Hello!

Currently looking at purchasing a well-maintained and well-cared for 1999 XJ8. From what I've learned so far, these cars show pretty decent reliability, but are known for faulty timing chain tensioners. It doesn't appear that this one has been replaced, and considering the price of the vehicle, I'd like to have a little confidence in it taking me where I need to go for the next few months with few major issues.

So I was wondering how common these failures are? Should they be expected on every model? How can you tell if they need to be replaced?

Thanks!

 

A "well maintained" vehicle would be one in which the tensioners would already be replaced.
If they are not already replaced, then that would be the very first thing I would do if I was actually
interested in driving the Jaguar for a while. If you have no receipts for that work a visual inspection
is your only recourse.

 

My hope is that I find the work has already been done. I don't want to be into this car too deep on the $$$ side of things, so I think that will likely be what sways my decision.

As for cost of repair, I should only be in it a couple hundred, no?

 

Couple hundred if you do it yourself.

 

You haven't shared the mileage of the vehicle, so its hard to provide good advice.

If you have a borescope (a cheap one is $30 on amazon), you can likely see the upper secondary tensioners through the oil fill cap. It might be a bit fiddly but it should be doable. If they are orange/brown in the body, they need to be replaced asap. If they are metal, you're good for a while.

For a shop to replace these secondary tensioners with decent parts, you are looking at $400 in parts, and maybe 4-5 hours of labor. Depending on the shop, you'd be in it for between $800 and $1500.

If the car has high miles, hasn't had the best service history, and you intend to use regularly for a long time, then you'll likely want to consider doing the primary tensioners as well, which will add at least $1000 to that figure, if not more.

 

like 70 to do it yourself

an na isn’t worth putting money into slap a transgo and secondaries see how far it takes you

 

There are quite a few with "na"s that might disagree. The real ticket is how much the car would
be worth to you, and what you personally are willing to deal with.