nikasil ?

[DREW]

I am nearly sure iam going to upgrade my x300 to a x308 have done lots of homework what to look for when viewing but need to know how you know if its nikasil engine or not.Maybe a few tips on what to look for when viewing wouldnt go a miss two heads are better then one |
Thanks Drew

[Brakebuster]

well....

Nikasill was used until year 2000 , however, if a faulty engine was identified, it was changed by jaguar for a steel lingered cylinder version , these engines were remanufactured Nikasil units , by a third party business ,

now, if you buy a car with a Nikasil engine, this isn't necessarily bad, if it has a successful ' blow by ' test by Jaguar, then it should stay good ( this is NOT a compression test )

any surviving Nikasil engine should now be fine now there is zero sulphur in the fuel , which caused issues with short journeys causing a corrosive reaction with the Nikasill,

remember, Nikasil is HARDER than steel , and will wear much longer than steel , and is still used in motorcycle engines and some high end motors

so , the choice is now yours.......

BB

[PaulGover]

Despite the fact that fuel contains no sulphur now, my old X308 expired with Nikasilicosis at about 190,000 miles. It went from being a decent engine to an oil-belching lump to an inert chunk of ballast (not enough compression to start) in about 3 years. And it was properly looked-after from the time I bought it (about 60,000 miles on the clock, in 2002). It ran OK for about 6 years, then started to go downhill. So I'd be wary of high mileage engines without a very good reading on the compression test.

[J44EAG]

Correct me if I`m wrong but the ferrous lined engines have an F in the engine number. That should make a good identifier for any early V8 engined cars. Many of course had their engines changed by Jaguar for the reasons Paul just described.

Some of the early Nic engines also made their way into early S-types. When I was about to buy my 4 litre V8 S-type, that was the first thing I looked for on the V5. Fortunately, there was the F in the number otherwise I would have walked away.

I had a BMW 530i V8 for several years. A 93 model I recall. That had a Nic engine (All the rage at the time). Never had a moments bother with it. Bought with 235k miles and knocked on again at 273k.

Funny stuff is Nicasil. Didn`t like high sulphur fuels. In theory, a great idea. Caused loads of grief in practice. Rather a shame as the coating was tough as old boots until it gulped sulphur. A bit like Superman and Criptonite!

Mike K

[pimgmx]

Maybe something you already have on your checklist: presence of the cooling & chain tensioner modifications are at least as important as Nikasil verification imho??

[Orkney]

I too was always of the impression that a VIN number with the last 6 starting with F was the change point between Nikasil and steel linered. However, there was also a post refuting that and that the actual change date was sometime in August 2000 and even a time of day was quoted - unfortunately I can't find that post - Rob J might have it. There are cars made before the August date which have the letter F in the the VIN. Is the definitive answer still out there?

Ian

[RichardSEL]

Neither my 4L first reg in early '01, nor my 3.2L first reg late '01 have an "F" in their engine #
Perhaps this was just an S Type thing?

[Orkney]

Richard,
The F is in the VIN number, not the engine number. The earlier ViN numbers end like 867xxx and later ones F04xxx
Some sources say that was when the engines became steel lined.
HOWEVER, as I said in that earlier post, there is other info out there which points to a date in August 2000 for the change, long after the VIN started to include the F character.
Ian

[J44EAG]

This might help. The engine number for steel lined engines would appear to be prefixed with an A.

I lifted this from a web site.
Model Year VIN Number
1997MY From 001246 to 018107
1998MY From 018108 to 024686
1998 3/4 From 024687 to 031302
1999MY From 031303 to 042775
2000MY From A00083 to A11050
2001MY From A11051 to A24195
2002MY From A24196 to A30644

A few links here. Note the reference in one of the links with an image that shows the engine plate around the area of the thermostat tower.
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... L1jM5f5EEg

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... APjbEKdbPQ

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Jagua ... 11&bih=403

It is a long time ago since I bought my old 4 litre S-type and memory precludes me from being sure whether I checked for an F in the number or an A as a prefix. I do remember though that I was satisfied with the number and bought the car. I recall that the car was manufactured in October 2001 but hung around until February 2002 before being sold to the first owner by Stratstones? of Mayfair.

Perhaps the above might be of further help.

Mike K.

[Orkney]

Mike,
Not sure if those numbers you quote are VIN's from 308's. Earlier 308's end in 8xxxxx (6 numbers) and later with Fxxxxx (1 letter plus 5 numbers)
My ENGINE number (308 SV8) starts MA0001 plus 6 more digits.

Where's that Rob J when you need him?

Ian

[J44EAG]

he`s down the pub!

Mike

[Orkney]

Apparently Rob's local pub is ex directory, so I spent a while trawling and found what APPEARS to be the definitive answer to DREW's original post, sorry DREW for all of the convolutions in this thread!
Anyway found this on an American site:



Nikasil - Cut-off date/number

The first steel-lined AJ-V8 came off the production line In the year 2000 on August 18th at 10.43am hence the engine number will read:

00 08 18 1043 or more precisely: 0008181043
With this piece of information it is simple to discern between a Nikasil and a steel-lined engine as all the numbers refer to the date of manufacture and any engine built before August 18th 2000 WILL have Nikasil bores!

So there it is, until someone comes up with something better.

Strange thing though, decoding my engine number gives a build date only 2 days before date of registration.
I thought engines came from Bridgend then and if so,they got their collective fingers out on that one.
Seems very close, but it was registered to Jaguar Cars as first owner - might explain it?
Ian

[DREW]

Thanks every one.going to look at a 1998 4 litre with 65000 miles with 18 stamps in the book hopefully with invoices etc to back it all up.also looked at the mot history and has passed all mots first time with only one advisory in 2010.Could it all be too good to be be true.We will see

[RichardSEL]

Thanks for all the definitive info Both mine have an "F" in their VIN, both mine have engine date codes after the Nikasil cut-off

Yes, they were hurrying them out the door -- my 4L LWB first reg 29th March '01 has an engine number indicating 15th March. Yet my 3.2L was first reg 5th Sept but engine number shows 19th January.
Guess that's the difference between bespoke ordering and building for stock?

After the E-type under production debacle you would've thought they would've been prepared for the XJ6 demand in 1970. But no, only the lucky few major retailers that knew to over bulk order were looked after. And sold off their excess through agents -- I did a few then before supply equaled demand later on that year