Hello again,

Was an active member for many years. Not so lately. Laid low due to tuition bills and divorce. Coming out of the ether and need some perspective from those who have been there...

My 02 XK8 Coupe with 202,000+ ran low on oil. My wife was driving it around town and their was no instrument indication she was low on oil (no I have not checked in awhile...my fault). But when I washed the car, I heard valve noise and proceeded to check. Nuthin' on the dip stick. Ending up adding 5 quarts. Sh*t.

Started her up after adding all and she was quiet. Phew.

Wife drives her to go shopping and returns telling me there is an ominous noise from the engine bay. I start her up. Clunking emanating from down low. My lame best guess is a rod. Whether low oil caused it or it was just its time. Dunno.

So my question is. Was going to keep the car, no question , even though it needs new a/c and few $1000 of miscellaneous work beside the new engine problem. Do I;

-Is it likely the noise is a rod or perhaps some nuance of the Jag that may be fixed easier than I think (I hope)?
-Rebuild the motor?
-Buy a used motor?
-Put the car aside, and when a spare 10k(?) comes up bring her back up to snuff and enjoy her another 14 years?
-Sell her and move on...

Body and interior are in good shape for the miles.

Damn

Thanks to all in advance

 

Hey Jag69,
Sorry to hear your plight.

Can be difficult to know when to stop and when to roll up your sleeves. It sounds like the car has much sentimental value to you.

Might be a spun bearing - can you perhaps post up a sound recording so that one of the gurus here can offer an opinion?

Mike

 

Mike,

Thank you and yes she has much sentimental value. Forgive the dumass question but how does one upload a sound recording...

 

Not dumbass at all...

First get your recording: if you have an android phone you can either use the 'voice recorder' app to capture the sound, or use the camera app to make a video and record the sound that way. I'm sure iPhones have similar capability & my son knows his way around them.

A sound-only file will be small enough to attach directly to a post. For a video you might need to upload to youtube or similar and post the link here.

Please shout if you need more specifics and I'll put some step-by-steps together.

I feel your pain both with the car and the tuition fees...

Best wishes,
Mike

 

While not cheap sounds like a good candidate for a LS engine swap if the current engine is toast.

 

Sorry to hear about this.

The only way to be certain what has happened is a partial tear down. It's possible to tell the difference between big end and main bearing rumbling by listening but which one(s) and how bad is speculation without direct examination.

A Jaguar with a major mechanical issue has seriously reduced resale value so the "-Sell her and move on..." option is going to be painful.

If you decide to keep it and fix the engine either now or later, it's not going to be cheap. A rebuild is the ideal but most expensive option even if the crankshaft is re-usable. Bottom end clunking is never in the quick fix category! The parts cost alone for a rebuild comes to a surprising total and that's before any remedial work.

A used engine is the quickest and lowest cost option. Easy for us in the UK where they are plentiful but, from what I read on the forum, a lot harder to find in the US.

One other money saving option to consider is to source an overheated engine. There's often posts about this disaster happening and the result is warped cylinder heads. The 'bottom half' (the cylinder block assembly) could be built up using your heads etc.

Graham

 

Suggest visiting an old-time master mechanic, if you can find one. These guys have seen and heard many lower end failures. My own experience with two rod failures (non Jaguar) is that the noise begins with a higher frequency clicking, which increases over time to complete failure. My understanding is that crank/main bearing failure has a much lower frequency sound.
There are plenty of used motors advertised on Ebay.

 

You are, of course, absolutely right.


My thinking was that perhaps one of our experts could advise on severity to give Jag69 an early indication of what he could be up against.

(which turned out to be a cat) or

which is something else altogether.


Jag69, if it does turn out to be bad news, there's a recent thread sparked by TerryM: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xk8-xkr-x100-17/spun-rod-bearing-155213/
which might give you some insights, and I'm sure MrPlow58 will have a wealth of information regarding replacement motors!

Best,
Mike

 

I second the LSx motor/trans swap. It even comes in a 6sp option also now. Yes a little costly but ya have one hell of a car that has a pretty reliable drive line.

 

I hope this Wave file uploads and works...

Thanks in advance to all who take the time to listen.

 

I get the reliability logic, but wouldn't that adversely affect the collectability of the car? But then at 200,000+ miles maybe that ship has sailed and it's a non-issue.

 

I don't think we're dealing with collectable cars, and yes, 200K mi would not help. But I think the expense of doing the LSx conversion is a lot higher than a replacement in kind.

A few months ago I followed a ebay auction of a LS1 conversion and I believe it sold for $8K or maybe less, so it may not increase the value of the car.

There are a lot of XK8's out there and I think they are very reliable if maintained properly.

 

I just went through the engine noise thing too, and it really doesn't matter what the noise is, if it has affected the crank. Having a crank reconditioned and new bearing shells is insanely expensive on this engine.

To me the LS1 swap is more kit car than anything else. If I wanted a hot-rod I would have built one. I wanted a Jaguar, and that is how it is going to stay.

I just(as in a few days ago) put in a used engine, with 74,000 miles on the clock. I found it on car-part.com. I got extremely lucky with this 3rd engine, as it was complete with all the accessories, ECM, and the chain tensioners already done. It cost me $1391.00. The first two engines that I got from a closer yard were junk, so it was my bad that I didn't go listen to them. They also cost me $300.00 more than the good engine.

My last engine I even helped remove from the car, after I heard it run. Needless to say, I got pretty good at swapping out powerplants. I can understand not wanting to get rid of your car too. They tend to grow on us. Best of luck on your decision.......Mike

 

Sadly it doesn't sound good to my untrained ear.
If it were mine, without hesitation I would be following Mike's, MrPlow58's, route - but that's just me and I make no claims to rationality.

Put her on one side and take the time to weigh everything up and reach the right decision for you.

Best of luck,
Mike

 

I am going to ask a question...not make a suggestion...about a fix for a spun bearing I heard about many years ago (about 40) in auto shop class. I don't know if this is an urban (mechanics) legend, or something doable.

Anyway, one of my high school friends claimed he had fixed a crank bushing by dropping the pan, running emery paper over the spun bearing, then replacing the bushing.

I don't know if it was true (there is a lot of silly boasting going on when you are 16) or if it is even possible.

I wonder though, if you have an engine with 200,000 miles on it and want to eek out another 10,000 miles or so, whether or not it might be worth a try (if it is possible).

 

This is a lot of effort for results that at best are 50%, and don't last but a few hundred miles. It falls into the sawdust and oil category, when you are just trying to get rid of the car. If you polish the crank with emory you also need to lay a piece of foil under the bearing shell, to take up the extra space.

I bought a Mustang once, that had a piece of leather belt substituted for a bearing also. Stuff like this tends to bring out the worst in buyers. It is always better to do the job correctly, like you were keeping the car yourself.

In this case we have a car worth a few hundred dollars in it's present condition, and six to seven thousand fixed up. At least that is what my situation was.

Never think of unloading problems on someone else, unless you point them out first, or are big enough to fend off a beating.....My 2 cents.....Mike