I have an issue that is baffling me up to moment, I have a 2001 Jaguar XKR with 76k on the clock. I had a timing chain that failed, on the passenger side the exhaust valves. I believe it only jumped one tooth. I have replaced all the parts chains, tensioners, guides and all seemed to be well except after running the engine for a few minutes I just about dumped half the oil out. I am not sure where it's coming from and hope someone has seen this before and can provide some tips. I am attaching photos of the area, it its coming from the passenger side towards the rear of the engine. At first I thought it was the valve cover gasket so I replaced and feel confident that it sealed.

Any suggestions?

 

RayZSurfer,

Welcome to the forum. What is the extent of the oil leak? (quote) "Dumping half the oil out" would mean, to me, something far more serious than what is shown in your photo. I assume your photo shows fresh oil at the rear of the exhaust manifold (at the top of your photo).

The exhaust manifold has a heat shield which can act as a bit of a drip tray for leaking cam cover gaskets above. Is this "tray" clean and, as you've just changed the cam cover gasket, so is that still the source of the leak?

Have you checked the access hole in the transmission bell housing? Normally any major leak from the rear crank main seal or core plugs would show engine oil here first.
Also worth checking the oil sump pan gasket as, when driven, leaking oil can show up in weird places.

 

David, after getting everything back together I started up the engine to check for leaks and proper operation. All sounded well until I lifted the car up and saw this leak, it is fairly significant. I don't even want to run the engine very long for fear of losing so much oil to cause damage to the engine. I did suspect the cam cover gasket and so I replaced it again. Since I had done so much work on the front end I also opened the oil pan and replaced it's gasket. I haven't driven the car so I am not really getting oil flung around.

 

Did you renew the isolator washers at the same time as the cam cover gasket?

They are key to a proper seal, as they are what provides the pressure to clamp the cover to the cylinder head. They tend to squash and bake over time. Item #6 here, although it's not clear that they are a separate rubber washer:




One for each cover bolt so you need 14 per side. Part # NCA2575CA.

Use OEM or from a good source.
Check the cover for cracks from possible previous over-zealous tightening, and be gentle with the cover bolts on assembly (9-11 Nm).

 

Yes MichaelH all of the gaskets shown in the figure you provided were replaced and all the bolts were properly torqued in the order specified in the manual. I have ordered a bluetooth borescope and die, should get it tomorrow. Hopefully that will give me more information.

Thank you for the input, any other suggestions are welcome.

 

Sounds like you've covered all bases.
There's not much else to go wrong so it will be interesting to see what you find with the camera.

I wouldn't be too concerned with the oil loss as the leak doesn't look significant, although I imagine it doesn't smell too good when the manifold gets hot.

 

Actually what you seen in the photos is just a small amount of the oil. The leak is significant and I can't operate the engine with it.

 

Hi Rayz,

If oil comes from above exhaust manifold it can only be cam cover.
So what Michael says (bolts seals) is most likely.
Worth double checking.
Haven't seen any cracked heads in that location..

Good luck,

 

Thinking back when I removed the covers there was sealant all around that flange, I thought it was odd and not necessary. Now I think I know why. Maybe my cover is warped or cracked. I will have another look at it as well as the bolt washers. At least I have something to go a look at.

Thanks for the suggestions, if it works I will post the outcome.

 

Curious:- where is the oil that we can''t see - is there a pool underneath or dripping from somewhere?

If you haven't run the motor other than briefly then what you have on the manifold may be residue from the previous leak (or escaped when the cam cover was removed) that hasn't burnt off.

There should be no sealant other than a small dab of high-temp RTV at each join where the timing cover meets the head (under the flattened section near the front of of the gasket).

 

I ran it previously when I finished the timing chain job. After that there was a large pool of oil on the floor before I realized that I had a leak (= stupidity). I cleaned it up so I could detect where the oil was coming from. The second time I did not run it very long.

 

Well last night I found the smoking gun! It was the gasket that had popped out of the groove, I didn't notice until careful examination. See photo (also photo of Flerkin Kitty that was pissed about my poor workmanship.

Thanks all for the help, it led me to take a closer look at the gasket.

 

LOL.
Glad it was simple.

Flerkin Kitty?

 

Be sure to thoroughly clean the oil from around the exhaust manifold.

Did you use RTV sealant on the areas where the timing cover meets the cylinder heads to ensure a proper seal with the cam cover?

 

Rayzsurfer,

We’ve all been there, where we’re sure we fixed something but didn’t do a good job.

I’m glad it was a simple fix. Well done!

Nice pic of the cat in the Jag. Hope she doesn’t use the seats as a scratching post.