well had just celebrated 6 years and 170K+ miles on Mistress Betty when she became a bit under the weather. Had her towed to indie since I was closer to his shop than my house when she stalled - they found issue due to a failed gen3 tensioner - guide shoe sheared off and tensioner caused chain to break. chain wedged in gear for exhaust cam and at least 1 bent exhaust valve(s) on drivers side bank - looking at rough estimate of $4800 to repair.


will try to get pics but weighing my options - lot of things to consider.

 

Well that just s**ks.

 

Was it a secondary tensioner? How many miles on the tensioners? So sad, my condolences.

 

Hmmmmm..... how inclined are you to do the repair yourself??

 

Wouldn't a second hand engine be a much cheaper option?

 

yes secondary tensioner - not sure mileage on them but he was going to see if he could pull up any records on the car. I purchased car with 91K miles and no maintenance history (before I found forum and now know better). The Gen3's were installed before I got her and I have since added close to 80k miles

 

that is a possible option - just might take several months for me to undertake - he also provides a 2 year warranty so considering options at the moment

 

I've been pricing second hand engines and lowest mileage one I've found so far has 91000+ miles for right around $2000 with a 6month warranty. Prices go up from there - did find 1 for $4800 with a 5 year warranty but how reputable is the company and no listing of mileage on the engine.

If I could find a lower mileage engine, I might consider that route but I would still need someone to install as I don't have the hoist or assistance to do myself

 

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate situation. Some tough decisions ahead. Keep us posted, and best of luck in whatever direction you choose to proceed....

 

Steve, sorry for your troubles.

Send me a PM. I have a 99 XK8 engine in Vale, NC.

 

Here's a potential donor car with only 82K on it.

Looks to be one of those that got bumped in the front and back then totaled by insurance. You could probably part out the car and recover most of the $3100 asking price.


https://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/pts...455710307.html

 

Ouch!

If you're keeping it, the 2 year warranty repair by your local indie is the better option. If it's fix to sell then a used engine with a short warranty is sufficient.

Graham

 

Might you consider fitting a used cylinder head? They are fairly abundant on eBay and priced around 200 bucks. At any rate, $4,800 sounds high, even with the significant labor and parts involved.

 

that's some major suckage

I hope you find some decent options

 

Just want to add my condolences. It's sad enough when someone's plastic tensioner fails, but we can mitigate our pangs of empathy by saying, "Well, he knew the risk he was taking..." But we're never prepared for something like this. It's outrageous. It should never have happened, or if some cosmic justice demanded that it did have to happen, it should never have broken the chain; it should just have made a lot of noise or at worst skipped one link and made a lot of black smoke.

Keep us posted on how this story ends. We all have emotional attachments to our Jags, and I'll be praying for a resolution that minimizes expense and maximizes the restoration of confidence and satisfaction in your car... or its successor.

 

How does this even happen? This is the first time I heard of a 3rd gen metal tensioner failing.

 

It wasn't the body of the tensioner, just the plastic shoe. My 97 had a shoe missing when I bought it, but it was in the pickup screen, in pieces. Apparently, the shoe on the metal body tensioner is much more robust, unfortunately.

 

Please post photos. Would like to see if the shoe gave way or shows excessive wear.

 

Sorry to hear that. Scary story for somebody who is looking for a X100 to buy.

 

So.......I guess all of us with newer style metal secondary tensioners should consider replacements at 90,000 to 100,000 miles just to be safe. The plastic shoe is the culprit.