I have a 2000 XK8 and I am trying to find out if I have the Nikasil cylinders or not. I have the range of engine VIN No. but cannot find the location of the number on the engine itself. Can anyone help be to determine where the engine VIN is located. And I would also like any comments from those of you that might have Nikasin affected engine as to the problems you might have had.

 

A 2000 model will have Nikasil liners, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are in trouble, could be on the contrary even, as Nikasil is very string when being given low sulphur fuel.

Only way to be sure of the status is to get a blowby test, however almost no dealer outside of the UK has this. As long as your oil consumption is normal, and no oil is flowing into your airfilter you are fine. You will always have some oil thru the engine breather that is not an issue, only if it is in such an amount that if flows back to your filter it would be time to check.

 

A $25 oil analysis from Blackstone labs will give you some good information to judge your engine's health.

 

Although I do agree that it would be good to have you engine oil checked, I am not sure if more blowby will be detected with a oil analysis.

 

I should have been more explicit. I was recommending the oil analysis to detect excessive fuel dilution of the oil and/or particles from potential nikasil deterioration....not blowby.

 

I should have been more explicit just as well.
I do not think that you can catch early deteriorating of the Nikasil liners via an oil analyses. The only known good test was to measure blowby in liters per minute. 10 to 20 l/m is iirc a good value for your car, and 40 l/m was the border where Jaguar started swapping engines in the UK. You can get fuel in the oil by other causes. I still think it is good to test your oil though, but not as a measure of the nikasil lining imho.

 

EZ, if you go to the FAQ thread at the top of this subforum (XK8-XKR) you'll see a thread stickied to the top referencing the FAQ and other topics. It has a 3-part pdf download list that shows where your engine VIN is located, and it is in several places. Check it out and worse cas, you can take your vehicle VIN, call the dealer, and they may have that info int heir database...if the engine is different, that is.

 

What a welcome. Thanks guys. Like I described before I just bought this car last summer. A friend had it and it appeared in great shape with low miles. But after doing a lot more investigation I probably picked the wrong year. Be that as it may things may not be lost. The cam chain problem doesn't bother me. The upper secondary tensioner problem is no problem. What does bother me is the Nikasil cylinder problem. The engine does seem to use more oil than it should. My guess now is a quart per 3000 miles. The previous owner had just changed the oil and I am not sure if it was completely full. Have not had time to check the air filter. I will do that in the next few days and if it is full of oil I have a problem. Let's hope not. But if the cylinders are not satisfactory I have two choices. One is sell the car and get a 2003 or later with the 4.2. Or, and this is a big or, make it a spring and summer project and pull the engine and bring it up to perfection. I did that to an XK-150S many years ago which included the transmission and overdrive. That might be fun. So I'm asking, has anyone done that with the 4.0 engine including new cylinder liners? If so I would like to hear from you and anyone that cares to chime in.

Later Guys.

EZDriver

 

A quart per 3000 miles is not a problem to be fixed.

 

I had the same fears after I bought my 2000XKR 2 months ago. Unlike me to buy before researching something. I didn't know about Nikasil, or anything about Jaguars for that matter, at the time I bought it. Anyway, I did a compression check and they were all 132-145psi (cranking over about 4-5 times - pull the fuel pump fuse in the box in boot first). I was relieved as I think this is well within acceptable limits. Have only driven 2,500 hundred miles so don't know oil consumption yet...Due to other issues like blowing oil everywhere when test driving after replacing tensioners, chains etc, and blowing an oil cooler hose; I've changes the oil twice already.

Anybody know what the spec compression should be?

EZDriver Read this.....it made me feel alot better

http://www.jag-lovers.org/cjw/#0504x and this http://www.racinggreencars.com/moder...J-V8Engine.pdf

 

I love nikasil and would take a nikasil engine over a steel lined any day, when the time comes I will bore it out bigger still and have it re-nikasiled again.

I now have a 4.2 nikasil engine and proud

 

Where did you find a source to reline the engine with nikasil? Of course you're in the UK and if I ever needed to rebuild I don't think I'd ship the block over there and back...that would cost a ton.

 

I would prefer a nikasil engine over steel lined for a special application engine such as a "dedicated" track car where run times, fuel, oil, coolant, etc. are closely controlled and where use fits in a narrow band, but lean in the other direction for a daily driver application, especially an urban commute car running in a wide climate range.

 

Its all a moot point for those of us that have nikasil. As my engine runs great now, I'm hoping the lining is in good enough condition to last for another 100k miles...presently have 67k. Anyway, I'm assuming iron liners are available and any competent machine shop can handle the job. However, I read somewhere, some company in Washington State I believe, might be able to reline with nikasil but don't know if this is true. Since this subject comes up with every new owner of older XKs, does anyone know of a company that can re-coat an engine block?

P.S. the new Ford 5.0 is essentially a nikasil engine. What with the millions of those engine that will be sold, somebody will tool-up to do so I would think.

 

Here is already 1 in the US:
http://www.928motorsports.com/services/uschrome.php

Now that sulphur has gone (and hopefully ethanol doesn't bring any new), nikasil is indeed superior.

 

Once again this site amazes me with the wealth of information knowledgeable members have! I will save the address for the Motorsports services plating for future reference. Thank you Avos, now I have peace of mind knowing everything about this car is fixable including the engine, as I plan to keep her forever.

 

I want to thank all of you for all the very helpful information. It was a big help. And after much hard thinking I have decided to part with the 2000 XK8. This is something I really don't want to do. It is really a shame to do this since the car is in almost new condition. With only 40K miles the finish and interior almost like new. And the previous owner had just put XKR wheels and tires on it. It looks and drives great. But I do have another Jaguar and an experimental airplane to play with so something has to go. Since my wife liked the car so much I might keep my eye open for a 2003 with the 4.2 engine.

Thanks again for all your help. I'm not leaving the forum by any means since I do own an XJ6 and at one time had a XK150S drop head. Dumbest thing I ever did was sell that car.

I always like to get email from Jag guys so I will post my email: BSudderth@juno.com

 

EZ, as long as your decision is informed and is in your best interests, we cannot fault you. Holly Lake Ranch will make selling the car a bit more difficult, maybe you can find someone in Tyler to 'display' it for you. Good luck!

 

What kind of experimental airplane do you have? I built a Zenith CH-801 and a Quicky Q2. I was in the process of building an experimental gyrocopter when I crashed a Quicksilver ultralight and got banged up pretty bad. I was flying low over some trees when my engine died. I decided then that I wasn't going to do any more flying behind two-stroke engines.

 

I fly gliders and used to fly kites until a fairly serious accident too....no more kites.