I bought a forum members 2006 XJR for parts for my 2004 XJR. I was going to break it and use what I need and sell the rest. After I got a good look at it at my shop, the car is just in too good of shape to break. I am going to sell my crappy 2004 and fix the 2006. The 2006 has some internal engine trouble. My question is; am I stuck having to find an XJR short block from 2006 and up or would an older short block work? Also, I’m assuming an NA short block will not work due to compression ratios with the SC engines? I’m needing some advice and direction here.

 

I could be wrong.. but AFAIK the short-block delta factor between NA and SC is managed by diffferent piston-top shape to alter compression, the rest being the same.

New pistons with rings are dam' seldom a BAD idea, regardless, and not even terribly costly. Gudgeon pins are circlipped, not pressed-in, so that's not as hard as some others, either.

Age might carry the greater hassle as you've 4.2, 4.4, 5.0 diffs as well.

More than one AJ133 has been on You Tube with one or more shattered pistons off the back of cooling fail, head gasket fail, then hydrostatic lock. Same again chain fail and interference crunching valves and pistons.

Even so, they were rebuilt.

Accordingly, I'd have to rate the bottom-end fair-decent at surviving severe damage. Good chance you will NOT need a short block at all.

"Austere" case, you might get by with but one head-gasket, not even two?

Be "a while" before my playing with "Thermo-Seal" reveals whether it is even worth a try.

Meanwhile.. could the 2004 motor you already have in front of you become the donor for the 2006? Freight cost or go-fetch cost avoided. Less mystery, too. 2004's go for less, intact, than decent engines do, anyway.

 

NA long block is identical except for the pistons and rods. 4.2 sc non-vvt had oil squirters but these were removed by then.

if you’re really lazy you can buy an NA engine for pennies strap it with all the sc equipment and see how far you go. there’s tuners on here that might be able to make it safe.

some guy on the lincoln forum had a 3.9 (10.75 comp same as 4.2 na) with a jag blower on it for a few years

 

There actually seem to be fewer "cheap" NA's in the recent market than SC's. Snatched-up already, mayhap?

So "pennies" might not be enough advantage to justify it. Which one is likely to have lesser risk of damage is not in my ken, but these weren't the riskier of SC designs.

I'd still look "first" at the 2004's mill. Even if imperfect, at least it could be less of a dice-roll to rebuild than a 'low cost' unknown. Less outlay, more cash available for the parts, too.

That could at least "buy" your budget significant recovery-time whilst evaluating other options?

Unless, of course, the 2006 isn't all that bad? Money aside, how's your TIME and alternative transportation flexibility?

"Safest" way to buy a used engine can be still in a running vehicle, however crunched or tattered, where it has reliable year and mileage figures, sounds good, has innocent oil and coolant, even passes emissions inspection. Too hard to "test" a loose engine by yourself.

Now you'd have a third Jaguar (or Rover?) Not unheard of. Might even be the least-cost path?

"Red-neck mechanic" certificate requires FIVE vehicles on the property and no more than one is allowed to be roadworthy at any given time. Buried ones don't count, so I was short by one on my best attempts. Fewer is better, lest nothing happens according to plan at all.

 

Well I’ve got 3 Jags, a Kia, a supercharged z3 and a new Jeep Gladiator. I’m trying to fix the 2006 XJR the correct way.

 

Well... Hell.. that's easy.

Just ruin all but one, you'll qualify for your Red-neck certificate!


More seriously... half-measures too often lead to re-do, wasted money, and a bad mood.

5.0 NA L320 same goal. Do it right, or not at all.
Bottom end, revised oiling, on up.

Expecting a Royal BK of a PITA pulling the b***h and K-Y jellying it back in..

Far greater PITA on a DOHC with head bolts under the cams, running gear & such under the pan, rear oil seal as it is..., not to do.

Jaguar XJ might not be as actively-access-hostile as the way an AWD Rover has to mount an AJ133, but still... pull it ... or just park it... and pray you spot a trade for an even BETTER one before you even start.

Anyone mature enough to have acquired that stable is no longer made of double-jointed elastic, debris-proof eyeballs, and factory-fresh rubber bands.

Some years, divestiture is the better part of value.

Your original plan, was, after all.....???

Maybe BOTH should go ... in favour of one ....better than EITHER?


Oye! "temptation!" .. and the Jezebel Lover Reaping Motor Crumpknee

Wife (and her Mum) actually watched.. from a distance.. as I turned away more than one wave of eager "night ladies" on the Shanghai Bund, "back in the day".

She cannot understand how ever I fell prey to the passive flesh of "Connolly hides" instead.

I THINK I'm still the better for it? One Jag. One Rover... errmmm... might be in the market for a Kia to go for parts?



Oh... and if you had ONE Jaguar and... a Range Rover Sport? You could take the odd load off to the recycling center without the uppity b***h peeing on your sofa pillows out of umbrage at the insult to her Royal dignity?

Spoiled rotten they can be...

 

My original plan was to use the 06 for parts but after I got it back and saw how incredibly well kept it was my plans changed. I believe you’re right about using the 04 for parts since that one runs and drives great and has also had its transmission rebuilt 50k miles ago. I can pull the running gear from below and swap them if I can’t repair the 06s engine reasonably. A smashed valve is one thing but a smashed valve and piston with piston wall scoring is another. I’ll pull the head this weekend and see.

 

Sounds the more pragmatic start, given what Carl Von C. said about plans...

The Teslong NTS500B 'scope CAN see, record, and transfer video as to bore scoring, piston crown, and valve damage via the spark plug hole of an AJ133. Rather good resolution and colour, too.

Patient wiggling about and toggling between forward and side view is still but a fraction the work of pulling a/the head(s). Other 'scopes might do even better at that with easier maneuvering of the vision tip.

Plug out, compression & leak-down tester in, etc.

Actually fixes NOTHING, of course... just a useful "preview".

Might not even bother pulling heads if the news is overly dreadful?

 

the previous owner scoped it and found metal chunks in one cylinder. I need to see the extent of the damage and I definitely need this car off my lift sooner than later.

 

Puzzling to be just the one, but otherwise "Capiche".

And I've said it before - I don't regard "modest" scoring as a "show stopper". The AJ V's with pressed-in liners are good on that feature. Even NikaSil motors have been preserved as decent runners with mild scoring. Increased oil consumption and blow-by should be insignificant, given this tribe of motors are best served with more frequent lube changes than average, regardless.

Meanwhile.. just ran a search, my ZIP and Hotlanta.

At least in those two major metro areas, I was wrong as to "entire cars" going cheaply. "Inflation" thing, but mayhap "not only"?

Typical used X350's are now asking close to the same as the $10.6 I paid for my 2005 XJ8-L, ten years back. No wonder the verdammt VA personal property tax hasn't been dropping.

 

I I have been thinking of selling my 2006 XJR. 125K, valley hose and anti knock sensors two years ago, just gave up on air ride and installed coil overs.
Needs paint, roof has cooked recently. For an 18 year old Jag it is in great shape. Drives fine.

 

how much do you want for it and where is it located?

 

For what it's worth, I got ahold of a 2004 S-Type V8 a friend could not get running for $500. Body and interior were excellent but it turns out the 4.2L V8 engine was gone. Found one in a salvage yard. Odometer said 74,885. The engine and installation cost $1300 + $300 for some replacement parts. I had to tweak the installation a bit, but the car looks and runs great. [Would be fabulous if despite replacing the dual solenoids I could get cold air from both sides instead of cold one side and hot the other]

 

From what I’ve read, the na 4.2 is not the same engine as the SC 4.2. The more I think about it, the closer I’m getting to just using my 2004 xjrs engine in the 06. That way I can have access to all the parts should I need something unforeseen.

 

"unforeseen" is just a ten-letter way to spell "Jaguar" in inflated times, ain't it?

Any Joy, over the weekend?

Got my one blowing bubbles out of the top of the right front Bilstein top, center, like-unto a pet Blue Whale drinking out of a 1940's Hollywood movie star's bathtub!

$1.98 for a whole pint of "bubble stuff' from the poor-folk store and "expertise" on the cheap!

Now.. all I hafta do is keep that partic'lar pint well TF away from my cawfee maker..

"Bad things happen when....yer leak struts."

 

I'm not talented enough to do either, but if all the Control Units will work btw 04 and 06, I'd swap the drive train.

 

that’s my worry but I’m just swapping the mechanical Parts. Engine and transmission.

 

The 2006 should already VVT, which in 2004 was only available on the N/A, not on the supercharged engine. I wonder whether this would mean a change in the programming of the ECU?

Jaguar also changed a lot of other electrics and the emission systems for the MY2006, so I wonder what else would be different and not compatible to the 2004.

I have attached the description of the changes for the MY2006.

Best regards,

Thomas

 

Assuredly. It is externally managed. Unlike "pioneer days" when VVT was but a spring tuned to deal at varying RPM with change in valve-train & cam drag vs advance/delay... with no other variable inputs.

Not an easy one to migrate the ECU with its engine, harness, cats, O2 and other sensors and actuators .... such that it doesn't have any klew given it that it ever "left home", either, is it?

Virginia's emissions inpection, I was only able to dooo that by transplanting a donor motor & it's controls tribe of the same MY or newer as the recipient chassis. That to insure Fed standards had been complied with for the rig as-titled, AND NOT regressed to older parameters of a motor's donor.

DMV didn't otherwise care it was a GMC V6 with custom PROM - generated with aid of a bribe to get factory info, then assisted by the "forth" programming language - for transplant into a Jeep.

Present-day, the system links to DMV Mothership HQ shortly after the AMP connector is plugged-in.

VIN matches vehicle under test to VIN of title on-record, requirements for it are known, test proceeds.

"The good news." is when I ask DMV for two-year tags, mere minutes later, their 'puter already knows I've passed.

Or NOT!

Were it otherwise, there'd be a rockerbox mill with Scintilla Vertex magneto on the Mike Foxtrot and nary a care about the freakin' tribe of bickering computers trying to make my old age so bloody complicated.

***** sake? My five packs of smokes a day emit more than the motorcars!

To the good, not ALL Virginia counties even require an emissions test for annual registration at all.

At the present time.

Population-density thing.

Georgia? I haven't looked it up, but Hotlanta's density would not get a Fed free pass AFAIK?

You may need some electronic hybridization?

Why did "we chick'ns" not think of this sooner?

Ain't gonna play the "old age" card. It simply weren't MY motor!