HI,

I have a 1997 XK8 convertible, which I am the second owner. It has a full and up to date service history, and plenty of supporting paperwork.

The only thing that I cannot find is any reference to the pretensioner upgrade.

It drives fantastic, no rattles etc, so I am assuming that it may have had this work done. Is there any easy ( not expensive) way to check out if the work has been done?

Any info gratefully received.

 

Remove a cam cover. To be absolutely certain remove both. The original tensioner bodies will be orange or brown. You may have to replace the gaskets, which are more expensive for the AJ26 engine. Put a dab of gasket sealant on the joints of the head/timing cover.

This may seem like a lot of bother but it's necessary. Generally, he tensioners were not replaced unless they failed.

 

Thanks RJ237

 

Are you asking about cam chain tensioners or seat belt pretensioners?

 

You didn't mention how many miles you have on the car.

 

If you can't prove otherwise assume they haven't been changed.
Consequences of a fail tensioner are catastrophic.
Grab a spanner mate.

 

If the engine block was never cleaned, it will be relatively obvious if the front cover over the lower guides was opened. There would be no other reason to open this cover than to replace the lower tensioners.

 

For cars serviced by 99 percent of all mechanics, checking out the tensioners under one cam cover should be sufficient. However, on my car (serviced by drug and alcohol abusing aliens from outer space, or possibly zombies), I found one new tensioner on one side and one old (plastic) tensioner on the other. Go figure.

 

The question STILL remains UNANSWERED. I thought the OP was typing about the SRS pretensioners.

We are wasting words until we know what the question is!!

bob

 

Just in case we are talking about secondary cam tensioners . . . even if you find documentation that the tensioners have been replaced on your '97 that does not mean that the third generation metal tensioners were used. Thousands of first generation units were replaced under warranty or privately by the PLASTIC second generation.

Their failure rate is exactly the same as the first generation.

 

I agree because I installed the second GEN secondaries for the 'rattle-at-start-up' when I worked at the dealer. We got the TSB and followed Jaguar's recommendations.

I think they are more dangerous than the first GEN because they are still plastic body and fail but the spring keeps the tension until the oil pressure comes up to stop the noise.

Noisy failure or silent failure still results in FAILURE.




I hope we are typing about the cams and not the seatbelts.

bob

 

Thanks everyone- it is NOT the seat belt pretensioners.
I have taken a number of peoples advice and have booked her in to have the cam covers taken off and am having an inspection.
The car has covered 77K miles since new.
Unfortunately, I am one of those people who adores jaguars( not so much the modern, post 2010 ones) but am completely incompetent in the mechanical understanding.
Thank you for every ones comments, they are all appreciated.