I have a 1999 XK8 with 43,000 miles. I just love this car!!

I have read up on the tensioner issue and in fact last Friday was researching some data just to stay informed. I have a warranty that specifically covers the tensioners but who wants to suffer the occurrence. My wife is sick of starting the car for me so I can listen for rattles upon start up.

So this one place had a comment that the occurences of tensioner failure were most prevalent in VIN#s 001001-a24195. my comparable vin # is c039447. Car was first licensed in June of 1999.

This should be a comfort ......right?

 

No, if you came to me, i would ask you "you heard a rattle on startup..didn't you?" wink wink, and replace them now, thats like doing something about your health after your first heart attack

 

I'm sure that there are a great number of cars out there that have never had a tensioner problem. Those that have trouble free experiences do not spend a lot of time on this, and other forums.

The consensus of those of us that have problems seems to be that changing 10 year old plastic tensioners that have a substantual history of failure seems to be a reasonable effort.

The second generation, spring assisted, still plastic tensioners were introduced with engine serial number 98102106XX which translates to October 21, 1998. Check your VIN decal on the left 'B' pillar for the manufacture date for your car. If you have the non spring version that is a stronger argument to invest in the replacement.

My '00 MY had the tensioners changed twice by previous owners, at about 40k miles and 80k. My '02 car has the 2nd gen ones and I have promised to replace them before 50k miles.

 

How true. I am a member of a few car forums (Jaguar as well as others) and have also trolled around some car forums in order to research vehicles that I may be considering. You don't find someone posting that "I have no problems at all with my car and am not interested in doing any mods or improvements. . .". The forums are generally filled with three types of people: gearheads; folks who do not yet own the car and are doing research; folks that own the car and have problem(s).

There are passionate threads here about the chronic problems with XK8/XKR like nikasil, tensioners, convertible top leaks, etc. Reading through these threads you would think that these problems are to be almost expected if you own one of these cars. But who really knows if this represents 1%, 10%, 30%, etc. of the owner population?

Doug

 

Hi Mark,
I'm glad that you love your car..........much the same as I do mine! I had my tensioners changed as soon as I bought my 2000 model, just as preventative maintenance. My mechanic said that it was a very good call based on the condition of one of the tensioners. I think that for your own piece of mind it would be well warranted. If you could get it done under warranty..............so much the better!
Good luck,
Brian

 

1999 XK8, 84678 miles. The only time I hear a very minor rattle on start is if I have not driven the car for a week and it is a cold. No rattle at any other time. I am of the opinion if the engine is warm and you start it, and still hear a rattle, you have an isssue.

I use 10w30 synthetic oil and change evry 5000 miles. I'm in southern Ca. The only fault I get from time to time is traction control fail, that's cause I drive hard and break the tires loose from time to time. It resets itself though on the next start.

Cheers.

 

Let me just say that I always now quot upper tensioners when opening older V8 for anything. But mostly to replaced cam cover gaskets for oil leaks. Waiiting till you hear something is insane. Ive never take apart early V8 and not seen at leasta crack down the side of the tensioner body. The only noise you ever hear may be the sound of the starter clicking against a locked up engine from failed tensioner and jumped time. A tensioner can bleed down froma crack in the body and let the engine jump time and bending a couple valves. Useally the repair just about totals pre 01 jags. Its just a gamble that doesnt ever pay if you lose

 

Good morning;

Well here I am at my local Jag Dealer getting the 50K service on the Van Den Plas.

So we look up the XK8 in the computer and it turns out the "dispatch date" of the car is April 99 with an initial sale in June of 99.

Motor # is NL9903172108

I can assume the updated albeit still plastic tensioners?

 

I translate the engine serial number to be March 17, 1999. A fair assumption that you have the spring assisted version of the tensioners. Still a good idea to update to the latest metal bodied ones.

 

Have owned my 97 XK8 for 8 years, now have 92,000 miles on her and I was unaware of the tensioner issue until I came here seeking input for an engine fault/poor vehicle performance issue.

I'm actually surprised that I never previously learned about the tensioner issue because I've been a "friend of the family" at the dealership for many years (I mean attending weddings, Thanksgiving, Christmas dinner, etc. with the former and current owners and a lot of the employees). Wish someone would have given me the nudge, nudge wink wink while my car was still under warranty.