The tensioner on left is from Christopher foreign parts on the right eBay tensioner it's the they're the exact same tensioner my tensioner from Christopher came in ford package this is not original ford or jaguar tensioner .

My advice to anyone who want to change timing chain parts . Get it from dealer or get eBay cheap kit I bought complete kit for about 60$ this is the tensioner as you can see they're same .

The original ford is darker color metal and there's few stamps on it .

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Thanks for posting this.
I recently acquired a 1998 XK8 vert.
Paid the British Place in Scottsdale to do the timing chain tensioners.
LOL, they opened her up and they'd already been done!
That's ok, needed other work too. Gotta keep those guys in business as the economy tanks!
Cheers!

I would not be so concerned with the tensioner but the quality of the link chain.

. I have used a cheap Chinese t -chain kit before with disastrous results. Fortunately I bought it through Auto zone . The chain on a Toyota disintegrated in several places from soft metal fatigue in about 45 days in. It destroyed the head , broke valves and dented pistons leaving the engine totalled.
I have always installed factory engine parts without issue. I say find your best deal on factory parts and pay the price.
There are good aftermarket or OEM suppliers out there but like anything these days how do you know what you're really getting when purchasing indirectly through a E seller.
. If you buy a " premium quality" advertised aftermarket part from a seller like Chr..o.ph.r
or someone else you may or may not get a quality part as advertised. Or you may get a repackaged Chinese knockoff. Depends on the integrity of the seller.
But....If you start out intentionally buying a 60$ chain set from china then you are assuring yourself right off the start that you are using the cheapest quality parts possible. For me , my labor is far too valuable to take a chance on inferior or unknown quality.

For 60 $ I got full set 4 tensioner and 4 chain and 4 guides I don't recommend using the chains but im using the cheap secondary tensioners now it's 10k miles and nothing wrong with it . And if I had knowledge back then I would definitely buy from jaguar dealer or ford authorized parts shop .

The original wide roller chains are about 40$ per piece it's for 2000 Lincoln LS 4 chains about 150 $ original ford parts . Full set I think cost less than 350$ exclude gaskets.

Especially with these sort of parts I would be very cautious. Just because they look similar doesn’t mean they are similar at all.

If they do fail you are looking at a potentially huge damage to your engine. Also, I like working on my cars, but doing a job like this twice in a short period of time, I would rather not. Any parts that crucial and tucked away, I would be happy to pay the full price from a Jaguar Dealer or at least a party such as SNG Barrat.

My limited experience with real cheap car parts isn’t that great. Tried a few times over the years. E.g. a cooling liquid pump for my Alfa Spider. Packed up within 5000 km. Looked identical to the one that had lasted 165.000km. Same story with a fuel pump.

I did install a very cheap muffler on my Mercedes W123 I got of the internet. An original Mercedes muffler was around Euro 600. I got mine of Ebay.de for less than Euro 100 and that was including home delivery. I checked the old and the new carefully. The original one weighted a lot more, the welds on the new one looked awful. Surprisingly, it did fit perfect! Cant notice any difference in power or sound. So I am good with it. Not much that can go wrong with a muffler, so I am happy to go the cheap way.

But each to its own.

Hope your tensioners work out for you. Let us know in 60K miles!

Jeroen

I'd had a not so brilliant experience with that seller in the past - I was doing tensioners and seals on my old XJ8L and picked up a set of seals from them rather than from Terry's Jag as they didn't have everything in stock at the time and I was in a hurry. There was so much rubber flashing on the cam cover seals that I had to trim each hole to fit and cut off every bit of flashing. It was a generic set of seals to include most everything needed, but not worth the hassle as I still had to buy other seals that were not in the kit.

I've learned a thing or two from driving British cars for the last 6 or 7 years - spend the few extra bucks on genuine parts and your car will keep you happy.

Tsubaki Chain seems to be a contractor for the 4.2L/MkIII tensioner.

Tsubaki is an excellent manufacturer of industrial chain, gears etc. First class products.
I have used their stuff for decades in marine applications . When I found out they were a supplier of chain kits for Jaguars I was happily surprised .
Assuming you are actually getting a Tsubaki chain and tensioner kit
( and not a knockoff in a box with a xerox ed copy of a Tsubaki label. , not mentioning anyone in particular ) lol
. Then you can be sure it's gonna work as intended.

Tsubaki and iwis make high quality chains . Some Corvette racing teams uses iwis timing chains . U won't get that from Christopher parts . I got cheap eBay tensioner repacked with ford original tensioner !

Assuming you are actually getting a Tsubaki chain and tensioner kit
( and not a knockoff in a box with a xerox ed copy of a Tsubaki label. , not mentioning anyone in particular ) lol
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