My 98 coupe is approaching its 21st birthday with 47.5K on the clock and I think that I've pushed my luck far enough on waiting to replace the upper tensioners. To that end, I thought it best to use an indie Jag specialist for the job rather than the excellent indie I use for general maintenance. The fellow I met with quoted US$900 to do the upper tensioner job plus $100 to replace the original spark plugs "while the covers are off." It's not a job I care to do myself and this shop has a lot of experience doing it... to the point where they have "before & after" tensioners displayed on the wall. I asked about the lowers and chain guides and he discouraged me from doing those unless the front cover was leaking and had to be pulled anyway. Is the advice good and the price within the expected range? TIA for opinions.

 

Given the age of the vehicle, the primary and secondary timing chains, guides and tensioners should all be replaced. To do otherwise is false economy.

The original primary chain guides crack and pieces break off ending up in the sump.

 

Thanks for that advice. Any idea on what I should expect to pay for that?

 

Wow, its been around 5 yrs. If you felt like it (searching) I'm sure I posted it back then. From my memory it was around $2200. I have seen folks post lower amounts and higher amounts over the years. FWIW I went to a private specialty shop.

John

 

If I were you, I wouldn't make a decision until you have seen the state of the upper tensioners. When I did mine they were immaculate, so I didn't consider that it was worth doing the rest of the system. If on the other hand you get to your upper tensioners and they are falling apart, you might think its also time to do the lowers and the guides.

Also, unless you have owned the car from new, how do you know that they have not already been done?

 

Good advice, thanks. Actually, I have owned the car since new. Saw it on the showroom floor in October '97 - the first '98 to arrive at Jaguar Honolulu - and it was love at first sight. They had just put it on the floor overnight and I happened to be there early in the morning to finalize paperwork on an XJ8. They pulled it off the floor while I waited, I took it for a spin and drove it home that day. 21 years later, a move to Texas and then to Florida, and I still love the car.

 

That's a great story. Gosh those XJS' were pretty sexy too. Did you wind up buying both?

if yes, you know I've got to ask about the feel of driving one vs the other. If not im sure you madr the right choice!

I was hell bent on buying an XJS but they were being snatched up so fast I couldn't find one. Then I saw my XK8 for sale on the side of the road.

I had no idea how nice these are. It took the endorsement of a gent I know who collects Jaguars. He said: "it can do everything an XJS can do and more."

I was sold on my 1st test drive which was a fun story. I got in the drivers seat, started down the road. The owner looked at me and said: "have some fun, don't worry about me."

Well that was nice, i thanked him and said I'd like to but I didn't want a ticket. He looked at me and said: " you don't know who I am?" I responded " um no, what do you mean?"

he said "John, I'm the district attorney - they work for me."

I just floored it...wish I knew more about the car and how hard I could push it back then with a free pass like that!

John

 

Actually, I meant to say XJ8 - not S. I had just come off a 2 yr lease of a 95 XJ8 and was going to get a new one but one look at the XK8 and that was it. I did a two year lease on that too and bought it out at the end. I've corrected my original post.

Great story about the DA. Hope the offer wasn't just for one ride only!