I don't want to even begin to talk about how to get the plugs out using a 14mm socket.. I only took out the front one and that was when the engine was 3" lower due to blown engine mounts. Now it's higher and even less room. Very, very tight and to do plugs or injectors, you unscrew one engine mount and lift the engine up for access to that side. One at a time..
Honestly, it's faster to drop the trans than replace the plugs in this Jag..

 

UPDATE: And it's not good news. Went trough a refurb cover and a donor cover and the car is still stalling but isn't throwing any codes after many miles of driving. I made sure to change gaskets etc. and I'm running out of ideas. This was supposed to be my daily for a bit so it's super frustrating. I'm going to try a OEM vvt becasue I'm out of ideas. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT. (Timing chain was inspected by a local shop as well and it's good.)

 

how would a shop inspect the chain? thru the vvt cover holes? you can hardly see anything from there... how exactly does it stall? other than the stalling is starting/running ok?

 

I had my mechanic look at it and he said it definitely wasn't a timing chain issue. Im not sure what his process was. The car ran perfectly fine when I bought it a few months ago. Everytime I would stop for less than 20 minutes the car would stall on warm starts as soon as you would put it into drive or reverse. I replaced everything listed in the original post. The car has gotten progressively worse and now dies at stop signs and it jumps when at any cruising speed. Replacing VVT again soon.

 

this sounds more like a potential maf(s) issue. does the car have a custom hot air intake on it? you really ought to get an obd2 adapter and datalog it in torque or some other app and see what it's doing. have your mech scan it with a fancy scan tool to see if there are any trans codes, etc. on it. can you keep it from dying by punching the gas pedal? also, try unhooking the battery overnight if you can and see if that improves anything. again, we're shooting in the dark here without any codes...

 

The car is 100% stock and no codes. It has been scanned and relearned SEVERAL times both by myself and the shop. You can sometimes keep it running but its kind of a very quick and sudden die most of the time. AI says it's a blown back timing cover gasket issue but thats a $4000 job and I dont really trust that. Plus those codes went away after changing the cover. If it sounds confusing it's because it is. Throttle body and MAF have been cleaned out as well.

 

LOL @AI - don't even bother reading those... Does this issue ever happen after the car gets warm before you park it and restart?

 

It didn't when I bought it but after changing the cover the codes went away but it runs rough all the time and now dies at stop signs. That's why I bought a second cover to make.sure that one wasn't bad. It runs exactly the same with the second cover.

 

you need to ask your mechanic to diagnose it with a data logger while driving around. is it having these issues when it's cold in the morning before it warms up?

 

So my car has been sitting at the dealer and after 2 hours of "diag" time they are officially unable to give me an answer. They want to start ripping into the timing chain and just to inspect it is $1400 on top of the $300 I owe plus whatever MIGHT need to be repaired. Any advice would be helpful because I'm completely out of 5k with no car. Thanks everyone.

 

Get rid of it ASAP and buy a newer car. Take out a loan or do whatever you need to do instead of throwing money into that old car.. Bite the bullet, swallow it and move on, like i did..
These old cars are very costly to maintain and repair especially at the dealer.. It costs more to diagnose than the car is worth.. Look at this forum, it's abandoned by its creators, no moderators, no replies to emails i've sent over the months, nothing, just like the Gs..

 

I've put over 9k into my 07 G35 and sold it for $4,300.. So i lost 50% within 15 months and it sucks, but if you keep throwing money into something that is just not worth it, then you need to stop and call it quits..

 

i already told you what you need to do. find somebody who can actually diagnose cars (i.e., hook it up to a computer and drive around looking at what the various sensors say). at 170k, i highly doubt it's your chain. could be the intake sprocket is taking a dump, but i'm just shooting in the dark here (especially with no codes).

 

The first mechanic did and was unable to see anything that pointed out the issue.

 

So the car was at the dealership for 2 Months!!! They didn't really care nor hardly worked on it. Long story very short it's running pretty good. Timing chain was off a link and the galley gasket bolts were not even hand tight. Did the entire timing as gasket upgrade and it still ran like garbage. Threw the new magnetic retarder back on (for the 3rd time) and it ran like new. It has some weird issues when slowly accelerating from stop though. It doesn't die it just misses for one second. No codes for it, just for o2. I did a relearn myself and that didn't help. Car does run really well if you dont mind that hiccup from a stop. All together it was $5000 in repairs. IF ANYONE KNOWS WHAT THAT HICCUP IS PLEASE LET ME KNOW. IF YOU'RE HAVING THE PRIOR ISSUE MY ADVICE IS TRY THE STEPS ABOVE BUT TIMING IS EXPENSIVE ON THIS CAR SO BE READY TO GET OUT OR PAY.