To date my 105,000mls 1999 XJ8 4.0 has a full Jaguar service record, indeed its now on a second book. However due to the age of the vehical my main dealer has been doing a cheaper "Gold" service for the last few years, since it had 85,000 on the clock, which was the 100,000mls/10yr stamp.

I am now going to be doing the services myself from now on as the value of main dear stamp is now probably not worth it.

There is no noticable "valve" noise at the moment but I guess at some point the valve drive chain is going to need some maintance. I guess it should already have had one lot tensioners or chains but when should they be done next ?

Do all the chains and tensioners need to be replaced or will it be a partial job ?

 

It's the secondary cam chain tensioners that generally cause problems. The reason is that they are made of plastic, or the bodies are made of plastic and they crack down the middle and fall apart, causing the chain to jump a tooth or two on the cam sprocket causing valves to hit pistons and disaster. There are many opinions on this. I have a 2001 and I did the secondary cam chain tensioners soon after I got the car a couple of years ago. I replaced them with the metal bodied ones. My car has been very well maintained - like yours - so personally I don't think I need the primaries or chains replaced yet anyway. But, opinions vary.