Very pleased to join this forum

[CRSmithCEng]

I ordered my dark blue convertible in March 96, registered in Jan 97, chassis number about 6400 so it has the NiSil engine. At 48,000 miles now this seems to be ok. I avoid short runs though and use it on the Mainland from a second home near Farnham

I like the car and I do plan to keep it long term, I also have had a 1935 Wolseley Hornet special for 35 years, and a Morgan bought new in 1978.

My experience of as-built fault rectifications on the XK8 was mixed, with several re-works needed by the dealer and a low point when the car failed its MOT immediately after a main dealer service. However Jaguar did provide me a free steering system oil cooler, to fit myself after mine failed out of warranty. In 2004 I decided to get more involved hands-on and attended a XK8 seminar which I highly recommend. Subsequently I bought a new water pump and did the front wishbone bushes and a shock absorber bush which was generating creaking noises. A local independent has changed the top chain tensioners for me.

Look forward to hearing from other members
Chris

[GrandTourer]

Welcome to the forum Chris.
Your car history is interesting - was the delivery time 10 months in 1996? And based on you chassis no Jaguar must have had a very good pre-launch order book at that time.
You mention the Nikasil engine - are you a bit worried about it? It has obviously not caused you any problems so far, but you could have a blowby test done (cost only about £50) to check the bore condition.
You seem to have dealt with most of the other common XK8 woes and coming up to your 10th year ownership, you are obviously still enjoying the cat.
I have a MY2000 XK8 Coupe, with steel bore liners as per Jaguar, but with Nikasil according to different sources (I am still trying to get to the truth of it), but quite honestly I am not bothered what it is as long as I know for sure. My car has 67Kmiles on the clock now and has performed immaculately over the25 months I have owned her (I did about 21K miles in that time). I did a few minor mods to it, chrome boot release with boot release button, fitted telephone (not the Jaguar system) but not connected to the Jaguar tel controls and fitted new exhaust tail pipe finishers from the latest XKS type. But mainly I just enjoy driving her.

Hope to meet you on one of our club meetings soon.

[XK8UK]

Hi GT,

I don't know if you have the following information but the relevent vin numbers are as follows

XK AJV8 vin range 001036 - 042775
XJ AJV8 vin range 812256 - 878717
S type V8 were all fitted with steel liners

However I think you worry unduly as the concensus is that if the failure has not already occurred then the chances are that the Nikasil lined engines will outlast the steel lined ones. Those that have had problems have already been changed and are running steel lined ones anyway.
If a manufacturers recon is installed the engine number has a marking after the number and I believe a Green mark, the last bit is a bit hazy as I had noted the VINs knowing that mine is a Nikisil engine and ignored the service exchange bit.
Hope that is of some use.

[avos]

Just out of curiosity, where do you get that info from? As from my research that is totaly wrong.

If it was an old article from JWM (to be seen on jaglovers), then you should read their new article in the April issue. There they aknolwedge what Jaguar was saying all along in a official Service Bulletin S491 (version 7 now), and that is that 2000my cars have stil nikasil.

Please note that Jaguar switched away from Nikasil in September 2000 (is noted clearly in the official service bulletin, and confirmed to me by Jaguar that that date is correct), which means a full model years production, so all 2000MY XK,XJ and S-types give or take a couple...

I have read already about 3 S-types that had Nikasil failures.

I wouldn't be surprised that over time that year will become the one to have due to the nikasil engine.

[GrandTourer]

First of all, WELCONE to the forum, avos and thanks for posting your first contribution on it on the day you joined.
Also, thanks for your response XK8 UK. Let me fill you in a bit about the whole issue of Nikasil (or NickerSeal as some tend to call it ) and my interest in it.
I think I must have left a wrong impression in my previous post. I am, in fact, not a bit worried about my MY2000 XK8 engine. It runs smoothley, I have none of the symptoms often associated with the Nikasil wear-off problem. I am sure it is all due to the much cleaner petrol used in the UK from 2000 on, but also by the way my car was used in its first 3.5yrs/46000miles of its life; ie mainly motorway miles.

I am fully convinced of the Nikasil coating advantage over conventional steel liners, as long as its main enemies, ie high-sulphur petrol combined with lots of cold starts and short trips are avoided.

When I first seriously considered to by an XK8, about 3 years ago, my research re Nikasil led me to believe, as it did many other people, that all cars with VIN nos where the last 6 digits are prefixed with A, ie from MY2000 on, had the steel liners. So, that was my 'knowledge' until I read the article in Jaguar World Monthly, April 06 issue where Gareth Coomber's article threw a completely differnt light on the subject. He specified specific VIN nos considered at risk by Jaguar, followed by the range of VIN nos still using Nikasil but not considered to be at risk by Jaguar (this section includes my own VIN no about halfway through the number range) and VIN no A11140 onwards (for XK8 cars) which have steel liners.
Because this was in complete conflict with previous information I had, I approached Jaguar direct and received both verbal and written confirmation from them, that my car, manufactured in April 2000 and first registered on 2 May 2000 was fitted with an original steel lined engine.

That, obviously, caused a great confusion. Since then, I have been in contact with the Editor of JWM, outlining my plight and with a request for them to re-appraise the background information used for that article and to advise me of the result.

Although, I have been in touch with him again a week ago to chase up this information, I had a reply saying that they are still evaluating the issue.

As I said before, I have now worries re my car in any way, I just want to get to the true facts into the puplic domain to stop the confusion, once and for all.

I have the bit between my teeth now and intend to go the whole course, including top Jaguar Management, to get to the truth.

Sorry about my rambling on about this, but neither of you were to know that you caught me at my 'pet subject' at the moment

I am a very happy XK8 onwer, by the way, one of those 'permanent-smile' people

[avos]

Hi GT, and thanks for the welcome,

I have spent a lot of time trying to get to the roots or “The Truth” about which cars have Nikasil and which don’t. Have you read the service bulletin?

Many people (Jaguar inclusive, editors etc) have based their ideas on the service bulletin S491, where most of them (until the JMW April issue) believed that the switch to Steel liners in September must have been a misprint in that bulletin.

My Jaguar importer in Belgium first confirmed me that my car had steel sleeves (build June/2000), though after I read the bulletin and confronted them with that, they checked with the factory. Then they confirmed to me that 1) my car has Nikasil, 2) yes, Bulletin can be interpreted wrongly, and 3) the September 2000 is no misprint.

The confusion comes from the fact that the bulleting specifically says that only 1999MY cars are included in the blowby test and engine exchange if it fails the test.

Here is a quote:

“Following an extensive development program, Jaguar has decided to introduce cast iron cylinder liners in lieu of plated bores for all AJV8 engines.
This change was introduced in September 2000 for all production engines with no impact on performance, economy, or emissions. It has also been decided to inspect all AJV8 engine cars supplied to the UK market up to the end of 1999 model year and, if necessary renew customer engines. All S-TYPE vehicles and 2000MY XK and V8 XJ vehicles are not included.”

They say specifically “Not included”, which does not mean they have steel, though you could interpret that way. But as Jaguar changed away from Nikasil in September 2000, what engines did they use then for the 2000my, it is 1 year of production.

Also if you would follow the thought route of cars that are not included must have steel , then you could also say, all cars sold outside the UK have steel liners (which we obviously know is not the case).

Next I have had contact with engine engineers, which confirm the switch by September 2000. Besides that also from respectibale other persons this has been confirmed.

Another thing, you should keep in mind, previously people said the no s-type had Nikasil, and I know already about 3 Nikasil failures!

That there could be a mix of engines just before September 2000 could be likely of course.

So the JWM April issue does not offer new facts in terms of what cars have Nikasil or not related to the Service bulletin, except for the VIN numbers,. But the latter is not special, as the range of cars are a full 2000 model year production, as the switch to the 2001MY happened also in September 2000 give or take a few cars maybe.

Next time Jaguar tells anyone that their 2000MY car has steel engine, then confront them with the service bulletin number, and specifically the text “September 2000 switch to steel.sleeves, and see what they answer then.

[GrandTourer]

Thanks, avos, for your detailed response.
You really confirmed with your experience the feeling I had all along that it was misinterpredation of that Service bulletin which caused the confusion.
I just wanted to get to the point where I can comfortably confront Jaguar to come clean and, even if it is embarrasing to them, to acknowledge the true facts.
As I said before, I for one, are not worried about what I have, coating or liners, as long as I can be confident in my knowledge of what it is.

If and when I get an official confirmation from Jaguar, I will post it on the forum Bulletin Board for the benefit of all interested parties.

Just a matter of personal interest, are you resident in Belgium? If so, its a double welcome and thanks for giving the forum an international flavour.

[XK8UK]

For interest my XK XJ information came from www.jagweb.com/aj6eng/v8_performance.html

Section V8 Performance first page paragraph 11.

[GrandTourer]

For interest my XK XJ information came from www.jagweb.com/aj6eng/v8_performance.html

Section V8 Performance first page paragraph 11.

Thanks for this information, XK8 UK. Have printed this out to read it through properly. Had only enough time just now to glance at it.
I selected from the left-hand menu the V* Performance option but could not locate a paragraph 11? I have just seen a reference to Nikasil and reverting to conventional cast iron liners (from VIN 42776 for the XK8).
But this does not tie in with the info have so far and I am in touch directly with Jaguar to get a resolution to this enquiry, everybode is very slow in answering, particularly the JaguarWorldMonthly magazine, who are 'still looking at it' - over 4 weeks now!!

It seems AVOS has had the same difficulties and frustrations when he tried to find out 'the truth'.
Well, here is hoping. I will, in any case, post details of anything further I discover on this forum's bulletin board.
Thanks again, all background info will help to get to the bottom of it.