Hi
I've searched the forums looking for some info on the special tools required for undertaking the timing chain and tensioner replacement on a 2001 (4.0L) XK8.
I've found some bits and pieces and a photo but not enough detail to do the job. I live in Perth, Western Australia and these bits aren't available for hire so:-
My questions/needs are:
1. Is the crankshaft pulley retaining bolt left hand thread?
2. is a "normal" puller capable of removing it - operating space?? - does the radiator and or fans have to come out?
3. the flywheel retaining tool - can it be made up in a well equipped workshop (has lathe) and, if so dimensions please?
4. camshaft retaining tool design and dimensions?
I haven't even taken the cam cover off yet and would rather get everything together before the task begins.
I've done this job on lesser engines including twin cams but never on a jag V8.
If the short answer is to read an existing post please send me in the right direction.
thanks to all
jd

 

Here is a link to a home made set of cam locking tools: Welcome to Jag-lovers - Members Photo Viewing Page

 

1. No, it's RH thread.
2. Yes, but I did mine out of the car. If there's room to swing a hammer it ought to work in car. Your biggest hassle is cleaning the threaded holes for the bolts. They are metric.
3.You could easily make this on a lathe. Just turn down some stock to fit where the sensor was, then after that use a grinder to custom make the odd tapered, rounded, sorta triangular shape you need to fit the flexplate hole.
4. These are the easiest yet, any piece of steel bar with the right hole spacing will do. The forces on these bars are not high.

The other tool you will need is the pin wrench that is used to tension the chains when you bolt the cam sprockets on. Not sure how you'd make those.
Check out my thread here- https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-review-99234/
Look at the first picture, the tool is the second one from the top, the silver one with two pins and a square hole for a breaker bar to go in.

Good luck!

 

Many of the members have replaced the secondaries with the zip tie method, and left the chains and primaries alone after inspection. Do you know for a fact that you have to replace everything, or is this a get to know the engine kind of project?

 

Thanks Rob, testpoint and RJ

I've now checked KTC tools on US Ebay and will probably go that route with home made bits for anything else I need.
RJ -
the car is new to me but is a 2001 build car (one owner and low km's) but initially noisy on cold start. I have the full service history and receipts file and tensioners are not listed.
I've read on this forum that changing the secondary tensioners is sufficient but the more cautious members do recommend a complete change over of primary and secondary chains and tensioners - so that's where I intend to go - as doing the secondaries and then discovering I should've done them all would really p*** me off!
jd

 

Yes, that's exactly what p****d me off. After doing just the secondaries I still had a lot of chain rattle. Ended up tearing it down again and doing the primary and cracked guides. Chain seemed fine and reports here seem to indicate that replacing it is rarely necessary and overkill so I left it alone.

Finally pleased with the outcome and all noise has disappeared. Good luck!

Sam

 

I did the whole thing recently to be on the safe side (78k miles). Both blades (guides) were cracked, in addition to the secondary tensioners (badly cracked). Primary ones were intact. Replaced the chains too for piece of mind.

The biggest hassle in the job was to remove the crankshaft bolt and pulley! We did not have the special tools so we used an ad-hoc tool for the bolt and a generic puller (a pretty large one though). We clearly struggled. The amount of brute force needed to get the pulley off was phenomenal, in conjunction with liberal use of heat and penetrating fluid.

 

Hi Jerome - applying heat to the crankshaft pulley sounds a bit drastic!! How did you do that without collateral damage?
Is it because "Loctite" or similar is used at the factory or is the nut/pulley just a very very tight fit?
Thanks for sharing your experience.
jd

 

You are not supposed to pull the damper completely off with the puller tool.
You only need to pull it about 1mm to 2mm and then smack it with a mallet to loosen the damper from the split cone.

The damper might come off by hand or continue with the puller (but it will be really easy with the cone loose).

Read TSB 303-10 for clarification.

 

To get the bolt off, we locked down the crankshaft first using a lever against one torque converter boss. The pic below shows the tool we used to undo the bolt, on top of which we added a robust pipe in metal (~1m long) to increase the torque.

The main reason we struggled with the pulley was that we did not have the right tool for it. The timing tools I bought are shown below, they were very good but no puller. I thought we would easily get around with a generic puller. My mistake !

Although small the special puller should help, as it has been designed to apply the force evenly with a perfect alignment. Our generic puller was too long by a quarter of an inch, the radiator was just in the way. As a result, the alignment was not 100% perfect. A lot of unnecessary fiddling !