2007 XK fluid leak
#21
No "conspiracy" was being suggested by me...the fact is that the engines were designed by Jaguar but built in the Ford engine plant at Bridgend (as I wrote above). And those who prefer to believe that Ford designed the engines should check the authoritative history of the V8 engine project (authoritative because the history is given by those who actually designed the engine and supervised the project; I do not have access to my bookshelf at the moment but when I do I will give the references). And of course it is normal and natural that Ford would use some of the Jaguar-designed elements: not only did they own Jaguar but their plant was/is producing the Jaguar engines in a dedicated facility.
OK so far? Now about Bridgend, Szczupack continues: "So the great debate then was whether the engine was going to be built at (Jaguar's) Radford or at (Ford's) Bridgend. Radford need a lot of refurbishment. Bridgend had an *empty building of ideal size, and the superb infrastructure of a completely modern, new facility*...We knew at Jaguar that we could not build the engine in the old Radford plant...the infrastructure available at Bridgend - as well as the sheer economics of this solution - made the decision obvious". (p.67).
There is a great deal of detailed information about every aspect of the V8 engine design, pages of it, cited in the words of the engineers themselves, and in Porter's overview: "The foundation of any engine, of course, is the block design, and guided by finite analysis, *the Jaguar engineers have striven to combine light weight with structural stiffness....*. Note - "the Jaguar engineers" - we are well beyond the idea of a Ford design...and regarding the (eventually) disastrous Nikasil use for the cylinder bores (never used in a Ford engine, by the way - but used also by BMW with the same sad result): "Rather than using conventional iron liners, the bores are plated with nikel-silicon carbide (Nikasil)....Once again *Jaguar (NOT FORD) has followed Formula I practice in adopting this technique...the Nikasil plating of the aluminium cylinder bores is a totally new technology for Jaguar* and indeed *BMW is the only volume manufacturer using it*." (p.72)...and "the precision cooling system has been patented by Jaguar" (NOT Ford); (p.72)..."A number of key suppliers were involved by Jaguar very early on...Cosworth helped with the cylinder head design in terms of casting technology. Kolbenschmidt, the block supplier, was also involved early on..." (p73). No mention of Ford at all among the suppliers. Further on: "While Trevor Crisp's role has been to oversee the whole powertrain, Dave Szczupak's has been to mastermind the AJ-V8 engine." (p.74). Page after page of authoritative, detailed information about engine development and production when Ford owned Jaguar, and none of it supports in any way the notion that Jaguar used Ford engines. The V6 later used in the S-Type and the X-Type did use the Ford Duratec block - but the top of the engine was a Jaguar design and while there are certain interchangeable parts, again the engineering was by Jaguar. Current engines, such as the 3.0 litre supercharged V6 and and the 5 litre V8 as used in the F-Type are Jaguar designs - and then there is the turbocharged 4 cylinder that puts out almost 300 hp....
Still not convinced? Is your membership in the Flat Earth Society paid for this year? (I know...but I can't help it...).
Last edited by sov211; 03-11-2019 at 12:26 AM.
#23
No claim here to have the inside on the whole Jag/Ford story but this is what I know of what was going on during the relationship.
During the aqiusition period, engineering managers were told only to help Jaguar learn how the Ford production system/philosiphy could be used to make themselves profitable again. I remember of no agreement or expectation that Jaguar's designs would be used for new engine development by Ford. That said though, it would be imposible to keep Jaguar product designs "secret" from Ford since they were the parent company.
There were many meetings as well as visits where ideas and plans were freely shared but only in the context of manufacturing planning. I remember several meetings where Jaguar presented their new engine designs while working through manufacturing design planning. That doesn't mean Ford utlimatly had no hand in egine design approval for obvious reasons.
Just my memory for what that might be worth.
During the aqiusition period, engineering managers were told only to help Jaguar learn how the Ford production system/philosiphy could be used to make themselves profitable again. I remember of no agreement or expectation that Jaguar's designs would be used for new engine development by Ford. That said though, it would be imposible to keep Jaguar product designs "secret" from Ford since they were the parent company.
There were many meetings as well as visits where ideas and plans were freely shared but only in the context of manufacturing planning. I remember several meetings where Jaguar presented their new engine designs while working through manufacturing design planning. That doesn't mean Ford utlimatly had no hand in egine design approval for obvious reasons.
Just my memory for what that might be worth.
The following users liked this post:
hafren (03-12-2019)
#25
I owned a 200 XJR with the Nikisil engine. The failure was only noticeable to me under full acceleration from mid-speed to highway speed plus and felt like an intermittent miss. I first noticed it on our annual Chicago to Naples road trip in January of 2002. I took the car into local dealers in both Naples and Orlando, neither of which could duplicate the issue. When I got back to Chicago I took the XJR into my "home" dealer, described the issue and left them to their work. My service writer called me that afternoon and gave me the good news/bad news story which amounted to Jaguar was going to replace my engine lock, stock and barrel at no charge. They did the right thing.
A friend of mine had a 2000 BMW 740iL who had the same issue. BMW shipped in a short block and the local dealer had to remove all of the "accessory" items from the old block and install them prior to installing the new engine in his car. Jaguar, on the other hand shipped in a complete engine with all of the "accessory" parts. The dealer only had to install the new engine; that struck me as abetter way to go. End of Story, I kept the car for an additional two years and made several additional long road trips with no problems of any kind
A friend of mine had a 2000 BMW 740iL who had the same issue. BMW shipped in a short block and the local dealer had to remove all of the "accessory" items from the old block and install them prior to installing the new engine in his car. Jaguar, on the other hand shipped in a complete engine with all of the "accessory" parts. The dealer only had to install the new engine; that struck me as abetter way to go. End of Story, I kept the car for an additional two years and made several additional long road trips with no problems of any kind
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
davepick
XJ XJ6 / XJ8 / XJR ( X350 & X358 )
1
04-07-2015 10:22 PM
ausman46
S-Type / S type R Supercharged V8 ( X200 )
1
02-19-2009 04:58 PM
AccAuto
PRIVATE For Sale / Trade or Buy Classifieds
2
07-05-2008 10:54 AM
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)