Jaguar XK8 XJ8 V8 Cam Chain and Cylinder Head Removal AJ26/AJ27

Removing the cylinder heads from a Jaguar 4.0 V8, normally aspirated, in a 1999 XK8 convertible. The inlet manifold is off, as is the water pump and the radiator fans. The engine has 56k miles on it and is one of the original Nikasil bores. One secondary tensioner is definitely cracked, but as it turns out, all the timing chain tensioners and guides were cracked. We start with the front pulley removal, then the timing chains, cams and then the heads.

[@camshaftcasting1451]

There is no need to remove the cams under spring pressure. Once the chains are off, just rotate the cams to the "safe position" where all valves are closed.

[@Lannynetz]

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed right now. I am removing the head(s) on my 2002 XK8 to find the cause of zero compression on #5 cylinder. I know I am way over my head on this, but I hate to junk the car.

[@matthewpajak2513]

You're not alone, mine has zero on #8 and I'm dreading the stripdown before even thinking of the rebuild.

[@worldentropy]

Nice video. Small note: VVT is only relevant on 4.0L engines; 3.2L engines have no VVT. Also, AJ27 has different VVT gear - not interchangeable with AJ26. Finally, the chains and tensioner kits are also different between AJ26 and AJ27 for these and other reasons. Great video and work dude.

[@matt8863]

Great video guys...Thanks for taking the time and effort to do it.

[@vincentfarri3986]

When do we see part 2 putting it back together?

[@dalehuxford4522]

8 years later, I do still have the original footage, but editing takes a very long time. I'm hoping to retire soon and it's on the list!

[@madmaniacloony]

thanks mate gotta do an Xj8 head gasket and this has helped a great deal although I have significantly less room to work in

[@lilibethdoherty295]

I am gobsmacked at needing to replace the cam followers, special tools needed as well seems quite daunting.

[@robertsacco5096]

You can use a big 3 winged puller too

[@philip6419]

Well, I watched to see how one removes the exhaust, which you left out. :(

[@Quest4Truth1968]

Hi Dale Thanks for such an excellent overview. I am contemplating doing the primary and secondary tensioners myself, for a 1998 XJ8 jaguar Daimler 4.0 AJ26, and this is very helpful. When are you going to upload part 2? John

[@dalehuxford4522]

Afraid the memory card in the camera died, but I have up to the point where the heads are properly attached and will try and edit and post it before the end of August.

[@JAYHARRIS85]

Hi... Im working on a 2002 xk8, replacing the cylinder head this weekend. Im wondering --- did you ever post the second half of this series??? I'd love to watch it...

[@nobreypereira9729]

Hie Dale....i cant find part two in yo channel....where is it?

[@clayreal]

Thank you Dale

[@AndreasRitt]

Hi! Will you give me advice please. I have an little oil leak from under the timing chain cover (AJ34S). Mechanic says to replace timing chain cover gasket. For this action do I need to take out the engine? And do I need to disconnect the supercharger?

[@billylinmachadopardo5945]

tienes el manual para poder poner en punto el motor y pueda funcionar al toque luego de reparar el motor

[@nwmgnt2011]

i like your helper...i have a similar one..do you still have the jag tools? possible to borrow them w an arrangement? thanks

[@pavelmyrets6100]

What tool are you using for the harmonic ballencer removal I'm stuck on mines right now ready to send the old junk to the scrap yard

[@dalehuxford4522]

Afraid I rented the proper removal tools from the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club here in the UK. It cost me £75, but that was better then struggling for hours!

[@JoseLuisPerezRodriguez-z7k]

Cuál es la posición del cuñero para instalar la cadena

[@00O000OO]

That spider (on the bottom of the left side of the video) at 17:43 was pissed out getting splashed

[@mrahmedar1]

Dear Do you have a video of a way to renew the timing chain Jaguar V8 XJ8 - 2000

[@justicebarber9080]

Did you use the tool to put all four CAMS back perfectly? I'm over complicating this I think. But I have to remove heads and don't know how to put the CAMS back properly.

[@fredke007]

@dalehuxford4522 My LR3 2006 4.4 with beloved 207k miles on it succumbed to not having good working water pump. I wasn't there when my wife said it "steamed" and smoked a lot. But it started up fine to get it 400 yard to the drive way. Having never seen a blow head gasket nor comprehending the savage outcome, I replaced the water pump, belts and thermostat and housing, but of course got quite a surprise after doing all that work to see that there was some steam blowing out off the left front bank of cylinders and seemed to idle slightly rough. That's when I realized oh, all that steam for a good while my wife said must have been the head gasket. It's been an amazing vehicle we have had for 14 years, and it was running so strong and beautifully. I cried. She didn't go very far on it, and it had the best synt oils, but I worry none the less that this might have done something worse. Suggestions? Thank you sir.

[@dalehuxford4522]

Sorry, hadn't seen this query! I would take the heads off by and see if they're straight or not. You may find a light skim and new gaskets and oil and all is well again. Or, when you get the head off, you might see issues in the bores. Then you have to start making bigger decisions!

[@roberthall5032]

Does the cam sospose to turn without camshaft sprocket

[@jeffc79]

Dale,Excellent video. I have a 2000 XJR and think I have a jumped chain and/or tensioner failure. Getting misfire codes and bad vibrations from an engine that ran well up to the problem instantaneously starting.Do you know of a way to sufficiently check for piston/valve damage without removing the head completely? I think I can handle the tensioner repairs, but why bother if I trashed the whole engine from a piston/valve collision.Thanks,Jeff

[@dalehuxford4522]

HI Jeff. I think I might try using some sort of borescope down the plug holes to see what's happened. These engines can also drop valve seats which might be your issue which you might also see by removing the inlet manifold. Apart from renting the special tools, there's little cost in stripping it down, but it does take time. And you do need to keep close track of the several million bolts that come out, just in case it's all re-useable.

[@ash7990]

The chains and tensioners don’t look to bad a job to do. Are they? Also where can I buy a tool to remove that main crank pulley?

[@916hayabusa]

So useful, thank you.

[@paulhanck1123]

Why did you use the cam locking tool if you were planning on taking the cams off? I thought the tool was used to preserve the timing while you changed the chains and tensioners, surely it wasn't required

[@dalehuxford4522]

Robert, I hired the tools to get the crank pulley / harmonic balancer off after trying various generic pullers without success. Whilst I had the tools hired, I used them to hold the cams as I undid them. They take a lot more force to undo the sprockets than the torque settings in the manual. At the time, I thought I might be re-using the chains, so didn't want to stretch them by using them to hold the cams against the force of a 600mm long torque wrench. As it happens, I did replace the timing chain anyway.

[@jackkallemdjian3945]

Robert Hancock hard to undo cam bolts if you don't use the tool

[@detox2778]

Its near impossible to remove the crankshaft pulley without the tool , im needing to replace my crankshaft seal and had to order this tool to hold the pulley in place to remove the center bolt

[@sterlingwitherspoon5709]

Did you have to remove the power steering pump And ac compressor to get the cover off?

[@djamsdjams9494]

très bien cette vidéo , je vais faire le même travail sur une 2l5 s type , deux joints de culasses a changer.

[@iceman11849]

well I guess now that you messed up ''tdc'' what to do ?

[@davem5333]

What was the issue with the engine that needed the heads pulled?

[@jimmyswagger1000]

Five star video..!!!!

[@barneyhubble5505]

Hey Dale.. I have a 2000 Jag S-Type 4.0 V8 my tensioner broke on the passenger side and the cam timing chain broke..i see some oil in the spark plug holes.. can you give me a suggestive overview of what issue is in front of me and what I precautions I need to take.. thanks for the video upload it was very helpful.

[@errolmcinnes7938]

you aren't fixing that. When the tensioner breaks and it shears the timing chain, that causes the piston to smash into the half open valve. Your head is destroyed, and you aren't replacing that for any reasonable sum of money. The cost to fix it is more than the price of a comparable jaguar. Ditch the car. It's not worth it.

[@253Pr0C0y]

Hi Dale, Liked the Vid, contemplating attempting to remove cylinder head. Did you lock the crankshaft if so how?

[@smegadood7880]

here i am workshopmanual says remove engine for the ls but wondering if i can take a head out with the exhaust manifold attached

[@hpt08]

Crankshaft setting peg. About page 600 in workshop manual

[@MitchGrooms]

GREAT VIDEO.. I heard the supercharged XJR had these issues too, but less because of something? I do you know?, XJ8 and the XJR had something different in this issue. I have an 98 XJR with 54,000 miles. I know its going to be my turn soon but its hard to find someone who knows how to do this anymore//

[@dalehuxford4522]

Mitch, popping a cam cover off to check the secondary tensioners is a 10 minute job and might save the engine. You won't regret checking. Otherwise you spend all your driving time listening for an odd sound, and even then, you might not get a sound before the engine turns itself into aluminium mush. As far as I know, all the early V8's used the plastic tensioner that desintegrates with time. Mine had 56k on it and you can see that all 4 tensioners and guides were cracked. There are quite a few Jaguar classic specialists here in the UK that will quite happily quote for doing this job if you don't want to try it yourself. Since most of the production went to the USA anyway, I would think there are quite a few independents there too, however, I assume it might be quite a long way between them! Good luck.

[@MitchGrooms]

***** If you have 105K miles, they had to be changed at some point I would think, but that is a great question..

[@dalehuxford4522]

Alistair, the top one's apparently fail with dramatic consequences, but I found small cracks in the bottom one's too. And that was with 56k on the clock. If you have the top tensioners off, you may be able to see the condition of the bottom ones, possibly with the help of a boroscope. I also had oil leaks from the crank, so it seemed not a lot more work to change the bottom guides and tensioners too. I like the peace of mind it brings.

[@mullervolker9814]

Hello, are the head bolt nuts 13mm? I have a struggle with one bolt. The nut is going over. It is probably corroded as there is a water leak, probably in that area. I wont loosen the others further, as the head could warp. need help.

[@dalehuxford4522]

This doesn't sound like fun. I can't remember the bolt head size, but unless you've already done it I would buy one of those sockets that work against the flat walls of the bolt head hexagon rather than the points. A 12 point socket is going to just round off the bolt completely. If that doesn't work, you're going to have to very carefully drill the head of the bolt off and hope to pull the head off the bolt. However, there's not enough space in the car to do it, so you'd have to pull the engine out. Ouch. It's usually at this point that I would make another coffee, take a piece of cake, and just stare at the job for a while, waiting for inspiration. If no inspiration arrives, leave it well alone for a couple of days!

[@mullervolker9814]

It wasnt turning over. It is 13mm. It just sounded like going over and the 13mm nut was just looking used inside, which made me think its going over. I was very causious and turned only little by little and it calways made a clunking like sound. replaced the 13mm by polydrive. thanks anyway.

[@mullervolker9814]

I used brake cleaner after every little by little turn on the new stronger black nut

[@enriqueclaure1314]

Appreciate your video. I'm working on an XF V8 5L head gasket set. Did you remove the exhaust manifolds?

[@nobreypereira9729]

Hie...did you get right with your project?

[@theazguy]

He left the exhaust manifold attached to the cylinder head. He disconnected the three bolts from the exhaust manifold to the catalytic converter. This makes it much easier to access the bolts attaching the manifold to the cylinder head when it's out of the car and easily a accessible.

[@barneyhubble5505]

I have replacement parts & the just ordered tool kit from ebay.

[@benzuckerman]

A great job, but way too much work for me at this point. I admire you guys, but I will avoid this job if possible.

[@novintemu3827]

Shome

[@davidhanson4617]

Jag cam chain

[@productreviewspecialist]

Would never happen if you owned a Japanese vehicle...especially at 50k miles....those engines are just breaking in at 50k and coming to the end of the life on a JLR motor...

[@alanjones1869]

Another video with no voice over. Doesn’t take much to explain what you’re doing rather than making someone read a message on the side of the screen.

[@jessejames5825]

For an instructional video you really should use some sound and speaking instead of leaving it up to the viewer to interpret what you do just on video. Seems kinda lazy to me. Why didn't you even make a part 2 video?

[@jorgedearmas630]

FF 5y

[@fordnut4914]

video was pointless no sound not telling what your doing.

[@dalehuxford4522]

You may have a point there, I can turn a spanner, but think I'm a bit rubbish when it comes to creating and adding a script, so I added the words to the screen. Maybe I'll try adding my voice to the next one...

[@andresperez1492]

Dale Huxford Hola quisiera saber la posición del volante de inercia llevo días buscando le agradezco la información

[@hpt08]

Can't agree that it's pointless. Best demonstration video out there for this job!

[@philip6419]

Jack ass reply. The video-demo was worth hearing a thousand words. You must be a little boy that also needs pictures in the books you read. -waaaa