Hi, this is my first post on this Forum. Back Story - in Bahrain, I have a 1999 Jag XK8 4.0L (naturally aspirated ) with only 72,000km (see pic). I had sold my Porsche as it was too reliable and not much fun to work on in my garage so I was looking for a fixer-upper car as a hobby. This Jag had been sitting in a VIP's garage gathering dust for two and half years so the VIP heard that I was looking so he virtually gave me the car on the condition that I restore it to original. I've been working on it since March 2018 to initially get it on the road, and am now I'm looking to get it back to concourse condition. I'm almost there but have a number of questions which I'm hoping the people on the forum can help me with.

First question - There's no PCV valve, but where can I a new breather restrictor #XR828442 as no longer available in my usual sources. Do I have to take off the complete camshaft cover to install it?

 

the restrictor does not require replacement, only cleaning. if you search here, there is a drill bit recommendation to clean it out. later models do not even require this service. if yours is not cracked, it should be fine. what needs to be checked is that the hose leading to the TB is not collapsed. this can be replaced with common materials.

 

Cor,

Thanks for that, but I'm aware of what you said - Hand clean restrictor with 2.5mm drill bit etc. I uncovered this particular problem when I was changing out the spark plugs. As I had to take out the air inlet pipe and breather hose to access the spark plugs, I noticed the attachment point had cracked. See Pic


Hence my question of where to get a new breather restrictor and more importantly whether I need to take the camshaft cover off to install a new one. I'm reluctant "jury rig" a glued solution, but old plastic parts in the hot engine bay is not a good combination.

 

The bad news is I fear that part isn't replaceable without replacing the whole cam cover.

The good news is I don't actually know what I'm talking about

But to be serious, when I look up the part number you mention, it looks like a different part than the broken one. Part 8 on the diagram linked below looks like part of the tube, not the broken socket coming out of the engine. Part 8 looks like the elbow you have in your hand in the picture above.

On my '97 it looks like the socket coming out of the cover has been epoxied into the cover pretty solidly. I wouldn't expect to be able to replace it. Maybe your later model engine does it differently, though.

https://www.jaguarclassicparts.com/uk/part/XR828442

 

i checked another 97 cover for you. it is necessary to replace the entire cover. try eBay or salvage yards. otherwise, you could make a new collar and epoxy it in place and then using a reducer setup directly connect the vacuum hose with a clamp.

 

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I'm I'm the one who had a 97. I think the OP had a 1999. Are they the same?

 

to my knowledge the AJ26 engine covers are the same over the years. 97 and 99 are AJ26. there might be some overlap where a 99 is an AJ27 and even among those there is a VIN difference in the breather orifice.

 

To complicate matters, I think the previous owners may have swapped the engine as there were all the historical problems with the Nikasil bore liners in the early models, so someone probably took the decision to change the engine.

Signs of possible engine swap I noticed -
1. 78,000 km for a 20 year old car is "tad" unreasonable
2. Car registration documents has the original engine no. but the matching engine plate is missing (should be located near throttle body). Can't see the match cast no on the side of the engine
3. When I serviced the oil solenoids (for the secondary tensioners on the quad cam), they didn't exactly match the engine drawings I saw on line.

Any other ideas to fix/place this broken breather restrictor socket fitting? I don't want to replace entire camshaft cover, and I don't want to "jury rig" a collar/extension/reducer thingy?

 

if it is not at the thermostat tower look next to one of the motor mounts on the block, forgot which side, for a stamping with the date of manufacture and production number. call on a Jaguar dealer with your body VIN and obtain the engine number and date that your car should have and compare.

 

Had a close look around the engine, for identification, under the thermostat, I found "90JV-6059" as follows




How do you read this?

 

those appear to be casting marks for the front timing chain cover.

 

My engine number

 

at some point the number stamping moved to the area near the mounts, perhaps with the AJ27.

 

Let's take a second and acknowledge the spirit right there! You will find a home here.

 

Think it was still by the tstat at least in the earlier AJ27.
Here's a clip from a pic. taken by member Dale Dunn (in his case 1999 car but the motor is 2000).

Its visibility seems to depend on how enthusiastic the engraver was on the day, so might be easier to take the VIN to the dealer as White Hat suggests.

 

Yep, on my 97 it was very faint, and I'd missed the markings when I must have looked right at them a half dozen times trying to find it.

 

Gents,

No luck on finding the engine no in the car. Jag said for my Chassis SAJJGAFD4AC035228, the matching engine no is ND9811101726.... but I'll need to confirm what engine have as there's been developments.

First I found there there's no Breather restrictor.

For my breather hose problem, I did manage to find the missing engine collar connector part in the breather hose end clamp so cleaned it all up carefully and used high temp epoxy to glue the collar socket back together. I used a bit of soft grit paper to smooth all the edges and voila. I ran the engine and there was no leak! Result! I avoided the tricky job of having to take off the camshaft cover. But...

As we all know, when you fix something, you either break something else during the job, or you notice something else broken. In doing this job, I noticed a strong oil smell and found out that oil was leaking from the camshaft cover seal. I now need to change the gasket! Now, as I suspect the engine has been switched, are the AJ26 and AJ27 covers identical? Otherwise the new gaskets ordered might be wrong!

 

AJ26 gaskets are different. Since you have a replacement engine, it's probably AJ27. Are the spark plug seals connected in a set of two with the cover screw hole included- AJ26. Plug seals separate-AJ27.

 

 

Thanks for all the help. It seems I have a AJ-27 engine and am proceeding accordingly despite not knowing don't what engine ref. no. I have.

Have some other things planned, and will start another thread on a annoying metallic rattle from the rear.....