesota with a telephone number of 952-934-4049. If live anywhere near Minneapolis, Minnesota, St Paul, Minnesota or the upper Midwest give this guy a shot.

If anyone has had the above type of work done please reach out with what you were charged. I think the above price was outstanding. Short of doing it myself (outside my depth) it was the best price around.

He runs a clean shop with numerous Jags and Ferrari's. Doesn't do much work on Ferrari's 95 and newer. I guess the code reader for newer models goes for 30k.

From this point Jeff will do all the work on my Jag and if he is willing he will do the work on any other cars I have.

 

Luck smiled on me today.

Called Jaguar and gave them my VIN (my car is in winter storage) to get the engine number of my car. Needed to find out whether I have to spend loads of time and/or money on changing the tensioners when I bring the car home now in april.

Engine number LB 010815 1749 – two days after the magic date if I'm correct. Close call.

 

The third generation tensioners, how can i get them for my 2000 Jag VP XJ8?? i looked for them online, but only see the second generation.

 

I doubt you could buy "second generation" tensioners any more. West Coast of where? US? Metal case tensioners are the ones you want.
As an example, look here:
99 1999 Jaguar XJ8 Timing Chain Tensioner - Engine Mechanical - Eurospare, Genuine, Left Upper, Lower, Right Upper - PartsGeek

 

Your neighborhood Lincoln dealer also has them.


Many buy the kit (includes shorter bolts) from Christopher Auto Parts in NJ. TRY eBay, you can try and lower the cost by bidding a lower price.

Most importantly, google replacing secondary tensioners and watch every utube and read and memorize every thread.

 

Please don't only do the secondaries. The primary chains and tensioners are just as crap.

 

PM Me if you want the left bank secondary tensioner- I have a brand new one I am letting go for $50+shipping.

 

I agree !!! BUT, a number of years ago there was a claim, by JagTechOhio, as I recall, that he had not seen a engine valve crash caused by failure of a primary chain. At least one that was not preceded by a terrible racket. We all know of crashes caused by secondary chains without a warning. Anyway, a challenge was issued to cite a case of engine crashes caused by primary tensioner failures and I am pretty sure none have been reported.

Since the effort to change the primary tensioners is significantly greater than the effort to do the secondaries, and the cost of a valve crash is so high, it is my opinion that nobody should wait to do the secondaries until they can afford to do the primaries too!

I re-issue the challenge of describing a case of the primary tensioners causing a valve crash without a loud, continuous warning!

 

Who are you guys calling at Jaguar to get engine numbers based on your VIN number? I called the local dealer and they said they can't access that information. I called Jaguar North America and they said they are not allowed to give out engine numbers.

Can someone give me a phone number?

 

The engine number is stamped on the engine. The location changed in 1999 or 2000, apparently NOT with the AJ26 / AJ27 change, although on that I am unsure.

 

I was trying to determine the engine number on the car I am buying in Florida. I have the VIN, but obviously I don't have access to the car to verify engine manufacturing date.

The Mechanic said he read on the engine that it was manufactured in 03, although the car was assembled in Feb of 02...so I'm not sure what to think of that. He regularly works on Jaguars so I'm hoping he was looking at the correct number.

The car is an 03 model.

 

A 2003 XJ8 will have the 'silent' primary chains and the metal body tensioners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
UNLESS.............. Someone replaced the engine with an earlier one???????????

It will also have the newer style oil pump.

bob

 

We have a 2005 xj8 and the timing chains will often make a high pitched rhythmic squeal at start up for a couple of minutes. This noise worries me greatly but reading your post eases my mind a little. We don't drive it most days, so when we do we hear this noise at start up. There is a WIX oil filter which has the anti bleed feature. About 40,000 miles and still looks near perfect. We love this car.