Drove the 97 Jag with 70k on it today on HWY ran great. Started it, shut it off, went into store. Came back out and started it and the motor started making lots of clattling up front. Do have that dreaded problem with the cheap plastic thingies up in the tmiming gears/chain area? DAMN!!!!!!!!!! What will it cost me at a Jag dealer if that is the deal. I gues I should not run the motor much which I have not. I only will need to run it one more time to get into garage once wrecker drops it in the drive.

 

I wouldPUSH itinto your garage. In fact until you fix those little plastic thingies.... I would NOT start it. gordo

 

OK!

 

I fixed mine myself. Primary and Secondary Chains and Tensioners. About $600-700 for parts.

Independents charge about $1500 and double that amount at a Dealer.

Chances are you only need Secondary Tensioners. Cost Less than $200 p;us labor.

 

I'm curious, if the tensioners broke, what happens to all of the little pieces?

 

When you are lucky, the plastic pieces of the tensioner slipper head drop down inside the front cover and into the oil sump. Small bits will getsucked into the oil pump pickup screen, but I have never seen an engine where this causes a significant restriction. Some of the pieces will find their way into recesses in the front of the block and stay there: you find them when the front cover is off, but I have never seen a piece cause any problem with the primary chains.

The bad deal is when a chunk of the slipper comes off and jams between the secondary chain and the inside of the cylinder head: this is what usually causes the chain to break.Then it becomes likely that at least one pair of exhaust valves will be bent. If the failure occurs at speed, or the engine is run further:hammered valves will break,chew up the cylinder head,destroy piston crowns and damage cylinder bores. If you try to run your engine now that a tensioner has failed, you are likely to be buying an engine.

I charge $800 total parts and labor to replace secondary tensioners. The local Jag club poobah told me that costis $1200 in Phoenix AZ. FactoryJagTech once posted on here that the full boat (primary and secondary chains and tensioners) was somethinglike $3200 at his Jaguar Dealership in Florida.

Please get in touch if you need an engine, or if the damage is expensive enough that you'd rather sell the car as is.

 

What JagTech describes is what happened to my wife's XJ8. The engines cylinder walls were coated with Molybdenum (sp?) and when one of the valve heads broke off the stem gouged out a piece of the cylinder wall when the piston pushed it over. The cylinder walls can't be repaired on these engines so the entire engine had to be replaced.

To add insult to injury, Hennessey Jaguar in Atlanta charged me $700 to find out that that the engine had to be replaced. I kid you not.

DO NOT START YOUR ENGINE. You will most probably destroy it.

 

Thanks guys. I get it towed home today on rollback and will park in the garage timm I can get it to a shop.

 

if the plastic pad went between the sprocket and chain, replaced the secondary chain, or IT WILL break down the road. if not just replace the upper tensioners. And the reason Hennessey charged so much is they have the "we dont know for sure unless we tear it down" syndrome that so many extended warranty companies push. If the engine is bad its better to replace it and be done, rather than tear it down to verify it still needs to be replaced, its a waste of your money and my time. Better to put the time n money to the repair rather than wasted diagnostic time, it takes very little time to determine how much damage has been done, usually an hour is more than sufficient

 

ALl I did was start it, not paying attn the the way if sounded I shut it off right away then hit it once more time to see if it was DOING the deed to me. It was not running anymore then 10 deconds total once it started making those noises.

 

Hey BRUTAL,

So let me get this straight, 'cause you brought up something I haven't seen yet. Here's the scenario...

Customer comes in with excessive chain noise ('98 VDP, 105K). Inspection reveals thatone secondary tensioner slipper is gone: the steel tensioner face has caused some wear on the secondary chain, but the tensioner plunger stayed in place, the chain did not failand the camtiming did not jump.

Customer is advised that the worn chain should be replaced, which obviously means that the full boat (all primary and seconday components) is required. Using secondary chains with removable master links is not a Jaguar approved repair, I won't expose myself to that liability in the event of a later problem.

Customer declines this work, as he cannot justify a repair of that expense on a car he can't sell for $6,000.

Latest revision secondary tensioners are installed, no other action taken, engine runs fine and no chain noise is evident. Customer is advised that, as a minimum concern, the worn chain could increase the rate of wear on the new tensioner.

Your post leads me to understand that you have seen a usedsecondary chain break when a new tensioner has been replaced and is still intact? That is troublesome. Of course, someone could seriously stress the secondary chain when locking down the exhaust cam sprocket, and that might cause a problem down the road. But I have never seen a chain break on any version of a Jaguar engine that was not directly caused by broken pieces of a tensioner component, or a camshaft siezed in its journals. I've never assembled hand grenades before, and I don't have the desire to start now... and if I want to dabble in false economy, I can just scrape together a little money and invest in the stock market.

Experience dictates a more prudent course? Please advise, and thanks for your time and contributions.

 

sorry to hear that! good luck fixing it. send ur xmas list early to santa. tell him u been good boy w bad luck and u deserve high value visa gift cards this year.

 

As I understand it, this usually happens on startup. I did not want to deal with this in the future. I had the upper and lower tensioners replaced with the new all metal ones. This was done by an independent that has done this numerous times and charges a set fee of $1000. Timing chains were in good shape. Hennessey wanted $2400 to do it.

 

Hi Lew,

$1,000 parts and labor? Even without new chains, that is not enough.

 

JT, IM WAS REFFERING TO WHEN THE PLASTIC GET GET BIT BY THE SPROCKET AND CHAIN..IE WHEN THE PAD COMES OFF AND GOES BETWEEN THE SPROCKET AND CHAIN. i PRETTY MUCH QUOTE UPPER TENSIONERS ON OLDER V8S IF IM DOING CAM COVER GASKETS FOR OIL LEAKS SINCE MOST OF THE TIME WHEN YOU PULL THEM APART THE TENSIONERS ARE PLASTIC AND HAVE A SPLIT UP THE BODY. IF THE PAD COMES OFF AND BIT I DO RECOMMEND UPPER CHAINS AND THE WHOLE ENCHALADA ID YOU GOING THROUGH THE TROUBLE OF PULLING THE FRONT COVER. bUT IF THEY DONT WANT IT i JUST NOT IN THE STORY THAT CUSTOMER WAS ADVISED ABOUT A GREATER POTENTIAL FOR THE CHAINS TO SNAP AND LEAD TO SEVERE ENGINE DAMAGE. aND YES MOST TENSIONER COME APART AND CAUSE THE CAMS TO JUMP TIME ON STARTUP SINCE THERES NOT SUFFICENT TENSION. BUT THE CHAINS ON THE OTHER HAND TEND TO SNAP CRUISING DOWN THE ROAD, ON ACCEL OR DECCEL MOST OFTEN AND AT AN RPM THAT TRASHES THE ENGINE.

 

Well all my motor running was at start/idle for no more then 15 seconds. I hope I is not that bad. It is in the garage and covered for the winter here in Cincy.

 

SO are you going to wonder and wait to find out? .... man I applaude your lack of worry, or acceptance of the unknownhow mechanically inclined are you? why dont you pull the covers and at least see if its out of time, how much apart it is etc...

 

I am out of work, and this car is LOOOOOW on the list of things that need attn and no when it comes to motors I let others do this type of work.

 

I did not plan to drive it this winter anyways and was going to sit it as I have two other cars, so it sits a little sooner then I thought. WHen I get a job I will have it looked at.

 

still in the garage.