Recently I was approached on the street by a young fellow with a twin to my 1990 XJ6. He was in need of a head gasket set. I did some research attempting to locate a supplier of one for him. My go to place for British car parts (my MGTD, Jaguar 3.8S) has been Moss Motors. Could not find one there (or at SNJ Barrett, Welsh Jaguar or even Rock Auto) so inquired of Moss and was later advised they do not service parts for the XJ40. This was disappointing as I usually have good prompt service from them and use their well laid out website. Are our XJ40s becoming so few on the roads and non collectible that our parts supplies are drying up? So who do most use these days for XJ40 parts?
Yes and no. Certain parts are definitely drying up, and others dried up years ago. When I did a full rebuild on my XJ40’s engine a few years back, it was a bit shocking to find out how many parts that are essential to a rebuild were not available. It certainly required some outside the box thinking to get it finished. This is not even taking into account the suspension parts, brake parts, etc. that are no longer available.
The one advantage he does have is that his car is one of the later ones so it has many parts that are much more easily obtained (such as ABS parts). I’m assuming his car has the 4.0, correct?
Thanks, I’ll see if I can get that info to him but he is not very email responsive.
It is really disappointing that parts suppliers have apparently lost interest in the XJ40
I’m pretty sure I used the AJ16 head gasket for my 1992MY XJ40 when I lost the gasket seal between CYL3/CYL4 after a slight engine ‘overheat’.
I worked at the dealer at the time and had a leftover AJ16 gasket set from a repair job.
Many common parts between the two engines.
They sure do look the same and I bet they fit no problem
I have a huge amount of XJ-40 parts in stock but some are definitely disappearing. I sold two head gasket sets this month and think there is only one left. However, I have a lot of head gaskets and probably have every other gasket that would be in a set. The Lower-end sets are gone but that is mostly seals and I have them all individually but stock is getting low.
The Head Gasket by iteself for 3.6 & 4.0 AJ6 and AJ16 all SS to NBC2520AB. There were problems with the oil supply seal on early head gaskets so you want the later gaskets for all.
Another possibility for US owners if parts can’t be found with US suppliers is to look to the motherland. I have not purchased from, and have no affiliation with, this supplier but their Web site indicates the gasket set is currently in stock:
At current exchange rates the cost would be about US$86; I do not know what tax and shipping charges would be.
I’ve used Britishcarparts in the past, the last thing I bought from them was the accumulator sphere for my brake system, it was the only place I could find that had them in stock. Each time I’ve used them the parts have been dispatched within a day of ordering and exactly as described but also each time I look on the site the XJ40 list gets smaller and smaller.
Sourcing spares for my XJ40 is now quite a problem involving lots of searching. It’s quite easy to find anything for a series XJ, an E.Type or Mk2 but XJ40’s parts have really dried up.
And I thought Jaguar Heritage Parts was the solution to this but apparently not.
The JDHC parts site is always the first place I search but so many parts are ‘No Longer Available’ I usually only come away with the correct part number. At least then I can cross reference it with other models and search elsewhere. The hardest parts to find are always the XJ40 specific parts that are not shared with other models.
I have a few head gaskets (only) in stock too, but not complete top end sets.