New to this forum and hoping to get some help before I do something drastic.

Bought 2001 xj8 6 months ago 80k. Abs light was always on from previous back side accident. Since I bought it there was always a light smell of fuel/smoke/exuast. Not sure though. took it to mechanic and he says nothing major.

A month ago smoke comes from the engine i check it and seems like oil from the main gasket. Got it changed and runs fine. 2 weeks ago more smoke this time from another place. It doesnt look much but still I take it to the garage he says he will need to change many parts and says may cost around $1500.

Now all this time the engine seems hesitant and at traffic lights the engine dies. Yesterday the engine dies and hard to start again but this time with a knocking sound and restricted performance plus red check engine and low coolant. (oil and coolant are not low)

I know its a long story but wanted to make sure all was listed.

Any thoughts ?

 

Best place to start is at a local auto parts store that will read your CEL codes for free. Do that, come back and let us know what they are and we will be in better position to help.

Did your previous discussion with a technician produce a list of 'many parts' that we could start from?

. . . and welcome to the forum!

 

The smoke could be coming from oil seeping past the cam cover gaskets and smoking on the exhaust manifold. Sometimes hard to spot.

 

Cam cover gaskets (outer and inner) are leaking oil onto the exaust and into the sparkplug wells. Take the spark plugs coils out and check for oil/sludge in the wells. THat's most likely what's causing the missfires.

 

Thanks for the feedbacks. I will definetely take it to local atuo parts dealer to check for the CEL codes ASAP then we will see what comes up.

Now in the meanwhile I tired starting it again but no luck. Very bad knocking noise. Runs for 5 seconds then dies. I check the air filter looks fine.I then check the air intake flow that gows to the throttle and its all full of engine oil? I look through pass the throttle inside there is more oil. Is this normal? Could it be a sign of the bigger problem?

If the engine oil is past the air throttle, could it go all the way to the spark plugs and/or combustion chambers?

 

Hello again. I took the car to the closest dealer and checked for codes. Instead of the codes he game me what each one means. here is a list:

-Random misfire detected
-misfire detected cylinder B2(6) cylinder B3(7) cylinder B4(8)
-Sense circuit low voltage
-Mass ground malfunction
-Circuit failure

This is the list. I know its long. So defiently the misfires are a concern.

Also the noise I thought was knocking turns out to be worse than I thought. A preleminary check from a mechanic says something might be broken inside. He wont be sure unless he opens the engine, in which he would (refurbish) im not sure what they call renewing an engine. He says it sound like the crank shaft.

If it is whats my solution ?

 

xambo:
As I am sure you know, there are lots of opinions on most everything. As a owner of 5 jaguars, most driven well past 200,000 miles (many by me!), I will offer you my OPINION. These cars, like most other sports class cars more than 10 years old, are generally not economical to drive if you are at the mercy of a garage to provide maintenance and repair. Many who like the status of the car are willing to pay the inflated repair and parts prices. On the other hand, many of us, especially on here, are enthusiasts who do not mind, and maybe even enjoy, working on such a car. By having a place and the tools and the desire to learn the car's intracacies, we are able to maintain them without paying the dealer parts and labor rates. But, a lot of time is invested.
For me, I have several cars, so if my wife'e or my Jag fails, I am not usually in a pinch to spend the time to fix it immediately.
As an example, you likely have a secondary timing chain failure. An enthusiast would have known that that was a likely failure before it happened, and might have done the upgrade and bought the tools and parts at a price of $200- $450. depending on the tools and how many gaskets were replaced. You will likwly spend $1500. to $2000. or more to repair the damage.
If you are going to keep the car, and you do not have the inclination to learn to work on it yourself, I suggest you find a good independent mechanic, with experience in XJ308 cars and develop a relationship with him. As a pure WILD A** guess, I would say the guy you quoted about probable crank damage is not really experinced with this car, because crankshafts are seldom reported to be root cause damage. Your misfires are on one bank and probably point to a jumped timing chain on the left side bank. Big $ since you have probably bent the valves on that head.