Air ducting
 

AFAIK, NLA (no longer available) from Jaguar, so you are on your own. Check Craigslist for a part-out, or a junkyard. Or make your own part, I suppose. I would start with an old wheel well liner and hack away.

FWIW, I am not sure of the purpose of the part. To me, it seems more about preventing random debris from flying in the tube than actual cooling. That is why a random plastic "tray" would probably work just fine. But also thiink in reverse: you will have to deal with this on every oil change...

My mechanic tossed mine away years ago. Seems they clog easily and then the alternator overheats and dies. I have been 7+ years without one with no ill affects.
LaRue

My wife's 2006 XK8 was missing this cooling duct when we acquired the car six years ago this past Friday. I ordered one for around $35 shortly afterwards. I question whether it really makes any difference in cooling the alternator, but because I purchased it I have kept it installed. Many owners run their cars without this cooling duct with no issues. If I had it to do over again, I would create a homemade version rather than pay for an overpriced OEM suspect part. Or do without it....

There's two parts to that cooling duct - the front sort-of "air-scoop", and a plastic "U bend" to turn the air flow 180 degrees. I think as long as you have the "U bend" bit (which seems to be available LJB1810AA) - I don't think the scoop bit really adds very much apart from getting in the way when you change the oil !!

I was interested to compare the illustration of item 2 in the Parts Catalogue .....

Attachment 209796

...... with the actual part on the vehicle

Attachment 209797

Whenever I've done an oil change, I've always thought these parts never look as if they go well together!

I'm sure there's a lot of heat in the engine compartment around the alternator so the vertical duct does contribute to cooling it. Whether the extension (item 2 - the part that usually goes missing) contributes much is debatable.

Graham

Thanks folks. Sounds like the consensus is that replacing that part is a waste of time and that it really doesn't provide any benefit to cooling. I was just concerned that I might be shortening my alternator's life by not having that in place. Our summers can be brutally hot and humid. 100 degrees F is quite common with road surface temps far exceeding that. You can literally burn yourself on your cars paint and frying an egg on the asphalt is quite possible at times. Anything I can do to try to keep under hood temps cooler would be welcome. I really wish they had made all the XK8s and XKRs with louvered hoods to help keep things cooler under there. Having the fan run for a bit after shutdown would have seemed to be a good idea too, IMHO.

And thanks for the excellent illustrations Graham!

If the engine is too hot, the fan WILL run after shutdown. This is from the AJV8 engine manual :

To counteract the increase in engine coolant temperature that occurs after the engine stops, at ignition off:
• if the fans are already on, the ECM keeps
them on for 5 minutes, or until the ECT
decreases to a pre-determined value, whichever occurs first
• if the fans are off, the ECM determines, from
ECT and intake air temperature inputs, if the fans need to be switched on. If they do, it
switches them on for 5 minutes, or until the ECT decreases to a pre-determined value,
whichever occurs first.

hmmm....I looked at mine when I bought the car and the #2 part was installed upside down effectively blocking any air from entering the duct :) God knows how long it was like that.

After replacing my alternator (gen) I installed just the u-bend to provide some cooling so hopefully I don't have the god-awful job of replacing it again.

Mine has been off for several years.

I Got one off of an XJ8 (X308) at the junkyard for $10 or so. The "part 2" is a little different, so I drilled a new hole in it and re-used the X100 bolt.

I also drilled two holes in it and threaded a plastic zip tie through to squeeze the scoop around the elbow to reduce blowby.

I checked Google for "Jaguar xk8 alternator air duct" and found a used one for under $30 US. Then I crawled under my XK8 and happily found the intake looking right at me. Fortunate that PO's used Jag Dlr's in SoCal for service.

My Alternator Duct was missing. Apparently, many were left off by Jaguar Dealers when changing the Oil Filter.
Anyway, I was cleaning up the underside and decided to make a sheet steel duct. Turned out OK.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...f849860c0b.jpg

Well done....

You can also make one out of a plastic one-gallon milk or orange juice carton....

Nicely done! I would expect an even better air flow pushed through.