Hello!

Before anything, I just want to say that this is my first ever post on a forum, so if I break any rules please forgive me.

A couple of years ago I bought a 1998 Jaguar XJR 4.0L supercharged. First the Mercedes transmission broke down but my mechanics managed to fix it and then the engine broke down (a couple of times) and now the engine is out of the car, disassembled, pretty much useless. P.S. I have a functioning OEM supercharger though

My mechanics are telling me that reassembling the engine is not an option because it will most probably break down once again, and to be honest we've done the reassembly once already, and the car worked for about 2 months. So, I really want to do an engine swap.

So here is my question: I am thinking of putting a reliable engine, either a Mercedes 5.0 or a BMW engine, possibly an M62B44. The reason I am thinking of the two is because of the transmissions. My jag the XJR has the 5g tronic mercedes transmission so fitting it to the 5.0 shouldn't be a problem. Another option is to forget about the merc transmission and put the 4.4L bmw x5 engine with its zf5hp24 transmission since the xj8 x308 where produced with the x5 transmission. Has anyone done or heard of a similar engine swap? Do you think either of the two is possible to make and what potential problems would I come across doing the conversion?

Thank you.

 

Welcome to the forum Vakho,

Your question has had 167 Views but 0 Replies as I write this so I've moved it from General Tech Help to X308 forum. If anyone has the answer, members here with the same model will be able to help.

Please follow this link New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum to the New Member Area - Intro a MUST forum and post some information about yourself and your vehicle for all members to see. In return you'll get a proper welcome and some useful advice about posting to the forum.

Graham

 

In all honesty I have never done such a swap. But I would think the mechanical fit is the relative easy part. Getting all the electronics to do what they should be doing is going to be the tricky bit.

Why not fit another Jaguar Engine? I don’t think a properly maintained Jaguar engine is less reliable then a Mercedes or BMW perse.
Obviously, it requires all the various upgrades (tensioners, thermostat etc) but I have seen plenty of the 4.0 supercharged V8’s clocking well over 200 - 250.000 km.

Good luck

Jeroen
Jeroen

 

I do tend to agree with the above. My 03 XJR hit 210k miles (337k kms) on the dash today coming to work, and I'll even be the first to admit that I haven't been totally faithful to my on-time oil changes and such in the last half of it's life so far, and the engine still runs like a top, and the transmission as well. Not sure what originally caused your engine failure, but properly kept after, it'll be a much easier swap, and still reliable. Unless you want to do it to be different, then good luck with the electronics, but with enough money, anything is possible.

 

Vakho,
I know this type of XJR very well. Being a 1998 model it will have an AJ26 engine, Nikasil. Can you explain the previous break downs and why the engine is out the car?

Re: Engine swaps, you are limited to another XJR/XKR 4.0L engine unless you have an ace technician that can utilize standalone ECU and TCU management to adapt Jaguar's CanBus to work with whatever you decide to drop in. This route is expensive. In the U.S. there are people that have done such conversions with the LS engine.

I'd suggest looking for a replacement - then find a good Jaguar specialist to install and service it.

 

I would echo the above.

Except from this "My mechanics are telling me that reassembling the engine is not an option because it will most probably break down once again"- I would suggest finding competent mechanics.

The Jag engine is really quite dependable with some small issues address (secondary chain tensioners , nicasil bores etc). The BMW B44 M60 I know very well, they have their problems also.

 

The XJR engines are pretty reliable once the chain tensioners and water pump have been replaced. Did your engine jump time and cause the valves to collide with the pistons?

 

Vakho, the best response is offered once the root of your objective is identified. The following priorities and suggestions come to mind:

• SIMPLICITY & COST: Have your engine rebuilt with improved timing tensioners.
• RELIABILITY: Upgrade to the AJ27S engine with improved cylinder liners (and upgrade the timing tensioners).
• PERFORMANCE: Upgrade to the AJ33S 4.2L engine knowing you'll have some work to do.
• COOL FACTOR: Swap the powertrain entirely, a myriad of variables here depending on your plan (ask me how I know). Consider the fact that your transmission will not have the same bolt pattern on the bellhousing simply because the transmission internals are shared across other manufacturers (ie. Mercedes, BMW, etc.). For instance the GM 4L80E in my '97 XJR won't accommodate a gool 'ol V8 Chevy (but who would dream of such an offence).