I am very hesitant to start a new thread, but am somewhat desperate. I am working six days a week for a while and this car needs to be reliable for my wife. I just don’t have a lot of research time. If you guys help me, I promise to not start any new threads for a very long time! Haha


Brief backstory: Bought 2001 XJ8 with 99 engine. One of the coils went out on the way home from buying the car. Replaced it, car runs great. Decided to update the tensioners. Replaced plastic (2nd generation?) that utilized a spring. They were both badly cracked. I now have new aluminum tensioners in place. Car purred beautifully for two days after the work, but then I got P1384 and p1396 codes, two of each. Car still runs smooth, but the codes showed up nonetheless.


I had a learning curve with torqueing the valve covers. Had some leaks but eventually worked them out. I feel the tensioner replacement work went smoothly, except for one problem; I didn’t know the torque specs for the cam caps holding down the exhaust camshafts. I searched and searched but finally guessed and torqued them to about 25 ft pounds and closed the engine up. I later learned that the torque rating is 6.5 to 8 ft pounds. Like I said, it runs great. Two questions regarding cam caps:


1) Could the over torqueing be causing the VVT codes?
2) Should I open the covers and loosen/re-torque them?


The reason I HOPE the codes showed up is because during the time I was readjusting the valve covers a fair amount of oil leaked out leaving the level near the low mark on the dipstick. Is it possible that if I change the oil and top it off good that the codes will not come back?


I could go on and on with questions and “what ifs”, so please chime in with some experiences to help me. I have been working on my BMW and Volvo for years, and can be helpful to people working on those types of cars, but I feel a little less valuable on this forum.
Jeff

 

The torque on the cap bolts should have no affect on the bearing surfaces so that is probably not the problem.

You must have oil pressure even if a quart low. Wasn't any plastic missing from the tensioners was there?

My first thought is that the electrical connectors on top of the VVT solenoids are not making proper connections.

I assume that you have looked up the code description but here it is just in case:

 

I have researched the codes a bit, and the possibility that scared me was "camshaft fault", because of the torquing issue. The electrical connections look good and I cleaned them out again, but the probability of both sides getting the code at the same time would seem to be another issue; some single cause that would affect both banks.

There didn't seem to be any missing plastic from the secondary tensioners. I suppose it's possible there are plastic bits from the primary tensioners and guides that I did not inspect that are floating around in there.

How much of an ordeal is it to drop the pan? How likely is it that I could reuse the gasket? I simply don't have access to a new gasket today and I HAVE to address this problem today since I won't have another day off work for quite some time.

Thanks so much for responding by the way.

 

I have not personally had to remove the pan but numerous have without apparent difficulty. If it doesn't leak now the pan seal can probably be reused but if you are not missing the plastic shoes on the tensioners then oil starvation is not likely the problem.

Most issues that show up after related work are because of the related work. In this case the cam. How about the electrical connection to the cam position sensors?

Sorry, been gone all day.

 

The oil level was near the bottom mark when we bought the car a couple of weeks ago. I did not top it off because he did not know what kind of oil his mechanic used. Someone on here posted a TSB regarding the 99/2000 engines that stated the oil levels should be higher than stated in the owners manual and on the dipstick. During the process of changing the tensioner gunk was released when I cleaned the cam and tensioner area, plus the oil level dropped a little more.

Since both sides coded at the same time, I am hoping it was oil level/quality. This morning I got the engine hot and drained the oil. I filled the engine to a little past the full mark with Castrol high mileage synthetic blend 10w/30 and replaced the purelator (sp ?) with a Mann filter. I went ahead and put a new fuel filter on too (wix), just because...

The engine runs a little quieter and after about 30 miles of various driving in three separate trips, there are no codes. I hooked up the scanner and the only test not completed was cc (catalytic converter?). No pending codes.

I am not foolish enough to call it repaired, but I sure hope it is!

 

PS - the oil pan bolts were slightly damp on one end, and were loose. I took a small torque wrench and put them all at about 9 foot pounds. I really wanted to take it apart, but re-using a seal just goes against my nature. I ordered a new seal and drain bolt. In 3,000 miles I will change the oil again and drop the pan at that time.

 

Sounds like the problem was dirty oil that clogged the VVT. thanks for keeping us informed. It is how we learn what works and what doesn't.

 

I get frustrated with threads that stop mid-problem. I HOPE this one is solved. After another short drive today I hooked up the scanner again and got p1111; now I am new to the Jaguar world but if I'm not mistaken, that's good.

 

P1111 is good. cc was probably Comprehensive Component (Monitor).

Next check fuel trims