My 2000 Xk8 rag top is marking my garage floor. A few drops at a time. but I worry about her health. I am an hour away from Jag dealers, so I use local garage guys. Each local has a different diagnosis - timing covers, oil pan, power steering. None take the time to clean off the blow back and run the engine to see the actual leak. A local Nisson dealer says I have to pull the entire engine for both timing covers? I am now afraid to take her to a Jag dealer. Need some advice from the forum's experience.

 

Well, scrub the Nissan dealer.
Whatever you do don't pressure wash the engine to make finding the leak easier, that earns you instant transfer into 'My XK8 won't start/throws 200 OBD codes' thread.
I believe the timing covers do leak but have no personal experience (yet) so lets wait for Someone Who Knows.

 

You can tell a lot from where the drops are in relation to where the car is parked.

Odds on Camshaft Covers - a regular for leaking at the rear corners. I had to do them on my 2000 XJ8L and 2001 XK8 for this reason. The current 4.2 has so far been immune but that's probably going to guarantee it starts to leak next week!

Graham

 

I would gingerly spray with MAF and wipe residue away until you have a clean engine and then locate leak.

 

First place I would check would be the two Variable Valve Timing seals. Well-known leak sources on the 4.2 engines, and I presume on the 4.0 engines as well....

 

Yep, both sides on mine are leaking.

 

Well don't boast about it - fix it.

Graham

 

I am trying to milk it for what I can first!!!

 

My mechanic added a dye (can buy at O'Reilly I am sure) and then let me run it for a few days. Then with a uv light (can buy one at Ace Hardware) he looked for the leak.

 

A *small* oil leak does wonders for protecting the undercarriage from rust. It's like an automatic oil spray.

 

Wow...thank you all for the quick reply. I am going to try all the suggestions as soon as I figure out where these covers are. Is this a great forum or what? I will post the solution if I ever find it...

 

This makes it easier to explain where the camshaft seals are. See Item 2:



If it is leaking from there, check the forum for alternative and lower cost source than Jaguar OE.

Graham

 

You can easily see most of these areas, especially if yoiu have a nice bright flashlight and a mirror! The cam covers will leak along the bottom edge, and will start to stain the metal shield directly below them. Shine the light into the mirror along the bottom edge to see. As they get worse, some oil will make it back to the exhaust where you will certainly smell the oil burning! Noted above are the VVT solenoid seals on the front of the cam covers. Easy to see. You do not have to remove the cam covers to change these, although I would change them if I had the need to remove the covers to do cam cover seals. The timing cover has two long formed silicone type seals that eventually become "flattened" with age, and then will leak. You will have the best luck viewing this from below with the car on a hoist. It may even look like the engine oil pan leaking. The front crankshaft seals usually dont leak, but I would change it anyway if I had the timing cover off. And you DO NOT have to pull the engine to do any of these repairs! One thing NOT mentioned: the power steering. After a time, the hoses get so hard that the clamps won't secure them any longer. Check the p/s supply hose for looseness or leakage, especially where it connects to the reservoir. Also, the steering rack pinion seals will sometimes leak (where the steering column goes into the rack). Again, easy to spot on a hoist.