98 XJ8, about 89k miles. Nice car, driven sparingly. On start up, a knock knock knock on the right side of the motor. It would go away, and I was praying it was external, but I could not identify exactly where it was coming from. Coventry Jaguar had no such problem, lower tensioner failed, and the timing chain would somehow resettle at times, thus no knock. 4 timing chains, metal tensioners, etc. Cam covers both cracked they said, replaced those. $3850. Which is, ironically, almost exactly what I paid for the car in 2021.

But it sure looks nice now, cleaned it up a bit. Considered doing it myself, and the uppers looked pretty easy, but forget about the lowers! I know my limitations....

 

Disaster averted for sure. The next thing to take care ASAP is getting the transmission main pressure regulating valve upgraded to prevent the A drum from grenading.

 

Glad you got her taken care of and still on the road. Too many of these cars get scrapped due to these issues that are easily taken care of. Stunning color by the way. I've wanted a BRG Jag forever and just haven't come across one at the right time...yet.

 

$3850 is pretty hefty but peace of mind is priceless.

 

The water outlet from the thermostat tower should not have a jubilee clip or worm type hose clamp as it can cause the plastic water outlet to fail. Use the constant tension type hose clamps on all hose connections with plastic cooling system parts.

Otherwise, looks like a very nice job!

 

Transmission replaced at 40k, should I worry about anything?

 

$800 for plastic cam covers?

 

The cam covers are expensive on these cars. When I had mine off to do tensioners last month I noticed cracks around the bolt holes. After I saw the price I figured I'd try to fix them. Used JB Weld for plastic and then black touch up paint, looks good as new and no leaks...yet.

 

I was thinking junkyard. And if I had the time, I might have tried that. In this situation, with him on the phone, it was hard to say no, especially since he said it would cost $200 just to reseal the old ones.

 

I totally understand why you did it. If I had someone working on mine I would have just let them put new ones on as well. I'd bet most junkyard covers would need repair as well anyway. At least you have peace of mind that its all done and behind you.

The trans was rebuilt at 41k? What happened? I know that trans has a-drum issues but that seems pretty early to have any major issues that would require a rebuild. Car should last a while now with those two items sorted.

 

Depends on WHO did the rebuild.

 

That goes without saying. If its still working well at 89k and it was done at 41k its probably good though. Hopefully they did the updates when putting it back together.

 

My bad, I pulled the invoice and it was at 59k miles (better for me); invoice does not say what the problem was. Previous owner.

 

Just bought an XJR. Will post a thread once I take delivery.

How do you know if that pressure regulating valve has been done on the trans? Is there a way of identifying a part?

 

No need to worry about that with an XJR, they have the Mercedes 5 Speed. Much better than the ZF 5 Speed that comes in the XJ8.

 

Thank you for such a quick response. I will post up photos and videos of the car when I take delivery in about a week and a half.

Best,
Booshiba

 

No problem. If its an early car you will want to sort out the timing components, but trans should be no worry.

 

She is a 2000 w/ roughly 82k miles. Has had a ton of service on supercharger, waterpumps, hoses, belts, pulleys etc all done within the past 10k miles. No history to my knowledge of timing chains or tensioners being done. Fingers crossed when it arrives there is no knocking or ticking.

 

2000 will have the old plastic tensioners & guides. I would at the very least remove a valve cover and take a look. Most of the time there are no noises before they go boom, it just happens without warning.

I will say my last x308 was a 98 XJR with around 60k on it and the OE plastic tensioners I removed were in great shape. I'd still replace at least the secondary tensioners, and entire timing kit if you want to do it right.