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Renault Diesel People Is this not your engine?

wilcharl

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Wash DC
Guys:

I have always had a weird love of the french and wish i could get my hands on a 2.1 TD but anyways i see a few posts about it lately and was googling and came across this book:

Is this not the 2.1 Litre diesel in the XJ?? This book is from a UK publisher and availble online in english and would shead some light on the mystery engine. THe UK may also be a good (but pricey) parts source

it looks like it may have been used in the traffic van in europe
00Cover_%20Renault_%20J8S_%20Diesel.gif
 
I'm pretty sure someone mentioned here that it is of the renault j8 series diesel in early model diesel XJ. I dunno...

And, I don't think thats a DOHC engine pictured. You have the timing belt driving the camshaft and the injector timing pump as well (to the right).
 
I just did some more looking and it looks like it indeed is that engine and its very popular in the UK they sale all the specialty tools and parts and ship to the US if anyone is intersted in it
 
wilcharl said:
I just did some more looking and it looks like it indeed is that engine and its very popular in the UK they sale all the specialty tools and parts and ship to the US if anyone is intersted in it

They may have everything for it, but you may want to try getting the same stuff out of a country that's on the Euro. These engines were used all over Europe, and right now the exchange rate between the Dollar and Euro is at $1.17:1 - for Sterling, it's $1.75:1. Also bear in mind that while that engine *was* popular in Europe, I don't believe it's in production any longer (nor has it been for some time) and if there's strong local demand for parts they may not necessarily be any easier to come by. I'd be wary of secondhand parts; having owned various diesels in Europe and knowing what happens to commercial vehicles with engines like these there, anything not new-in-box is likely to have had a very, very hard life.

Repeating this again since people seem to be wanting to find parts for this the really hard way: find resources for the Winnebago LeSharo RV via Google. This was the other 'major' automotive application for this engine in the US; their owners' groups could probably help you out a lot better with this engine since it was standard in their vehicles. I note from a couple of the pages I've found on them, though, that engine swaps seem to be popular; take this for what it's worth, but when even the enthusiasts for a particular vehicle admit that it's easier to completely replace the engine with something else altogether rather than trying to repair it, I'd be concerned about maintaining sanity and keeping the XJ running.

Keeping an old Renault running in the US is a nightmare; there's zero parts supply. If you can do it then more power to you, but converting to a Mercedes turbodiesel would make a lot more sense in many ways.
 
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I'm under the impression the owner who did the MBZ turbodiesel swap had to do some very serious fabricating to get everything to fit which consumed a good deal of time and money since hadn't been done before and he did it himself. The oil pan was a problem as it interfeared with the suspension and made this swap impractical for offroad use or installation on a 4WD model. For this reason, I doubt it is easier to swap a MBZ motor which has good parts avaliability than maintain the Renault using aftermarket, foriegn and adapted non-renault parts. Kind of a catch 22 as cool as diesel xjs are. Probably SOL if the block or some heavy part needs replaced. BTW I believe the diesel mj was destroyed by hurricane katrina.
 
bajacalal said:
I'm under the impression the owner who did the MBZ turbodiesel swap had to do some very serious fabricating to get everything to fit which consumed a good deal of time and money since hadn't been done before and he did it himself. The oil pan was a problem as it interfeared with the suspension and made this swap impractical for offroad use or installation on a 4WD model.

Interesting - I seem to remember that the MJ was a 4x4, but it wouldn't be the first time I've misremembered something.

In fact... I just found the thread. You're right; in the first photo it's clearly a 2WD. And putting a little more thought into this, if he's got the Renault lump in there it's probably the original-style 4-cylinder unibody. It's be as bad trying to convert that to hte Merc straight-5 as the Jeep straight-6.

For this reason, I doubt it is easier to swap a MBZ motor which has good parts avaliability than maintain the Renault using aftermarket, foriegn and adapted non-renault parts. Kind of a catch 22 as cool as diesel xjs are.

What he might be able to do is replace it with the 2.5-litre VM diesel used on the European market XJs, or possibly even the current KJ CRD. The VMs would be a parts availability nightmare as well, though, and I seem to remember them having a penchant for cracking. I'd love to see a CRD swap into an XJ, but can only imagine how difficult that would get - you'd more or less have to swap in all of the electronics as well, possibly the gauges too, and might as well swap out the AW4 for the KJ's 5-speed auto while you're at it.

Probably SOL if the block or some heavy part needs replaced. BTW I believe the diesel mj was destroyed by hurricane katrina.

Yes, I seem to remember hearing the same thing. Pity, as that was one of the more unique conversions out there.
 
I recently bought a 85 Cherokee Pioneer 4x4 with the 2.1L Renault diesel. It is a J8S as wilcharl has pointed out with the manual. It has some subtle differences than the one offered in the Traffic. A couple I can think of is the piston ring thickness and the design of how the piston skirt is oiled. Renault offered some very good manuals specifically for the Jeep application of the J8S (J8S 814 & J8S 815) I bought a couple on ebay recently, one for the engine and one for the Bosch fuel injection (Items 8013824910 and 8013821117 which I believe can still be viewed). I am looking for parts sources for an overhaul. There are a couple I have found:

winnebago.com has maybe everything for this engine including pistons, liners, rings, valves, gaskets, etc. I think they are genuine Renault parts as well.

rockauto.com has some parts like filters, gaskets, I believe they even offered a crankshaft kit.

napa has some parts as per one of the previous threads

Hope this helps someone out there. I am looking forward to getting mine on the road!
 
hallo mates :

any new movement on these

i am in need of rebuilding my J8S- some speciality tools would make things east - MOT. 521.01 for certain

cheers
 
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