When the supercharger belt is replaced, do most people remove the bonnet to allow access? Oh yes, and how is the best way to remove the bonnet without hurting it? Thanks.

 

I just did mine on an XJR, I chose not to remove the hood (bonnet), but you do need to remove the fan assembly. There are two screws on top and an electrical connector on the bottom right (as you face the vehicle) side. It then slides up and out. You should have plenty of room at that point. I think that the XK8(R) even has more room in front of the radiator than the XJ series, so this should work just fine.

 

You could loosen the struts so the bonnet can be opened vertical, and it is out of the way. Then with a special tool (flat bar and a 1/2 socket that fits in the tensioner) you can take the tension of the belt to take it of. Then (bit fiddly) you can push the belt gently between the belt-tensioner & belt-idler from the FEAD. New belt reverse order ;-) Should be a 5 to 10 minute job.

 

Great advice, I didn't think of losening the struts. I just looked at the front of the engine and wondered if the dealerships use the same midgets to work on engines as that sit in our back seats.

 

Took me about 6 months of ownership before someone mentioned the 'service' position and how to get it up. And even longer to be told you don't have to remove the clip on that stupid bonnet strut to twist it off the ball-socket. The 2nd time I attempted this, the thing went into warp in my garage and has yet to be found.

 

Ok, Ok il'l bite what is the "service position" and how does one achieve it?

 

Rich, I thought you figured it out?!?

(1) open the bonnet
(2) have two (2) 3/8" long bolts on you
(3) twist the top strut connection (where it attaches to the bonnet) so that it release the ball/socket (hold the bonnet, its heavy) lay down the strut into the engine bay
(4) move to the other side, remove the other top strut connection
(5) lift bonnet up vertical and align holes in the hinge so that you can insert a bolt on each side
(6) rest the bonnet on the inserted bolts and proceed to get better access to the front end

 

Great, that should protect my noggin! Thanks.

 

avos:
Can you recommend which serpentine belt tool to use on the Jaguar 4.2 L SC engine? There are a number of different models and I am not sure which one would fit best??
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There is no tool for this one, you only need a standard metric 15 size (iirc) spanner, place it on the tensioner pulley, and turn it anticlockwise to release the tension on the belt. Then you can just take it off.

 

Avos...what is the FEAD? I just got a tensioner release tool and I want to try replacing the supercharger belt your way.

 

FEAD=Front End Accessory Belt.
Try to get the belt vertical in the place mentioned, and push it out from below (like in the picture). Then you get it past the bolt, and out it goes. New belt in is similar, get the belt vertical again, and push it downwards past the bolt of the idler. Takes a little time and patience, as the trick is to get the belt as vertical as possible, you will see what I mean.

 

changed both belts few days ago, some info:

1) On my car (XKR, 4L V8 supercharged) it was impossible to completely remove the fan assembly. I released the bolts, as mentioned above, but I couldn't remove the thing. On the left side of the car there is a hose going into the radiator, on the right hand side there was an aluminum pipe (don't know, probably air conditioning).
2) I managed to finish the job anyways, just lifting the fan assembly as far as possible. then I was able to fit a normal ratchet into the square hole in the tensioner pulley.
3) I can confirm, it is not a big problem to remove and install both belts. You just need to twist them and get them in position trough the gap between the pulleys.

 

You have to remove the radiator hose and unclip it from the aluminum pipe from below the car to remove. Glad you got it done anyway.

 

I did that, but the problem was on the top side. The small plastic pads on the sides of the fan assembly, the ones used to actually bolt the fan assembly to the radiator, there was the problem.

 

Thanks for the photo Avos...this helps. You know somewhere I thought you said there was no tool for supercharger belt removal, but there is a Jaguar belt tensioner release tool available...I just purchased one.

 

That was meant for the "serpentine" or FEAD belt, which clubairth1 asked for, in my first post I mentioned the tool

 

Hi Avos...so the detensioning tool for the supercharger belt tensioner will not also work on the FEAD belt tensioner?

 

You need to de-tension the tensioner on the bolt (contrary to the supercharger one), so I always use a 15 size (iirc) Hexagonal ring spanner (Deep Offset):


Have a look, and you will see.

 

I used the gear wrench serpentine belt tool on my xjr. Replaced both belts and both tensioners from the top without removing fan shroud or anything else. Also used a small 13mm gear wrench.