"Shark-Attack" (shark-attack)
10/04/2015 at 07:59 • Filed to: DIY, Range rover, Jaguar, Fomoco
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"Shark-Attack" (shark-attack)
10/04/2015 at 07:59 • Filed to: DIY, Range rover, Jaguar, Fomoco | 16
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Impossible you say? I’m here to tell you otherwise. The problem is not necessarily in engineering, and more likely in decisions made at the end of the day by bean counters trying to save money and do everything they can to help the fuel economy of a nearly 5000 pound sedan with a v8. When running properly the ajv8 is a fantastic engine with dual overhead cams, and VVT (fairly similar to V-tech, yo) but it has its weak points. Luckily the parts you’ll need to address these weak points can be found through your local dealer and online, both OEM and aftermarket brands. With some patience and time these fixes are all within the scope of the average DIYer. For this phase of the project it took me one evening with my girlfriend assisting me. A few nights before, I had cleaned my garage, organized the tools I would need, and removed the hood for convenience. Another tip is to put everything, no matter how well you think you will remember, in a labeled plastic bag. I’ve never really done this before, and it probably took about an hour off of the work time because everything is right there where you want it and labeled.
Plastic, plastic everywhere. Well maybe not quite, but in the engine bay you will likely find plastic parts that do not belong, depending on your vehicles date of manufacture, and any parts a previous owner has updated. The parts you’ll want to replace are, the plastic thermostat, the water pump with the plastic impellar, and the dreaded plastic timing chain tensioners. Some of you may know my girlfriend and I purchased this Jaguar sometime last week. Well, that night I opened the hood and proceeded to snap off the top of the thermostat cap within less than 5 minutes. Also the bolts for the thermostat cover just rotated in place.
Honestly it was a God-send that I did, as I had planned on driving the car a bit more before I dove into it. This could have ended badly. I began to remove various trim pieces, hoses and finally dropped the oil pan as I waited for mail order parts, and this is what I found
There were two small pieces of plastic in the pan itself, along with the usual sludge of a car that’s sat for 2 years at least with no oil change (tags had expired in ‘13), but what was in the oil pickup was the real issue
These are all plastic pieces of the original tensioners(one with electrical tape on it? and some gasket/sealant chunks), nearly clogging the pickup tube and causing a slight lifter tick. Even if you bought your early ajv8 with metal timing guides already swapped in, drop your oil pan and check your pickup, it’s only 18 bolts and the engine does not need to come out. Many mechanics entirely neglect to do this, and is extremely important. You can choose to either clean it with kerosene or a parts washer, or just order a new one for ~$50. Breaking mine while attempting to clean it made my decision for me. I also gave the oil pan a nice thorough cleaning in the parts washer while it was out. You may want to prime your oil pump to be safe while you still have the pan off, just siphon some oil up into where the pickup tube bolts in.
The next step is to remove everything on the front of your engine (not necessary to remove alternator, ac, or ps pump), as well as your valve covers, and if you like to make life easy, remove the intake manifold. I’m not going to go too in depth on the timing chain itself as there are guides elsewhere on the internet, it’s long enough to make its own seprate post, and my phone died halfway through so I missed out on any picture opportunities, so skip ahead to when you’ve replaced your chains and tensioners.
This is, in my opinion, the worst and most tedious part, and is important any time you disassemble any engine. You need to clean your mating surfaces, starting at the timing cover. Seriously, clean the hell out of them, make them nice and shiny. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen people change gaskets only to immediately spring more leaks, and require doing the entire job over, including purchasing new gaskets again, just because they weren’t thorough in their cleaning. You probably don’t really want to have to remove the timing cover again later so do yourself a favor.
The mating surface of the head before
And after
Having someone to assist you with this part is what makes it possible to finish this job in one evening. My technique is to use clean shop rags, along with 99% isopropyl alcohol, and a bit of elbow grease. Be careful not to let the gunk fall into your engine.
Once you’ve got your chains and tensioners in, and you have a nice clean motor where it counts, it’s time to start putting things back together, including your new water pump, and aluminum thermostat. I decided to replace the rear most bolts on the thermostat with some slightly shorter, 10mm hex bolts. I did this for 2 reasons. The first is that now you won’t need to remove your intake manifold should you ever have to remove your thermostat housing again, the second, is that 10mm is a more common tool size.
Finish putting together the rest of the engine and add your fluids. Don’t forget to bleed the air from your coolant. If you elected not to change spark plugs, make sure their area is clean and oil free before putting your coil packs back on. My assistant replacing the coil packs
Total parts cost was under $500, though you could easily spend more depending on how and where you source parts. The timing chain kit for a Lincoln LS is exactly what you would want, as the engines are basically the same, and was $200 vs $550 or more for a kit for Jaguar or a Land Rover. Be smart when ordering parts, always go for OEM, and shop for other cars that share parts to get the best deals. You’ll also want to buy an updated water pump, and thermostat (obviously) as well as a gasket set, and likely any other wear item since you’ll be right there. You may want to consider an oil pump as well depending on mileage, and if you’ve ever had oil pressure issues.
This writeup was written on a ‘98 XJ8 Vanden Plas, and applies directly to any vehicle with the 3.9 v8 in the Lincoln LS, any jaguar made between ‘97 and ‘03, and any Land Rover of the same vintage with a v8.
Let’s see some reliable British DDs out there!
KatzManDu
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 08:22 |
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Amazing and well-done. Preventative maintenance is an amazing tool for keeping vehicles alive and one which is easily forgotten.
I’ve always found the seating position in that era of XJ jag less than comfortable. The seats were always plush and soft, but I wasn’t always sure where to put my legs. What’s your opinion?
Also, where do you find your assistants? I would like one.
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Shark-Attack
> KatzManDu
10/04/2015 at 08:44 |
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Thank you for the kind words.
I find the seating position fairly comfortable except the head rest sits too far back for my taste. It could also make a difference that it’s the lwb.
As far as assistants go, they’re rare but they’re out there, you just gotta get lucky!
Tohru
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 09:17 |
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This is good Oppo.
Though when you said you were making it reliable I thought you were rewiring it and putting an LSx in it.
OPPOsaurus WRX
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 09:23 |
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good job! i’ve been thinking about getting one. I had no idea they had Ford motors in them. There are a few things keeping me from really going after one. 1 - I’ll miss my WRX, 2 - maintenance costs, 3 - no manual. I know the last one sounds dumb but my WRX is my first manual and i really enjoy driving it. I’ve looked into doing a swap and it sounds like a nightmareish project.
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Shark-Attack
> OPPOsaurus WRX
10/04/2015 at 09:29 |
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The motors are actually entirely jaguar designed, fomoco designed their own head for the Lincoln ls in the US for the 3.9 using the ajv8 block, while the 4.0/4.2 in the Jags and Rovers is straight from Coventry. Or wherever they operate from these days. The transmission is more than fairly bleh but it is still an incredibly fun and luxurious drive. Also for what you could sell the WRX for, you could get an x308 and a smaller manual car for hooning.
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Shark-Attack
> Tohru
10/04/2015 at 09:33 |
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I’m hoping that it will be as reliable as an LSx now! *hoping*
aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 09:59 |
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I have the stock 4.2 I6 in mine
it’s been decently reliable for the three years i’ve had it
and now that i’ve said that i can guarantee it won’t start tomorrow.
luvMeSome142 & some Lincoln!
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 10:04 |
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Nice job on the car and the post! I love to read this kind of stuff on Oppo.
Thank you!
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Shark-Attack
> aberson Bresident of the FullyAssed Committe
10/04/2015 at 10:06 |
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Better go knock on wood, there’s enough for a small forest in Jags so you’re in luck. Beautiful car.
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OPPOsaurus WRX
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 10:06 |
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well part of the problem is that when I sell my WRX its turning into a Ford Flex. I get my wife’s escape and either keep that or trade it in for what I want. Its worth about $5k. Theres a couple XJ8’s for that price around here but certainly not enough $ for that and something else.
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Shark-Attack
> OPPOsaurus WRX
10/04/2015 at 10:12 |
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Ah I see, definately a dilemma then.
twochevrons
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 10:33 |
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As far as reliable British daily drivers go, these two Triumphs (which happened to be my wedding cars) exemplify it for me.
My parents bought the blue ‘76 in the early ‘90s as cheap family transport while we were pretty hard up. It finally succumbed to rust a bit over a year ago, but in the intervening years, it was always someone’s daily, with it being a first car for both me and my brother. In the 23 years and 200,000km that we had it, it barely missed a beat.
The white one has an even better story. My grandfather bought it new in 1968, and shipped it out to New Zealand when they emigrated from the UK in the ‘70s. He never saw any need to replace it, and it remained his daily driver until he passed away ten or so years ago. Even now, my grandmother drives it pretty regularly. I can’t remember the mileage, but it’s somewhere well north of 300,000km now, although it did have an engine rebuild at one point.
My grandmother is downsizing her house and will likely not have room for the Triumph any more, but I’m making arrangements to have it shipped over to me in the US. Being right-hand-drive, it probably won’t see daily driver use any more, but I’m definitely planning on keeping it reliable!
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Shark-Attack
10/04/2015 at 16:40 |
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Nice write-up. I always thought this was an engine removal type of job with much more expensive parts.
But FYI Land Rover didn’t start using the AJ until ‘05 model year, they were still using either the Buick/Rover V8 or BMW M62 (‘03-05 Range Rover only) before that.
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Shark-Attack
> twochevrons
10/04/2015 at 18:10 |
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Awesome story, love it when a whole family is involved with a vehicle, it essentially becomes an heirloom.
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Shark-Attack
> AMGtech - now with more recalls!
10/04/2015 at 18:13 |
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Thank you. Yeah I was a bit nervous about it and it had deterred me from these cars in the past but once I looked into more I decided to go for it.
Also good to know, I had read it was in a few rovers but they never really specified which.