Congratulations on a job well done and thank you for the detailed commentary! Forum help kicked in when needed. Beautiful, well running car👏👏👏

 

Your savvy friend may not be as savvy as you think he is, I've been using it for years and it's guaranteed for all engines including alloy engines. SAE approved!

 

Indeed brother, the location of the air scoop and the part number of the water hose was paramount to the whole project 😂😂
I would have still been here lost😂
Thanks guys for the complements, thank you🤗🤗

 

I really enjoyed this thread SBS, thank you so much for posting and doing the rebuild in an extremely rapid time -- for many of us this would have been a multi-month project.

In the NE USA a $15,000 budget will give you a nice selection of XKs with 100,000 +/- miles on them. Most are already had 3 owners and incomplete service histories. My expectation of buying one would be to budget for a full suspension rebuild and a motor rebuild like you have done "regardless of what they tell me." With limited support from JLR the task for a DIYer is daunting. This thread, and the encouragement of others who have rebuilt other complex low-production motors, is very encouraging.

My X-Type Wagon is a very rare beast and the parts for a rebuild of it's 3.0l 6 are impossible to source. Forget about rare parts like the rear hatch. The 4wd transfer case blew on my car 18 months ago, $1,900 for a rebuilt part assuming we had a rebuildable core (or pay another $400), 8+ hours of labor to install, basically the value of the car. And if the parts weren't available, that would be it...

I hope XK parts will remain available -- and the timing kit!

 

Well obviously the scoop was a deal breaker and and without it, valve seats are just a frivolous spend and the entire project a waste of time and money.

 

Parts for that Ford Duratec engine are easy to find. I rebuilt the bottom end of that engine for like $200 worth of parts (aftermarket bearings, OEM rod bolts, gaskets, etc)

1 of those rod bolts is like $14 at the Jag dealer. Compared to $35 for all 12 from the Ford dealer. Same exact part, just need to know how to cross reference =]

 

One would think that some thing as rare and detailed as this would wouldn't you🤔
I have no doubt that this thread will help many in the future.

 

Strongly agree. Every engine design is a matter of strengths, weaknesses, compromises. The 4.2 Liter AJ34 is a more a development of the 4.0 liter AJ26 than a new engine. This V8 (plus a V6 sub-derivative) may not have the lifespan of the XK6, but at 24 years so far it's doing just fine. Over time, they have resolved issues like Nikasil cylinder liners, unreliable secondary cam chain tensioners, and offered many displacement versions through Jaguar, Land Rover, even Ford licensed it for a 3.9 liter version in the Lincoln LS and short lived 2002 Thunderbird. Plenty misunderstood, sometimes referred to as a Ford engine - ouch, and as illustrated here, claimed to be unreliable, none of which is true.

Displacements:

The current 5.0 and 5.0 supercharged are world class engines; if cared for will serve admirably. My last X350 had nearly 180k miles on it when it crashed and burned (in that order) It didn't burn oil, and sounded like new. Never required any timing chain work, though I went through two thermostat housings. Biggest weakness, IMO is the continued fascination with plastic parts, excluding the intake which is fine. Plastic water pump impellers and thermostat housing are weak points, and external plumbing is ridiculously designed - too many components = too many failure points. Replace old hoses, pay attention, don't overheat them, don't replace the iridium NGKs with cheaper or non-stock plugs and the engine should serve incredibly well. My current car, NA AJ34 with 109k on the clock still runs 0-60 in 6.1 seconds, same as when new, and gets decent fuel economy for a full size, 300HP luxury car designed 2 decades ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_AJ-V8_engine

 

Wow, awesome doesn't even begin to describe what you did there.....

 

Hello again, so my 2 questions:
1. Where did you get this kit
2. What does it cover (thermostat, housing, anything else?
3.should I fit one? My car has done 57000 miles, im thinking preventative maintenance?

 

Hey, there is no kit. I just bought items separately. Water pump, thermostat housing, thermostat, header tank ect ect. Bought from here along with head gaskets and bolts.
https://www.berkshirejagcomponents.com/jaguar-xk-cooling-heating-parts-c102x2777405
and
https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#/uk/home
There is no kit apart from the timing chain and guide kit that I bought and fitted once the engine was going together.
The water pump/ thermostat assembly are quite straight forward to fit.

 

Thank you for your help. I use SNG Barratt all the time. Found this useful thread which also answers some questions I had. Cheers

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-pipes-221780/

 

Your welcome, I will help you anyway I can.
Had this thread been put into the sticky section, then maybe you and others might have found answers sooner to some problems.
But there seems to be resistance, no no doubt this thread will be lost over time

 

This thread is bookmarked by me. My children will be taught it in the next lockdown. We are not worthy
ps im going to also change the water pump, seems the favoured thing to do looking through past threads

 

The link to Berkshire Jag Components is extremely useful, and has saved me a fortune!

 

Sorry to hear about the troubles but it sounds like you've come out of the other side of this saga with a running motor.
Not to hijack the thread, but I hear about the valley coolant line going out in these motors. Is that the black hose with two bands on it right in the middle/front of the motor? Did you replace yours? From the picture it doesn't look that bad so I may not fret as much over the prospect of mine going out.

 

Everything I seem to be reading about the valley pipe is that they eventually crack, I'm replacing mine as preventative maintenance, I think SBS bought all the pipes including this one, though didn't end up changing all of them

See this https://www.jaguarforum.com/showthread.php?t=108372

 

Cheers for the link. Reading the X150 service manual wasn't much help in terms of pinpointing the valley pipe. My Porsche Cayenne S had the same problem at 120k, but it was a slow leak thankfully. Porsche actually recalled it and replaced with an alloy pipe.
I really don't want to pull my car apart to replace it as a preventative measure so soon into ownership. The girl only has 50k on her so far and hoping to get a few more miles under the belt before having to do all this.
Does the pipe fail more on the SC cars since the oil cooler happens to be in the valley too throwing off heat?

 

My car has 57,000 miles, I've read that anything from 50 onwards is where the trouble starts.
From what I can tell the best way to drive without risk of sudden and catastrophic failure is replace:
- Water pump
- Thermostat
- Valley Pipe
- Header tank
- Any other pipes that appear soft

Having read the horror stories and seeing how relatively simple it all is to change (bearing in mind my car comes off the road for 6 months from November anyway), I'm going to do it - I'm also extremely bored now that I have fixed the brakes, changed the broken aircon condenser and fixed the Pedestrian Warning mini nightmare I had

This stuff will be a nice way to pass the long dark winter nights.
I don't know if the SC is more prone to it than the NA

 

SBS,
Thank you for doing a pretty comprehensive write up of your work! It will serve as an inspiration for many of us as time goes on.
Anybody have thoughts about whether mileage or time is more important for hose and/or plastic part replacement? Should we be more concerned with 50k miles or 7-8 years?