F-Type

The F-Type is Jaguar’s modern take on the iconic E-Type and is a high performance 2-seater sports car. Because of the high stress nature of this vehicles design and the performance it has, it is essential that it is well maintained by a specialist with up-to-date knowledge and the latest tools.

After nearly 70 years operating as independent specialists in Land Rovers, we at K Motors have now expanded our business allowing us to service and repair modern Jaguar vehicles like the F-Type to the same high standards too.

This is a list of some of the more common faults found on the F-Type and their symptoms along with the solutions we provide in our workshop.

A well-known problem with the supercharged V8 and V6 models is the timing chain jumping. This is caused by a design flaw in the tensioners and guides. The piston used on the tensioner which hits the timing chain guide is made of hard steel whereas the back of the guide is made of aluminium, the tensioner butts up against the aluminium button on the guide slowly wearing it away over time.

If you’re lucky, symptoms may start with a rattle on cold start or a restricted performance warning on the dashboard, but this is not always the case, sometimes they will spontaneously fail leaving no option other than a replacement engine or a potentially more expensive full rebuild including valves and pistons. Preventative maintenance is basically limited to regular oil changes but if you have a high mileage model and the chain, tensioners and guides have not yet been replaced, you might want to have this done sooner rather than later.

Water pumps on early Supercharged models are prone to failure, sometimes they last less than 20,000 miles. This is because coolant gets inside the bearing housing corroding the water pump bearing. This stops the impeller shaft from being supported properly causing excessive wear of the mechanical flat face seal of the pump allowing water to escape.

Symptoms of this will likely be a low coolant level warning message and traces of a coolant leak around the water pump pulley. Luckily the water pump on both the V6 and V8 F-Type is fairly easy to access at the front of the engine. We also recommend replacing the small coolant pipe that connects to the pump at the same time as it needs to be removed to replace the pump and has very fragile plastic connections that will likely break upon removal.

Sadly, the water pump is not the only part of the cooling system that can fail on these engines, many of the hoses and pipes used for coolant delivery are of a plastic design, unfortunately these can crack and fail. Replacing them one at a time as they fail is not a particularly efficient approach and could result in you being in and out of the garage, and as such we recommend that all plastic coolant hoses are replaced if one has failed.

The F-Type can suffer oil leaks on the rear differential that if untreated for too long, can cause wear to the diff pinion due to insufficient lubrication. The cause of these leaks is a failed pinion seal, the sooner it is replaced the better, but if you are also hearing a whining noise from the rear axle, a new differential may be required.

The active exhaust is an extra fitted to certain F-Type models and contains valves that allow the system to open up and create a more aggressive noise, sometimes, through lack of use these valves can seize either open or shut, causing more or less noise than expected in a certain situation depending on which way the failure occurred.

Sometimes these valves can be freed up but it is not uncommon for an expensive new backbox to be required.

The centre vents on the dash fascia of the F-Type are designed to rise out of the dashboard when the HVAC system requires them to maintain the set temperature. Unfortunately, the mechanism on these vents can fail resulting in the vents being stuck up out of the dashboard or more inconveniently, stuck in the dashboard and unable to rise. Replacement requires a partial disassembly of the top of the dashboard.