Secrets of the Jaguar XK8 XKR episode 92 How to change the differential oil.
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2021
- In this episode we look at the options for getting oil into, and out of, the infamously inaccessible differential oil filler plug on Jaguars X100 (XK8 XKR). JAGUAR SUGGEST THAT THE DIFF IS A SEALED FOR LIFE UNIT AND THEREFORE WILL NEVER NEED ITS OIL CHANGING.
However 25 years on, us devoted owners need to decide for ourselves whether or not to do so.
For those of you who decide that you want to cary out a similar exercise as shown by John in the video, Here are some links to useful items.
Oil Syringe
amzn.to/3xj9hHQTCT Hole saws
Diff Oil
amzn.to/3jHCgkE
Wobble extension
amzn.to/3dK7JPA
TCT Hole saws
amzn.to/2UlXWsb
Inspection light
amzn.to/3dJcUPz
Inspection mirror
amzn.to/2SM7SdT
Everything used in the video was bought and paid for personally and nothing was sponsored.
Please remember that John is not a mechanic, and is just an enthusiastic amateur, sharing what he is doing to his car for your interest and entertainment. You follow any guidance examples or advice given at your own risk.
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These vids are quite simply a gift to Jaguar XK8 owners!
I bought my first one two days ago from Chichester.
It's the most exciting thing i've ever bought in my life (even beating my Marshall Stack and Strat) :)
It needs some work but had one day of MOT left on it, which allowed me to drive it all the way back to Cheshire.
I got out at a service to fill up, and after paying up, walked back to my car and had to pinch myself.
I'm gonna have to tell my kids that 'daddy loves something else now' :) :)
Enjo my friend🍺. THANKS FOR SHARING.
You are a braver man than me John, cutting holes in the boot! I think I might leave my diff oil alone 😀
Dont feel bad Andrew. You are following Jaguars instructions😁
Many thanks John, excellent video.I am glad I waited to watch as I would have put the hole in the slightly wrong spot. I am very good at being slightly wrong! Cheers Michael, Comox, BC Canada
Glad it helped Michael.
you should replace the phrase 'slightly wrong' wit 'experimental'😁
in this regard im practically a scientist🤣
Thank you John. I have been waiting to see this youtube episode. I had used your advice and video clips to change all of the other fluids in my XK8. My garage mechanic refused to change the differential fluid, as they said dropping the subframe etc. would be a 4 to 6 hours job. Several videos on youtube have suggested various options for removing the plug. Your video clip shows clearly where, and how to drill a hole. For those who are concerned about the safety of the vehicle, I am confident that a two inch hole will not effect the integrity of the vehicle. The trunk panel already has several small hole, i.e battery overflow. Your recommendation regarding coating with a Zinc paint and a rubber cover would appear to be the best option. Duct tape is a wonderful short term solution, but I will be interested in learning what you decide to do, re. covering the opening Your RUclips video, has given me the confidence to do the task next week, after our extreme heat weather pattern ends. Once my 2 inch carbide hole saw arrives I will be set to go. Be safe and be well.
Thanks Good
Its not that bad a job once you know where to drill. Its just a bit un nerving taking a big hole saw to the old girl. But as your experience with the garage indicates. It saves you loads of money and time.
Good luck pal👍
John, thank you for your efforts, as always your generosity in sharing learnings is unsurpassed. You have inspired me to have a go at this procedure in between ongoing home renovations (in retirement I’ve become Bob the builder returning an old B&B into a home again!).
Trust you dad continues to recover, let him know we look forward to seeing his return To The Garage!! All the best mate, Dave N
Thank you very much Dave. and I look forward to your RUclips channel
'From B&B to You&me'🤣
@@ToTheGarage 😅 not happening, my breakfasts would kill the business!
Thank, you for you're video and you're time spent.
Thanks for the video! I used a 1/2" male male adapter and suitable wrench to loosen the plug. Note to anyone doing this: clean the breather cap on top of the differential, mine was stuck and caused leakages due to overpressure.
This!!!! Super important! Blows the fluid past the output seals and makes a right mess.
Thanks for that video, another superb one 👍
Glad you enjoyed it Andy👍
Having followed your instructions yesterday and successfully changed the oil, I thought it might be useful to add some comments to others doing the same:
- Holed drilled as per instructions with new TCT 50mm hole drill - perfect - disconnected battery and the leads to the junction box to avoid risks of damage
- Mine is a '98, early '99 model year car - 4.0l. It had the second steel plate so this isn't just limited to the 4.2l cars. I saw the comment from another subscriber but wasn't worried about this affecting rigidity as it isn't actually a jacking point.
- Only got about 1L of oil out initially but eventually got to about 1.5L after moving the extraction tube around
- I scoffed at your fears of dropping oil everywhere - not a drop! I learned my lesson later. Oil was almost black and smelled horrible
- I thought I'd be clever and just attach my filler tube to the oil bottle and squeeze. Big mistake - really hard and oil subsequently everywhere! Syringe pump is essential!
- I ended up using about 2.1L of oil - see previous comment - and guess that I overfilled initially.
- You must be a Jedi Master to get that filler plug back in with just two attempts. It took me over an hour and I ended up jacking up the rear end so I could see what was going on from underneath
- The secret was to get more "wobble" into the wobble extension by not inserting it fully home - top tip!
Final comment - my only breaker bar isn't as long as yours. It took a proper load of leverage to get the filler plug out.
Great video and I'm glad I did it. I won't be doing it again any time soon 'though. I'm hoping it won't be as difficult on my 2001 XJ8 Super V8 'cause that needs doing too.
Hi John, Thanks for taking the risk with your (and our!) beloved Purdy to show us how to do it. Your tutorial has warned me off attempting to do this myself and persuaded me to invest the quoted £250 at an independent Jaguar specialist in due course, as your exploits have convinced me it's a task well beyond me.
So thanks for saving me a whole lot of grief.
No problem Stephen 👍
THANKS FOR THE VIDEO , I had the same problem and did not want to continue to attempt the change, I will now drill an enlarged hole as you did . Need to change the oil. after 20 yrs...
Hi John, Quite an operation, reminds me of a medical procedure & John Cleese as the surgeon explaining it to the patient.
"Well, I will make a small incision here, or thereabouts, pop in a catheter & Bobs Your Uncle. Done 100s of them them without any problem, well apart from last week, but, no need to worry about that !"
Or, words to that effect.
Cheers
😁😁 Brilliant
I have the funny walk too!
Wow bit scary drilling that hole John. But thank you for doing this job. It’s going to be a winter job for me while the cars not used. 👍👍👍
with the right position its not too bad
Thanks for another great tutorial. I'm going to do my 01' XK8 here in northern Wisconsin , if it ever stops snowing ( 23 April 2023)
Good luck William
I have to say John that this job is so much easier when the axle and subframe are on the garage floor and the car is on the lift above! HOWEVER, getting to that situation was a lot more time consuming than your solution AND as you know was necessitated by a rust worm feeding on the subframe. Thanks for another brilliant video. Enjoyed it, warts an' all. 😉
I do intend dropping the subframe to do some refurb an a rebus. But so many people ask me about the diff oil change that I thought I cant wait until I drop my IRS and then tell everyone to do the same to change the oil. I dont think the majority of owners have the space facilities or if im honest 'Nerve' to drop the entire back end down. But absolutely your way is the best way as long as there are other reasons to drop the IRS.
Great performnce
Great work
D
I will tackle this at some point because the general consensus seems to be that you need to change this oil. Having seen the alternatives, this seems the most logical approach
Its a very worthwhile mod and the smell of the old oil will both turn your stomach and convince you that it was worth doing😁
Cheers for this. Job I need to do at some point soon. Just one thought, wouldn't it be easier to cut out a sectionusing a dremel and cutting discs to make an easier to patch hole. Thats how I am thinking of doing it.
Gorgeous man with a gorgeous car 😍
Why thank you kind sir🤗
Hi John, Great video. I ordered the oil, syringe and drill bit to find out when I remove my truck and battery cover the high voltage distributor (plastic box) is different on my 2003 XKR. Is it possible to get a measurement for the hole from the bottom of your battery tray/shelf? I will make the hole as close to the top without interfering with the curve but need the distance from the battery tray/shelf. Looking at your video I believe it to be about 5 5/8 but confirmation would be great.
Thanks, I will do that this winter, the rear wheels of mine have slop up and down but not sideways, so it doesn't look like a bearing have you a video on this problem ? thanks Paul
Thank you. Great video once again! I'm most interested in your scissor lift. What brand is it?
Its a 'Strongman'. And the model is 'Clifton'
But good info on the hole location Thanks
No problem 👍
Just a thought; would a universal socket joint work for this job? Whilst I'm here, would you send the link to the straight through rear pipe conversation and where they can be bought? Thank you and carry on the good work. Your videos are really well thought out. Kind regards John. South of France
Too floppy to use for reinserting the plug. It has to be a wobble drive (half inch ball drive)
Stage 1 rear pipe video
ruclips.net/video/HXYtn9E8VAo/видео.html
You can buy from Adamesh.co.uk
Hi John, thanks for the great video! Do you know if the filler hole is on the same location on the sedan? 2003 xj8 (x308)
Hi Tony. Im not 100% sure but I believe so. Its certainly VERY close to the same as I know a friend of mine did this on his x308 and reported it as being the same Diff (no Guarantee though) Access on the X308 is marginally better though and so completing the task without dropping the axel or cutting a big hole is more doable. (but still a pain😁)
@@ToTheGarage appreciate you getting back to me. That’s good news, I’ll get under there and check it out. Thanks again for the great videos!
Hi John, Just a suggestion why not drill a small hole 3 mm in the approximate position, remove the bit from the chuck and push it back through the hole then climb underneath to see where the bit is protruding and how close it is to the bung you need to remove if not quite there then drill a second hole which will be closer and can be used as a pilot for the hole cutter, the first hole if not within the cut out piece can be plugged with a small self tapping screw.
On my XK8 coupe I looked into drilling a hole but decided instead to remove the clamp bolts from the anti roll bar then push it up which gave me a bit more access to remove the bung and do the job but with your convertible you would need to also remove the bracing bars so drilling a hole was probably the best option. Thanks for an interesting video.
good idea re the pilot hole and the anti roll bar John.👍 Other than the 'two holes' I am overall pleased with the job,
Good job John. What's the thoughts on the diff breather on top? Do they need a clean? Is an external wipe down all that's needed? Or in general they are maintenance free? Cheers
Should be fine as long as its not erased in dried on mud, so just a good wipe over with an oily rag should be sufficient
If you remove the rear trim you'll come across a 25mm diameter hole on the other side of the electrical box at the top. I think this lets in moisture. Its worth plugging it with a 25mm rubber grommet.
OK - finished the video now and can see that you also came to the "top radius" upper hole limit location as I did, John. I did think that this was apparent from the photos I sent you a year or two ago but perhaps there are other, albeit incorrect, locations being suggested on the internet?
In your position, I would weld a disc into the lower hole and then file out the upper segment so that you can use the small bung in the correct hole. Once you've ground the weld back and repainted the area it won't be visible. Remove the two nuts from the fuse box and tie the complete assembly up out of the way with the cables still attached.
Hi Rich
yes I had info from several sources showing the lower hole and yours and one other with the upper (correct😁) hole.
you roll the dice!😔
in fairness you would get it out through the lower one but struggle like hell to refit it.
I should have ignored everyone else mate
its a toss up between a hatch and a weld up as you describe.
im no professional welder, but I would get it close enough to
a)be water tight
b)not need too much grinding to overpaint.
still weighing the options though👍
Well John that was a bit of a faff but well executed I do not understand why anyone with some engineering skills would say a differential can be sealed for life give me strength John plonker's I say Happy New Year till the next time Andy Allen.
Don’t creases in metal give it the strength? Ie you want to drill just below the top as that top crease gives it strength?
John, was that the correct diff oil for this car ? as it seems to be 85w/90 oil used. 75w-140 was the recommend oil by Jaguar I believe.
Hi John, thnak you for the videos.
after 1 year, all is ok with the GL5 85W90 ? I’ve to change the oil of my xkr, i’d like to have your feedback.
Regards
David
I unbolted the electrical box and moved it totally out the way. easy
looking at it now, that would have been a much easier and more effective solution Steve,
Doh!😔
Update on comment below, I drilled through the trunk 5.25 from the battery shelf and as high as possible without disturbing the bend, and I have a second metal wall behind the first!! My car is a 2003 XKR Convertible and when looking underneath there is a metal plate that attaches to the trunk floor and bends up behind the back of the truck and has the 2 brace bars attached at the bottom, similar to what i read below on the 2004 and 2005 XK8's. This plate is where they advise you to set your jack to lift the back end of the car, so I have some concerns over cutting through this 2nd plate, it is also not flat, it has bends to add strength.
Hi John .... I'm just watching your excellent video now but my experience with this mod suggests to me that you are drilling the hole too low down and will find that there is a bar right across the front of the fill plug. I drilled so that the top of the hole just reaches the curved lip at the the top of the well and I could come down over the top of the bar. However, I'll carry on watching.
I learn the hard way Richard😁
To finish my story I found the axle plug hanging in the suspension but had a new one on standby ..neither would go back in ( thread damage on the diff ??) so I machined in the lathe about 4mm from the threads ..cleaned it up for the thread entry and it went in first time
Phew!😀
Do you think it came out while you were trying to undo it or it was already out and had been for a while?
I think when i tried to undo it I did not use a wobble end and it was 3/4 out and fell out ..fortunatly I only went about 2 miles ...do you know the thread for the two support bars to the boot floor? I have tied 12 mm 1.25/1.5/1.75 but must get a tap to clean them out for the tow bar...@@ToTheGarageI
12:20 that is why for any kind of metalwork stuff I use a corded high speed drill with a foregrip, that way you can get a higher rpm up before gently guiding the drill down to ablate rather than cut the surface; if you can get a grinder or grit style holesaw even better, though more expensive so probably not worth it unless you have lots of holes to drill. Oh and gloves and eye protection cos metal swarf is a bitch. I also tend to duct tape a shopvac to my drill or the working area so it sucks away the swarf/spoil as you go.
The engineers who design these cars need to also work on them and learn for themselves the maintenance issues they cause.
I will sign that petition Michael👍
I think my 2005 XKR has an extra panel between the hole you made and the plug. It’s not vertical so not sure if I can drill the hole. All those filings should have been vacuumed up before you took that plug out.
Hi. Mine is a 2004 xk8 and also has the cross brace bars connected to an extra folded plate between the boot back wall and the diff plug. So I had to drill through both. My hole was slightly higher than John original, more like his second one. As he says, plug easy to remove, pig to get the thread to catch when replacing.
fair comment re the filings Johnson
thanks talby47
I did this job on a 4.2 XKR. The smell of the fluid still haunts my garage,
Hah! I have never seen a better use of the word 'Haunts" Andrew🍺
Using a piece of 1/2” square rod cut to the correct length with one end filed to fit a ring spanner it is possible to remove and replace the fill plug from under the car.
I had a go at doing it this way and, with the early convertible models, decided that although I would be able to remove the level/filler plug, I would never be able to get it back in. I believe that the coupe models have better access.
can defo be done stagnite2. in fact jag have a special tool very like the one you describe, but as Rich indicates its tricky, on a coupe and more so on a convertible
I was able to remove the plug from below on a hoist. Used a short length of 1/2 bar welded to a bolt head and a ratchet ring spanner. The difficult bit was getting access to suck out the oil. This was 2004 XKR convertible
Replacing the plug was much easier than I thought it would be. I held it and lowered it down from above, then, tightened it up from above using my 1/2” square rod and a 13mm ratchet spanner.
@@ToTheGarage I do like a challenge John. Mine is a convertible. Took me a couple if failed attempts before completing the task as there is little room behind the diff to work. My little tool was just long enough for it to fully insert in the plug leaving about 1/2” protruding allowing just enough room for a 1/2” open ended spanner to fit. The spanner just protruded below the diff enough to get a ring spanner on the end of it allowing me to get enough power to “crack” the bung.
After 20 years and 80k miles, the oil was rather smelly!!!
I would like to hear if anyone has actually drilled through the bottom of the differential and installed a one way removable plug.
Also if anyone else from Arizona, USA is on this subscription it would be nice to meet you. This Saturday is a cars and coffee at the new Arrowhead Jaguar Dealership. Maybe see you there.
Yes it sounds like a really interesting solution Michael.
It would not be difficult to drill and tap a differential to fit a drain/fill plug although even access to a suitable location at a low point of the diff is not easy with the XK8 unless you start removing suspension parts. However, differentials without drain plugs are not that uncommon and using an electric pump, as I do, makes draining and filling very easy once you have decent access to the level plug.
Gary Mees is a subscriber.
@@garyvanremortel5218 Hey Gary! So you live in Phoenix? I did not make it to the Arrowhead JLR cars & coffee today. Will try next month for the C&C at Chandler JLR
@@michaelsbraga2561 I do not, but subscriber Gary Mees is in your area. ruclips.net/user/jagvette1videos
😊great
Thanks 😊
Not sure what you decided to do to finish…I thought perhaps a piece of cardboard or other material affixed from behind and then a squirt of high density foam…There is a product in USA named Great Foam, comes in a can with a tube nozzle for precision application. Once dried it can be trimmed or sanded easily, in your case flush, then painted.
I drilled 4 corner holes and cut between them with a jig saw ..plug will not come out ..think its rounded off .Waiting for a mini camera to check ...
I would be very surprised if a square hole can be rounded off, particularly as its probably never been removed before. Are you definitely using a 1/2 inch square drive? I wonder if your plug has been replaced with an Allen drive hexagon fitting?
Any chance the hole is full of crud and you are not getting your drive fully in?
No the plug is out (fell out ) Must have loosened it and being a taper thread worked its way out . Nice clean threads and if I push the extension in I get quite clean oil. So will suck out some and put in some seal expander and top up . I hae a new plug in stock .@@ToTheGarage
Cleaning the threads may help. Preferably a motorized wire wheel.
Good grief! Changing diff fluid on my '1950 MG TD just involves removing the easily removable boot top (no tools required) and unscrewing a filler cap. Draining old fluid is easy because the diff has a drain plug with easy access from below! I can't believe Jag makes this so archaic! Scares me from considering a Jag.
I hear you Ed. Other than the XK8, the car I have owned more examples of than Andy of (5) was the Morris Marina. I know everybody detests them, but I dont. And one of the reasons is that the mechanical and electrical design had barely moved on from your MG TD and I could fix Anything this side of a cracked block or a snapped driveshaft on that car, using the tin of tools I kept in the boot. Simplicity holds a special joy. However, I can forgive the XK8 Anything,😁
A couple of drops of cutting oil will help.
I, bought a 2004, x j 8 jaguar from a Doctor.
I would just blank it with aluminium speed tape
Bilt Hamber products are all ace. . I'm not sponsered either they just all work as you want
John, excellent video as always. You have probably saved many others from drilling in the less than optimum position. Well done 👍 . I am glad I changed the diff oil whilst it was in the bench much easier. Love the drama as you decide to go higher. I really felt your pain but determination to do the job properly and better. Great stuff, Regards Damian
😁 brilliant stuff
Thanks Damian
The bench is the wise method on this one. But you need an alterior motive to drop the IRS😁
I had the motive but not the time. This time🤔
Just a note on zinc rich paints. Generally they should be over coated as zinc rich coatings are porous. Yes will probably be fine for years. Good to know where the best access is now. Well done and very satisfying to have the task completed.
Or use a small sheet of that super sticky stuff that you can repair leaking water pipes etc with.