Getting fed up with taking my wife's car to the shop. Everytime something goes wrong, it's related to the engine and or cooling system. I'm forking out $2-3 thousand yearly .Brakes, tranny, steering, electric, all work fine and car in good condition. Wonderful color and paint looks new.

So, instead of forking out $40K for a used F Type, thinking about putting in a new engine. My wife thinks I'm crazy so am I?

P.S. I would have a certified shop do this, not myself!!

 

You didn't mention the mileage but I'll assume you're close to where I am, around 100,000 miles or getting close. These cars can get expensive if you pay someone else to do all the work but if an engine replacement solves all or most of your problems and you plan on keeping the car long enough to make the cost of the engine make sense, I would bite the bullet and do it.
That would be the critical factor for me, how long I plan to keep the car and that would be determined by the condition of the car and how much I like having it.
It sounds like the car is a keeper, so I would do it.
I wouldn't consider resale value in the decision process unless I was going to sell the car soon.
With the engine out they could replace everything in the cooling system without much difficulty. I just replaced all the heater hoses in my car and I was pleased to find that none of the hoses had any issues at all. No leaks and they actually seemed like they could last for many more years but I replaced them anyway because I was in there and I had new hoses in my hands.
Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.

 

Indeed, its getting to the age that things start failing. Depending on the fluid and filter change frequency, the internal metal working parts of the engine are probably the best parts of the car. You don't mention specifically what you've had repaired recently, but what's typically falling apart at 15 years old are all the gaskets, seals, plastic, rubber and electrical components.

My xj8 began to leak oil profusely at 117K miles from a loose oil galley plug on the back of the motor. I could either pull the tranny and access the plug that way OR since it was leaking a little from the front main seal as well, I pulled the motor and went through it with all new gaskets and seals. Pulled the heads off, had a machine shop replace the stem seals and reset the valve shims, and de-carbonized the tops of the pistons while the heads were away, Replaced the "plastic" chain guides which were starting to crack (tensioners already done, but you don't need to worry about that on the 4.2). Re-wrapped the engine wiring loom, replacing several stays. And put it all back in with all new hoses, belts, idler bearings, piping and fluids. And of course cleaned every square inch of the motor and engine bay. I even re-plated some nuts and bolts because I'm obsessive-compulsive. Don't know what the labor would have been if you had a shop do all that but I spent around $1,300 in parts, services and supplies. I could have easily rebuilt the starter, alternator, ps pump and ac compressor while it was out and spent another $800 - $1,000, but other than the starter, which is a pretty robust little unit, those are relatively easy to service on the XJ8 so I left them original. Unless you know that the motor has internal damage like a worn bearing, then a used replacement wouldn't help much. Unless you're talking about buying a brand new crate motor with all the accessories attached, it'd probably be better to just do like I did, keep the original motor, but pull it and have all the plastic and rubber bits replaced all at once.

Just one caveat, if you pay a shop to do it, the R&R process of pulling a motor and putting it back in carries some risk of introducing new and additional problems. Everything made of now brittle plastic, every electrical connector, every "clip", every wire tie, every hose fitting, will get tugged and some broken. Even some corroded screws and bolts may break off. Unless you hover over them doing your own QA/QC, the shop, certified or otherwise, is NOT going to tell you what all shortcuts they take to put it back together again. For example, when you squeeze a fifteen year old electrical connector to disconnect it, the locking tab invariably breaks off. At least one connector tab will break, it just will, period, nothing anyone can do to prevent it. You can't buy just a new connector tho, rather you can only buy the entire wiring loom at many hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars. So the trick is to put a dab of RTV on the connector to "glue" it back when they reassemble it. 99 times out of 100, that will hold for another ten years but there is that 1 in 100 that throws a check engine light that the next tech spends hours chasing. As long as it runs when they give it back to you, the customer will likely never know. But if they told the customer about these things, the customer would gripe that "they broke it" and then an argument would ensue about the cost of new wiring loom. So there is "some" risk in R&R of a complete engine when the car is fifteen years old. So unless its got some current issue that needs addressed really badly, it might be better to leave well enough alone until the next major repair is needed. Maybe that won't happen for another five years.

 

I have a rebuilt engine in my 2000 xkr. There are still problems that will come up. Parts are becoming harder to get so unless the car is sentimental I wouldn't recommend replacing the engine to avoid future problems. my two cents is if the car is being driven like its a newer car then you should trade it for a newer car, it isn't going to hold up and will need more repairs. Its always going to need repairs but if you are gentle hopefully less. I have never had a more problematic and expensive to fix car before and wouldn't recommend them to anyone unless they really have to have it. For me the car is sentimental and not a daily driver so it is very fun car to have and I do like it so that is why i am stuck with it good luck!

 

WHY! MBates do you feel you need a new Engine? How many miles does it have now? Gee, it's only around 15 years old! Take it to someone that knows about these Cars and let them look it over...Could be something simple....If you buy a new one....you are looking at a bunch of money!
Billy Clyde @ Cinco Ranch

 

I'm curious too as to what has driven you to this.

Is it a few problems that keep recurring, or are you suffering a string of totally different and seemingly unrelated issues?

 

Thanks to all who have responded. I should have been more detailed. The car has 81K miles on it and it's being driven daily, in city, by my wife. (probably the main reason for so many repairs). In 6 years we've had to : get new oil pan, replace coolant housing twice, replace octopus hose, replace fuel pressure regulator and transducer, replace intake duct and worm clamp, replace tranny harness sjeeve and pan, replace steering cooler/return line, had "green rain", replace security control lock module, replace carbon cannister, replace 2 coils and spark plugs, and replace intake tube. Not to mention fixing the drivers side seat module.

So, my decision is to leave the keys in the car and call a guy who knows a guy!

 

I (and no doubt the previous owner) had over heating issues with my XK8. After replacing everything in the cooling system we decided that air pckets were causing the water pump to cavitate and therefore losing circulation. Solution an electric booster pump down at the lower outlet of the radiator up to the water pump (a fitting has to be made at the thermostat housing) forcing water uphill and solving the cooling issues. The root cause is the engine sitting higher than the radiator.....

 

great engineering

 

I've been sitting on my one xkr for a few years now not having the time to install the new engine I already have and noone wanting to do it for me.,,So Now I have two xkr's:O) But seriously a "new" engine will be costly. Not sure what someone would charge to install because..I CANT FND ANYONE!

 

Slowpoke, you should be able to find a streetrod shop that would do it for you. Cost for mine was a little over 10k labor plus parts and redoing much of the conversion. And that was a custom job yours should be straight forward....

 

But none of those thing are to do specifically with the engine...itself

Replacement of trans or engine oil pan is something I don't understand... Yes, gaskets and filters, but the pan? Unless something was hit, an accident?

In my experience, shops are ruthless and unless it was my brother in law, can't trust it - even then - my brother in law is a weirdO.... When I (rarely) bring my cars (due to the types of cars) into shops I can SEE the dollar signs spinning around in the mechanics eyes. Spidey Sense goes crazy and I run. Then, mechanics today - many were working in the entertainment industry before COViD hit... Or some other place.

I make a lot of mistakes, spend a lot of time scratching my head and worrying some (all part of the fun) by really really try to do the work myself. It's part of it. That being said.

When it comes to replacing things like the octopus hoses or coolant towers, oil pans and gaskets, spark plugs etc, post an ad in Craigslist and see who responds. Have the work done in your drive or garage where you have a bit of control or the upper hand. I have had my car for 3yrs, first job was the replacement of the LH cylinder head, not a bad job. I am going to TRY and replace my engine with 215k miles with one with 35k miles this/next week. Am I nervous, yes, but I can do it, I am sure.

I have a car in the shop, a guy I think is nutts, but he has equipment (software interface stuff) that I will never have. Can't do it. He will, but he knows I can't pay a lot.

There are lots of engines in low milage car out there. Buy the whole car and have the Craigslist dude (with some equipment you provide like a cherry picker) swap the engine in your drive. Give him the donor car and the cherry picker - and a few bucks. There's always a way. That's just me.

I hear folks dropping dollars in a way that equates to the cost of allll 4 of my cars combined and I guess, if ya got it like that, for each his own... Working on these cars, learning them,,, can be very fun and very rewarding. Jus say'n.

 

Yes, you are correct. The engine itself seems OK. t's all the peripheral crap that's sucking me dry. The oil pan was done at the Jag dealer and the tranny sleeve at a "certified' shop, so.....
Not sure I wanna get someone off of Craigslist, but it's a consideration. I'm not mechanically inclined enough to do anything but change oil and replace some hoses. My mistake was buying a race car for a grandma!!!

 

Give Momma the SL550 and trade the Jag for a new MB of some sort....or give her the new MB......Then you won't have a Jag anymore to complain about.....

Billy Clyde

 

That Merc is out of warranty now and will be in the same boat with the Jaguar in a few years. My former boss always bought pre-owned German cars and he wasn't mechanical either. I had to rescue him off the side of the road a couple of times. But his wife always drove a Honda so that they'd have something that worked while his German cars were in the shop. If the wife loves the Jaguar, then our OP might ought to consider trading the Merc in on a newer Honda while its still an even swap. Being a DIY'er is the only reason I can afford cars like Jaguars, but also being a DIY'er, I never would have bought any used European luxury car if I didn't have a pickup truck to fall back on. DIY, you don't just fix something in a weekend and back on the road on Monday. Everything that happens to the Jaguars is more typically down for a month or two, first waiting on parts and then a couple hours here or there in between all my other household chores and responsibilities. No, if you are going to drive older European sedans that are out of warranty, you need to either be wealthy enough to pay somebody for repairs without even thinking about it, or you have to be a DIY'er. And either way, you need to have a simple, reliable backup vehicle.

 

Well said! Haha,,, and I don't know how it happened,,, all my back up cars are old european sporty cars as well. Now/then what? Lots of pain and suffering and lots O "sick" days from work when the cars ain't well... I have yet to be completely down, have gotten close tho.

Before like 3yrs ago I didn't know I was a do it myself-er... Now, it takes all my free time - pretty much.

 

@mbates50, focus on the items considered maintenance items, such as brakes, hoses and plastic cooling system parts. If there's nothing wrong with the engine, why exchange it?

The plastic cooling system parts can only withstand a finite number of cold to hot to cold cycles before failing. The same is true of many of the hoses, which should always be replaced as a set or you'll end up having them fail one at a time, possibly leaving you or your wife stranded. Stranded wives tend to get very cross.

 

I do. A Toyota 4Runner!!

 

Fer Sher. Like I said, keys in the ignition and I call a guy who knows a guy!

 

Rule no. 1 : never let the wife drive the Jag. Give her a Honda, a Toyota, or a Hyundai - with lots of ground clearance !