'01 XK8 oil pan gasket replacement.
 

Can't find a video for this procedure on the XK8 couple others out there but to different to be of assistance. I have found the bolt tightening sequence but that's it. Do you have to take off the underneath cross bracing to remove the oil pan. It appears so. Any advice?
Thanks in advance.

you can download the pdf version of the workshop manual - go to the stickies at the top of the XK8/XKR section, look for the DIY sticky, open and scroll down to the Workshop Manual PDF Format and download the Second edition file

It is easy. You don't have to remove the cross brace.

Workshop manual
 

Where would I find it or do you have a link? I've looked and can only find links to specific sections.

Had to do a bit of wiggling, but you where right did not have to remove the cross bar. Thanks.

I've replaced the oil pan gasket a couple times to try to resolve an oil leak, but now I'm pretty sure that the leak was coming from higher on the engine.

Most likely the cam covers.

Really? CAM cover gasket is essentially a big O-ring .... or rectangleish-ring. My point is that type of seal typically works very well.

In practice, people do see a lot of leaks from the cam covers, no matter how reliable they may be in theory :)

Same with the front timing chain cover, where I believe I have a leak right now.

One complication with these is the instruction to add RTV at a few specific points around the seal, where there are seams in the mating surface. I'm under the impression that sometimes installers will skip that step and end up with leaks.

I did this today.... well i tried to!

Got all the bolts out with no issues at all and was very careful cleaning up the pan and surface of the engine block before fitting the new gasket. Was very pleased with the lack of rushing and no pressure to finish. Even cleaned up all the bolts!

Put all the bolts back in and grabbed the torque wrench. Manual says 11-13 nm so i set the wrench to 12nm and the first bolt snapped straight off!

Now i've got to get the ****er out and am worried they will all snap.

Anyone else who has done this snapped any bolts or am i just unlucky?

How did the bolt feel going in? Smooth as silk, and then snap when you tried to torque it down?

Yeah, probably just unlucky. This is the kind of situation where a person might spend some pocketchange for new bolts just to minimize that bad luck. But then, oil pan involves enough bolts that it might not be pocketchange to replace them all.

Yea, exactly. No problem with any of them but as i went to torque them the very first one snapped. I guess it would have been worse if it was the last one!

I presume they come as a set? 18 of fhem in total.

The worst part is that if you chalk it up to one bad bolt and keep on torquing, you're going to be running through 17 more bolts, anxiously waiting for each of the 17 to also snap. Even if the rest all torque up just fine, it's going to be a stressful process.

Do you have any way to calibrate your torque wrench to make sure it's not overtorqueing things?

Really, I'm going to sit back and see if anyone else has advice on how to proceed the right way. Any suggestion I'd have would be based on very limited experience.

Turns out they are only 85p each so not a big expense. Just have to wait for them... i hate not finishing once i start something.

The thought of my car sitting around with no oil in it bothers me.

I like to think the wrench is ok as i've only ever used it to tourque up wheel bolts since i bought it. More likely my amateur technique!

Oh, great! I was worried they would be three times that much. Can you post a link to where you bought from, in case it helps someone else in the future?

I wouldn't be too worried about the car sitting without oil. It's basically the same as sitting with oil, where the oil has all flowed down into the pan over days of not being started, as far as I know. To give the car a little extra help I might take off the oil filter, if it's not already off, and make sure to fill it before starting the car for the first time. It will take a second to get the oil pressure back up.

Just from JLR Classic:
https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic...nd-washer.html

Might be able to get a generic bolt cheaper but for the sake of £20 might as well buy them from Jaguar.

Ordered a snapped bolt removing kit too from ebay as i'm sure i will be needing it again...