Looking at used XJ8s. Concern is if these had the same issues as the XK8s. My 2001 XK8 had the Nikosil and valve tensioner issues. I am assuming the same applies for the XJ8 line as I assume they used the same engines for both. Correct me if I am wrong: XJ8 engines had Nikosil replaced with cast iron liners by Sept 01 production and steel tensioners installed after 2003.
Submitted by stevejag@sbcgl… on Fri, 08/08/2014 - 22:49
Engine number 0008181043 and later are steel lined, as opposed to Nikasil cylinders.
The engine number is really a time stamp, basically.
00 = Yr 2000
08 = August
18 = 18th day of month
1043 = 10:43 on 24 hour clock
That is ENGINE production time, not vehicle production. That engine, built August 18th, 2000, went into a car about the middle of the 2001 MY production run.
The tensioner thing is kinda muddy. First off the latest version has an aluminum body, not steel. That version was released into service in March 2005. I thought I had it down to sometime in 2003 that they were installed in production, but that theory has been blown up. I was challenged one time by a guy that told me his 2002 XJR100, built in late 2001, had the new design. I doubted and he sent me pictures of his tensioner, which was all aluminum and date coded in 2001. I have since opened up some 4.2L engines as late as the 2005 model year that still had the 2nd design tensioner.
So I'm gonna say the only way to really know what is in there, prior to the 2006 model year, is to pop a cam cover and have a look.
Cheers,