Got the timing cover off tonite and got a good look at the timing chain guide rails… think my heart skipped two beats. I knew they were original and not updated and figured with my low miles they would be cracked but oh man, there’s cracks, breaks, chunks of plastic that are missing in action… phew! So so so glad I read around on this forum and decided to dive into this project. The peace of mind knowing that chains, guides, tensioners and water system will be updated is priceless. Thanks to anyone who’s ever contributed to the topic whether I read your posts or not….just thanks.

anyway still working on it but here’s a couple pics of the miserably failed parts for your enjoyment/nightmares, lol

 

Clean out the sump ! I would guess you could replace the tensioners/guides without taking the chains off so thats a bonus.Mine was done by a previous owner at 80K

 

Yeah I bought a new oil pan gasket so I can drop the pan and clean it out after as well as oil pickup. I already bought new chains for it as well as tensioners and guides.

 

Boy you sure dodged a few bullets on this one. CONGRATS.

 

Yes, a good catch.
You may find the secondaries have cracks along the barrels when you get them out.

IDK if it's common, but certainly not unusual to find the primary slipper guides in that condition. A cynic might say that the square cutouts are just perfect for facilitating the cracks starting, but I'm sure there's a good engineering reason.

Good luck with the rebuild

 

Be sure to use the correct special tools during reassembly.

Correct valve timing is 45 degrees ATDC.

 

@stevis05 how many miles/years did your car have on it? Are those gen1 or gen2 tensioners? I ask because my 2002 XKR with 44,000 on it and annoyingly it has an engine built on august 1st 2001 a scant few days before they officially switched to the gen3 tensioners (I specifically bought a 2002 because I THOUGHT they had fixed tensioners). I've been telling myself its not time yet to drop the money on the work (or risk doing it myself outdoors in a driveway with my level of skills). I have been thinking about pulling a valve cover to look at the upper tensioner but that won't tell me whats going on lower down. So far haven't justified the cost to myself yet considering my years/miles but you're giving me food for thought here.

 

My car only has 68k miles on it, it’s a 1997 with very early production motor based on my vin ( last six digits is 001363) I asked last owner if he or original owner had done any updates. He hadn’t, and didn’t know is original owner did. I could see the water thermostat housing was still plastic and had my suspicions as you do. I decided to pull a valve cover due to leakage of oil into the spark plug wells, and I could see at least the secondary tensioners. Once I saw playlist I was sold. Tore it all down and bought TONS of stuff, since I was diving in so deep. Figured while it’s down it’s a good time.
I do suggest however having it under cover while doing the job. I e been going very slow and taking my time, and following instructions from here as well as other sources. The special tools are an absolute must, I would say I couldn’t have done it without them. I was fortunate enough to borrow them from another member from here.
ive now got all new tensioners, chains and all guides in place but need to torque everything down properly. Still going at it every chance I get to spend a few hours in the garage.

 

Well I got the jag all back together after what felt like working on it forever, although in reality was only a couple weeks. Double checked everything I did as I put it back together and refilled the oil and coolant I drained out. Finished the project on a sat night just after midnight and fired it up prepared for the worst but hoping for the best. To my surprise it started right up. Hiccuped and sputtered for a moment and my heart dropped to my knees… then I noticed gas gauge was on E and I still had the front end on jackstands. After a moment it smoothed out and it runs great now.
I put the hood on Sunday and have put about 100 miles or so on it and man what a difference! I can tell the response is much nicer, especially in the low end, and it idles much better now! No noises on start up, smooth response throughout all rpm’s. I couldn’t be happier, especially knowing that I avoided a potential catastrophe.

just wanna thank everyone for all helpful input and comments, and special thanks to member “hellcat” for loaning me the tools for this job. I’ll be making another post soon to chronicle the things I encountered that weren’t mentioned in the info I found, but that’s another day. Thanks again everyone!

 

Well done....

 

Great job! She will treat you well now.


I have a semi-related question. Does removing the timing cover require removing the A/C pump, the power steering pump, and the water pump? The reason I ask is that I have a timing cover leak that I have been postponing and do not know if those accessories need to come out.

 

was any part of the job especially difficult, or just time-consuming? great pics btw.

 

To remove timing cover the belt, idler and tensioner assembly must come off. The water pump pulley must be removed, but water pump itself can stay. The crank pulley will need to come off as well. I imagine it could be done with that and that only but it will be very difficult with radiator hoses and fans in the way(not to mention the hood). You need a special tool to hold crank pulley when removing crank bolt and puller to pull crank pulley off shaft, and fans may inhibit the use of the tool.
(The valve covers need to be off as well)
I think I had a lot of hard parts of the job, some unnecessary in way but I also painted things, did the whole water system(new pump, thermostat housing, therm, outlet pipe with temp sensor, dropped oil pan and painted it, cleaned radiator,
fixed two spun out brass plugs in the drivers side valve cover with epoxy, etc. I also cleaned everything up like put a wire wheel on my bench grinder and wire brushed EVERY SINGLE BOLT I removed, even used a tap to clean out a lot of thread holes that had corrosion or gunk in them, modified a ratcheting box wrench with the bench grinder to get the thermostat housing off without removing the intake plenum(yeah that’s a whole other story) … had a few issues with a couple parts… but in the end the absolute hardest part of the job was leaning down in the engine bay for so much time and bracing myself with my legs, got a few cramps and strained muscles.

 

Oh yeah… also I found with everything removed to do timing it took me about 9 minutes to change the sway bar bushings. I noticed they were worn and ordered urethane ones and they went in with like no effort. Just a fyi if doing timing, order a set they’re like 20 bucks lol

 

It's much easier on your back if you put the front end of the car up on ramps

 

Don't know if you still require an answer to this, but no, none of these things (PS pump, AC compressor, water pump) need to come off to remove the timing cover. I am in the process of reassembly after replacing head gaskets on my 2000 XK8. I removed the water pump because I'm upgrading to the type with an aluminum impeller, but it wasn't necessary to get the timing cover off, although you will need to take off the water pump pulley for access to the upper bolts on the timing cover. The most challenging part by far will be getting the crankshaft damper off. Unless you've got the machine shop skills to make your own, I would recommend buying the special tool. I got one for just over $100 on Amazon that included the lever for immobilizing the crankshaft and the custom puller for drawing the damper off the crank stub.

 

Thanks, that's a big help. Could you provide a link to the special tool you bought from amazon?

 

Here's a simple way to remove the centre bolt from the harmonic balancer with a chain spanner and section of serpentine belt (photos by motorcarman):

 

If you search Amazon for 'Jaguar XK8 crankshaft pulley removal tool' you'll see a result for ZKTool Store, priced at $109.99. That's the one you want (the compatibility list doesn't specifically show the XK8 4.0L, but it does work with that engine). Something to be aware of: when installing the pulley remover, put the bolts into the device before inserting it into the damper well, otherwise the air conditioning line plug gets in the way. I was stupid enough to move the crank to allow the bolts to go in, which created a whole cascade of unnecessary headaches. Good luck

 

could not find this tool there. ???