Hi,
My name is Dave, I live in a suburb of L.A. and have owned Jags since ~1990.

I work on them myself to save money, control quality and consume whatever free time I might have.
My first was a 1970 XJ with a Chevy 305 (named Angus). That engine was quickly replaced with a souped-up 327 (cam, heads, intake mani & carb). The 350 trans got a stage-2 shift kit. What a fun car!
His behavior on the road was not in keeping with the best Jaguar tradition (he liked to roar & chirp the tires). I became very fond of the Series 1 instrument panel, very retro.

Next came a bone-stock 1973 XJ6 (Basil), followed by a black 1973 XJ12 (Cedric) with a Chevy 350 in her. My wife drove her 'til the engine developed multiple coolant leaks.
That car was parted out and replaced by a 1989 XJS V12 (Deirdre), one of the 1st V12's to have the Marelli ignition. A very different driving experience from a straight-6 or V8, as anyone who owns one will attest. I put a stage-2 shift kit in the TH-400 trans.
Anyone contemplating that mod should not bother because it made almost no difference.

Apparently the Jaguar version of the TH-400 comes from the factory already spiced up. She had issues with the crank position sensor & various connector (curse you Lord Lucas!). When she developed a rear-seal leak (about 5 years ago), I fixed it but decided it was time to trade up.

I next procured a 1998 XJR (Emma). Wow! About 100more HP than the V12 and just as refined. No need for mods on this car (except maybe a posi diff). I replaced the timing chains, guides & tensioners on advice from various sources because the 1st couple model years used inferior materials for the guides & tensioners. The guides and tensioners will eventually fail and these engines will not survive a slipped timing chain. The job took 2 weekends, with some help from my teenage daughter who is not afraid to climb under a car & get dirty (don't even think it!).

So what drew me to this forum? Emma was having a hard time starting, very slow to turn over.
The car came with an El-Cheapo battery, and it appeared to have trouble holding a charge (hold that thought). Another possibility was a bad starter. Not wanting to invest $200 in a rebuilt starter unnecessarily, I started poking around the web looking for people with a similar problem on that model car.

I eventually landed here. One of the posts drew my attention to the wiring and in particular, the terminal on the false bulkhead in the engine bay next to the computers.
Sure enough, the cable running from bulkhead to starter was HOT due to a failed crimp at the bulkhead terminal end. A search for a replacement cable revealed that there are no new ones to be had from any supplier, including Jaguar themselves. Picked up a used one on eBay for $15 + $7 shipping.

Also, the plastic insulating washer on the terminal was partly melted & cracked from the extreme temperatures caused by the bad cable. I found a replacement nylon washer in my garage: it was an extra toilet-seat washer (ha ha!). Fit under the boot quite well and the tapered side centered the terminal in the hole in the bulkhead.

Emma now spins her starter like never before. Apparently this cable was bad the day I bought the car and continued to deteriorate for years. In retrospect, the old battery was probably ok, just couldn't get a good charge thru that bad cable. So that's my story so far, I'm happy to be a part of this forum.

Cheers!

Dave
1989 XJS V12 - blue (Deidre)
1998 XJR - black (Emma)

 

Hey Dave & welcome aboard, good to have you here with us here at JF

Nice intro, thanks for the info.
Good that you got here and glad we helped out some already, no doubt you'll add value to the site yourself.

Just a FYI - When posting, try to speace out your text and not make it in one BIG block of text as per your post ( I've edited it since to make it more readable )
When large blocks of text like that get posted it tends to get people to switch off even before they start reading.

There's a really great mix of information, camraderrie and fun here.....

I have manually upgraded you to full forum access so you can better view the whole site and all its features

Jump on in and enjoy the site.................

 

Welcome to the forum Dave,

Great Intro and good to hear you've already found useful information here.

Hope Emma and Deirdre behave themselves. If not, you know where to look for help and advice.

Thanks for adding vehicle details to your Signature. It's a big help to everyone reading posts.

Graham

 

Welcome to the forum Dave,

Good to have you with us.
A fine intro, I feel like I know you already.
I hope your two old girls are behaving themselves for now.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.