I bought the car on impulse last year mid August, it was listed on ebay and one of the issues was it had " slipped " when changing gears once so the P.O had thought the gearbox needed a service. Had only covered 371 miles in his ownership 63k in total, confirmed via MOT reports. FSH up to his ownership. Reported to have had no accident damage or respray! As I got via ebay and paid what I thought was a low price I cannot complain to much. I believe it has been in some low impact front end crunch to the N/S, there is a very small ding to the A post where I could imagine an elbow/head had come into contact. The front wing/fender is ever so slightly out fitment wise around the headlight.
All the stamps are from Jaguar dealers in the London area so I can only think they put the correct spec oil in him at the required time.
The issue with service though ( for the purists ), is the 4 year gap during P.O and virtually no distance covered, to be honest though I would not have had services done at a dealer or indy myself so its not a problem for me.
In case the autobox was not just in need of a service I got a replacement with 37k miles on it as a spare.
Cheers for all the comments and the encouragement to take the tasks on.

Arty

 

Each side needs to be at a different point of rotation. So, treat the job as two 4 cylinder engines. Do one side completely before moving to the other.

The zip ties should be both at the exhaust cam sprocket as well as the intake so the alignment is maintained throughout all junction points of the cam drive.

 

Thanks for the advice plums, that way would be easier and less parts lying about.
It was to wet and windy today to make any progress so hope tomorrow improves.
Arty

 

Looks like a decent day up here in the North, so on with the job.
Just a couple of quick questions ( confirmation really ), I did not get new bolts with my new tensioners, so I read that the old bolts can be cut back to 35mm and reused, but re torqued to 10Nm on fitting, is this correct?
I will remove the fuses for the fuel pump in the boot #'s 3 & 7 so I can turn the cam to a better position and relieve a bit of pressure ( thanks again for this tip plums ).
Oh well its eggs or young'uns so they say, time to start.


Arty

 

Off to a bad start. My double hex Gordon 8mm 1/2" drive socket has rounded one of the cam cap bolt heads. I am hopeful to be able to get it out with a newly purchased single hex 3/8th drive socket, had to buy a 3/8th drive torque wrench from ebay also as I do not think my 1/2" one will fit in with an adapter. Anyway ordered now so hopefully will get it early next week, good job I'm not in a hurry. I live very rural so not much choice here.
I managed to successfully remove the fuses 3 & 7 and just for good measure removed the fuel pump rely, turned the motor over and it moved the camshaft but went on to show restricted performance and would only turn a couple of mm when ignition switch was turned. Is this normal, or have I just added to my already bad day?

Cheers,

Arty

 

Hi guys, just a quick update with some good news from my point of view.
Used the new 3/8th drive socket to remove all the can cap bolts, just a half a turn on each one until they were all out. Then I was quite surprised at how easily the exhaust cam sprocket came out with respect to how much tension appeared to be on the chain. Installed the R.B tensioner with the pin to the bottom facing the front on the drivers side of the vehicle, this puts the machined face of the tensioner against the machined face of the engine. Put the newly cut original bolts back in after cutting back to 35mm and cleaning up the cut edge. Test fit and all in order.
Was going to torque up the bolts but my wrench is in Ft/lbs and some other metric measurement so I will have to wait for the new 3/8th drive wrench to arrive next week before I can finish.
Took some pics of the " operation ", not the best lighting conditions as outside and a bit windy at times.
If anyone would like pics of anything specific, just let me know.
Looks like I dodged the bullet with the old tensioner, split from top to bottom, needless to say the L.B will be tackled before starting the motor up as if its the same it could go at any time!
I think the battery must be going flat ( at least I hope that is the case ) as when I put the key in the ignition and turned to the check systems there were about 4 or 5 different faults showing from restricted performance to rear bulbs out.
Thanks again for all who have taken an interest.
Cheers
Arty

 

Half way there and definitely not wasting you time.

 

Wow! One of the worst tensioner body cracks I've seen here that didn't actually break down. You ridged one there all right.

Definitely a job worth doing now.

 

I suppose a photo of Bamburgh Castle this weekend is out of the question?

In a way it's good to see the tensioner definitely is on its last legs. Makes all the work worthwhile.

Graham

 

Ill try and do the other side tomorrow if the weather is O.K. Have to say when the cap bolts were loosened each one did so with a resounding crack which was quite frightening considering the steel bolt in an aluminium head. I just hope when the left hand cam cover is removed that the tensioner is still in one piece. Fingers crossed......
Maybe in a few weeks Graham, when its on the road
Arty

 

Minimal progress today as it was raining this morning. Improved in the afternoon so got all the bolts out of the cam cover one except for the dipstick holder one. Tried and failed to pull it out of the housing, just going to cut the securing plate with a dremel or junior hacksaw blade. My old socket gave up the ghost so I ran over to Halfords and bought one of their professional small 3/8th drive sets, will complement the torque wrench I am getting this week. Its nice to have new good sockets for the job, binned the others so hopefully no more rounded nuts or bolts
Main problem today was separating the cam breather pipe from the body of the cam cover, it just would not come off. Its only a squeeze the side action to remove but took me about 2 hours, thankfully it did come off in one piece. Plastic must be getting hard and brittle, thats why I took so much time over it.
So, Sunday I am going to hopefully remove the cam cover and clean both left and right sides and fit the new gaskets to the covers, and clean the faces of the motor ready for torquing the bolts up when the wrench arrives. I will initially clean with a de-greaser, I have some gunk, that usually works well. Then I might steam clean them and finish off with some Armorall for a nice black covering.
Cheers,
Arty

 

This is a post to update others who are doing the same job.
Top tip from plums

" BTW, for all you readers ...

it is never mentioned, but the reason that the dipstick can be hard to pull up is that
there is a bracket at the bottom end that attaches to the power steering pump bracket.

it is another one of those plastic fir tree affairs.

found it in the TSB dealing with power steering pump misalignment causing belt squeal. posted by MotorcarMan.

Many thanks to plums for posting and Motorcarman for finding this out!

 

Well its taken me a while to get to this point due to several setbacks, but the L.B is now installed. Will post some pics tomorrow as I have just been called for supper.

C.U

Arty

 

True dedication to do all this outside, good luck with the rest of the jib!

 

Thanks for that comment RaceDiagnostics, nice to be noticed it was a labour of love really.
Here are some pics I took yesterday, note the first two pics which are a different way to release the dipstick holder. I chose this method as I was unsure if I could get the bottom of the tube back into the housing, so cam up with this idea. The holder was cut using a dremel, I would hope most peeps own one or could borrow one if they wanted to try this solution. Once cut the top part of the " clip " is bent up to release it from around the thread of the bolt, then tied at the side to keep it out of the way.
I'm off now to clean things up and hopefully our postie will bring the torque wrench today so I can finish it off and try to start him.

 

Arty,

Better get your thermals on. The frost here in the next County is a like a covering of snow this morning.

Hope the post arrives on time with your torque wrench.

Graham

 

Hi Graham, very cold this morning, late start and a few to many breaks from the cold.
Only got the L.B completed today, as had misgivings on one of the cam cap bolts, felt like it was not going to tighten up!
Yes the wrench did come and it was the reason for completion of the L.B.
Will have to recheck again tomorrow if the weather is decent.
A bit dispondant as it was all going so well. Will try loosening both bolts tomorrow and try re tightening to 10Nm or 7ft lbs.
Thankfully the new wrench had a conversation chart with it so I could be more sure of the correct setting rather than use my own chart which as it turned out was spot on ha ha

Edit, pic of the two bad boys, L.B not as bad as the R.B.




Cheers,
Arty.

 

I think I have just stripped the thread on the front middle bolt while bolting the cam cover back on.
Was using the torque wrench only set to about 6Nm and heard a pop, not from the wrench. The correct torque for these bolts is supposed to be 9Nm, WTF?
Any advice appreciated.

 

Bummer, I would drill it out a bit and tap it for the next bolt size, if space permits, less bother than a helicoil.

 

Thanks for that Race diagnostics its one way, just thought though, when I was tightening the bolt I heard a pop and now think it may have been the plastic housing on the cam cover which holds the bolt, fingers crossed.
I got everything bolted and coupled back up and tried a startup. FAIL
Same symptoms as previously reported when I tried to turn the motor in order to take the weight off the cam. Reporting B.P.M , and a few others, will only click and then nothing. No codes as it was dark when I finished, will try again tomorrow if weather permits. Battery on charge but is indicating green in the fully charged window.
Poor day again.
Cheers,
Arty