"celestial discharge"
I LOVE it ....!!!
With your permission, I'll steal it for my list.
(Actually, I've already stolen it, but just figgered I'd do the polite thing).

Interim report while I'm in for a short cool-off period.

Fuel level sending unit came right out, easy peasy. All gunked up and covered with rusty looking spooge. Got it cleaned up and soaked it with various snake oils and magic potions. After working the float arm back and forth awhile, it finally stopped squeaking as it moved. Still not free enough IMO to operate properly on the bouyancy of the float, so I'm letting it soak.

Blowing through the fuel lines (disconnected from the fuel rail), netted me quite a bit of nasty looking black crap, most of which I'm wearing at the moment. (Planning ahead was never my strong point!)

Might as well go ahead and pull the fuel rail ... I know it's gonna be pretty crappy too. Will consult the oracle in the Book of Haynes to see what lies ahead.

I'll be back!

 

We could call it:

"As the Stomach Churns".

 

Normally, when blowing through something, the generally accepted wisdom is to have the other end of the object pointing away from you.. But you didn't need me to mention that.

Just thank whatever supreme being you subscribe to that your fuel pump is not located inside the tank, now that would be a real PITA!

A+
Richard

 

So true!
In this case, I thought distance would be my friend. I was lying on the floor at the left rear wheel. Never figured on the spooge doing a perfect bank shot off the window of the open driver's side door!
My first impression was that it was raining. My second impression was exactly WHAT it was raining!

UPDATE:
Project on hold for the moment - waiting for a part.

Though I have some access to the innards of the fuel tank through the hole for the sending unit, it isn't much. I mopped up several ounces of rusty looking water from the bottom of the tank and let it dry out. What can be seen of the interior of the tank looks good.

I will be doing further flushing/ cleaning of the tank, but I'm sure there will still be some debris. I'm real leery of running that crap through my new fuel pump, so I've decided to install an additional filter in the soft line between the tank and pump.

Had to order the filter online. No one locally handles anything larger than 3/8" fittings, and I need 1/2".

 

'nother update:

Some progress today, but not as much as I'd hoped.

The new fuel pump is installed, and workin' like a mad dog.
Maybe a little too well, matter of fact!
I planned to remove the fuel rack and injectors for a cleaning, but hoped to fire it up after installing the pump just to hear it run without life support!
(You know how ya get ....!!!)

T'was not to be.
I have serious fuel leaking out of number 3 injector.
Already have new seals, so will pull 'er down tomorrow and see what I can see.

Stay tuned, sports fans. (Yeah ....... right!)

 

Things still just floating along.

This falls under the category of:
"Old dog trying to teach himself new tricks."

Tryin' to school myself on the wonderful world of fuel injection.
Actually never held an injector in my hand until this project.

Fuel rail and injectors were massively packed full of junk! Got the injectors partially stripped down and soaking in a witches brew. Now I have to track down some electrical info on the injectors so I can build a switch/tool to cycle them whilst they're being cleaned.
Apparently that's the only way you can get all the crud out.

I gotta tell you, at this point the "old school" carburetors, points and condensors are lookin' better all the time!
I'm still going to soldier on with the Jaguar engine, but I sure hope it turns out to be worth the effort and expense.
Meanwhile my 235 Chevrolet and 270 GMC inline six engines are sittin' in the corner laughing at me!
"You'll be sorryyyy .... neener neener!"

Probably be next week before I mess with it any more. Got some family coming to visit from a Third World country (Texas).

 

I have been locked away in my garage for the past 3 weeks and have to say that it brought me to the point where I asked myself if I ever wanted to pick up another wrench ever again! Without stepping up onto my soap box and hi-jacking your lovely thread... I will just say thanks for reminding me of how fun it is when you choose to punish yourself rather than be forced to!!

 

5 days since your last 'episode', did you take an extended weekend or small vacation? You should be working!

 

That's the part I'm wondering about myself ...!!!
When does the fun part start??
Or maybe it already happened and I missed it ...?

Waterbubba, you're right, I oughta be out twistin' wrenches and whatnot.

But as advertised, my sister-in-law is in town visiting, so I've been squiring the ladies around sampling what passes for culture in this neck of the woods.

Attended the Choctaw Indian Festival near Philadelphia, MS on Friday afternoon.
Was beastly hot, not the right time of day to catch any of the folk dancing or any of that. We did manage to pick up a few neat handcrafted items.
While there we also hit the reservation Casino ... I usually take my wife there about once a week.
Standard operating procedure ... the wife won, SIL lost, and I ate....!
(Found out a long time ago about my gambling luck, might as well just take the money and toss it on the floor!)

Might get back to work on the project Wednesday.
Next on the agenda:
My injector seal kits didn't come with new filter screens. I have to see if they can be removed and cleaned without damaging them too much.
Wish me luck, and thanks for reading.

 

So it's Wednesday evening for me now.

Not to press you or anything but...

How did you get on with the injectors?

 

inertia [in-ur-shuh] –noun

1. inertness, esp. with regard to effort, motion, action, and the like; inactivity; sluggishness.

2. the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest.

Mea Culpa .....!!

Actually, I did perform a small amount of work. Yesterday I got the injector screens (mostly) removed. They were trashed, no chance of reusing them even before the removal process.

Main problem now seems to be a dearth of parts and information re the injectors.
I've previously admitted to being a "search dummy", but I'm coming up with zilch about these injectors. Can't seem to find any filter screens either!

I did find some info on injectors for the earlier XJ 4.2 series engines, indicating that the amperage delivered to the injectors is cut down to 3 amps or less. That puts a major crimp in my plan to build a tool/switch to activate the injectors to aid cleaning. What I had in mind was real cave man technology!

So I'm in meditation mode again.
I'm sorta **** about my work, and really hate to do anything half-assed regardless of the reason.
HOWEVER,
my sole aim at this point is to get the engine running well enough to judge its internal condition, and hopefully drivable to some extent to evaluate the condition of the rest of the drivetrain.
I think I'll clean everything up as good as possible, reassemble sans injector screens and see if she'll run enough for evaluation purposes.

The following is wildly off topic (even more so than usual!), but there is a point to it .... sorta......!

A major player in the inertia mentioned above has been the heat in the beknighted area of the Southland.
Maybe this will illustrate the point:
The wife and I have lots of critters, including many chickens. This time of the year it's quite common to all of a sudden see a new mom proudly squiring around a batch of brand new chicks.
Several days ago, my wife found a freshly hatched chick on the side porch. Investigating a nearby workbench, she found a clutch of five eggs in the bottom cabinet, one of which this little guy had just escaped from ... but no mom.
While setting, hens do occasionally leave the nest to feed and water, but never for very long and usually not while chicks are in the process of hatching.
We set a watch to see who the errant mom was, but never caught a hen on the nest.
It was only after the second chick hatched that the realization hit us. The eggs were hatching spontaneously due to the heat and humidity!
In the past we've hatched eggs in an incubator. It takes very specific and narrowly defined heat & humidity parameters for 21 days to hatch the eggs.
100 - 101 degrees fahrenheit with extremely high humidity.
Somehow this tool cabinet had exactly duplicated those conditions, or close enough to achieve a 40% hatch rate!
Never heard of that happening before.

BTW ... the new chicks were smuggled under a sleeping mom at night, and they're all doing fine!

 

... judge, a sidebar please. There was this chick, the fowl kind, not a hottie...

 

For most of my parts i scour the scrap yards and always have found what i need and cheap also

 

I hear ya, Lumppy.

Problem is, you're in Massachusetts ... I'm in Mississippi.
Other than the initial "M" in the names, no similarity. We're talkin' a whole different world down here ...!!

Just moved to the Meridian, MS area last year. In my previous haunts down on the Gulf Coast there were several good yards, plus a pretty cool U-pull yard.
Can't honestly say I've looked hard in this area, but online searches haven't brought up too much.

Then you have the "Bubba" factor.
"Jaguar ...? Who makes that ..... Chevrolet ...???"
"Do they make a 4X4 ...? Kin ya get a lift kit for one ...??"
"Oh .... y'mean some o' that furrin crap ... you must be a commie!!"
I think you get the picture.

Anyway, I got everything reassembled today. Very minimal success.

Ran the fuel into a catch can at first. A very minute amount of rusty crap, then flowing clean gasoline. (I had previously blown out the fuel lines).

Hooked everything up, then activated the ignition switch a few times to let the fuel pump do it's thing. No leakage anywhere ... lookin' good ...!!

Engine started, and initially accepted small throttle openings for maybe 30 seconds or so, then faded out and died.
Now it will start, and run on a few cylinders for just a few seconds, then no more until you let it sit for a while. Will not accept any throttle openings above idle.

That's the status at the moment.
I'll regroup, try to get my attitude back, and attack it again.
I'm down but not out!

 

I love this thread. I love vicariously living through others somewhat crazy projects. Carry on

 

Well, thank you sir (or ma'am, as the case may be ...)
I'm happy that someone other than myself is being amused!

Hmmm ... "vicariously".
Sounds like what my sex life has evolved into lately ...!!

"crazy projects"
Sorry, but this build is completely sane and boring compared to the rest of my life .... trust me!

Today's episode is entitled:
SIX STEPS FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK

Over the past few days, I gathered up the materials to build a not-quite-patented "Cro-Magnon" fuel injector activation tool.

1 small roll 18 gauge electrical wire (need about 25 ft. or so.)
1 pair medium sized alligator clips
1 aftermarket fuel injector electrical connector
1 aftermarket horn button (giant economy size, you're gonna use your foot on it!)
Wired the hot side direct, put the button in the ground side ...'cause that's the way the injectors work. Power all the time, activated by the ground.

Cobbled everything together and gave it a try.
Initially tried using my battery charger for power, 'cause I was uncertain of the amperage requirements.
Low setting, 2 amps, ..... nothing.
Medium setting, 10 amps .... also nada.
Said "to hell with it" and connected it directly to the battery. Clicky clicky, workin' like a charm!

Flushed and backflushed each injector, using spray carb cleaner and my air compressor cut down to about 20 psi.
Injectors #1, 2 and 3 .... lookin' good .... hot damn!
Injector #4 .... nothin'.
Injector #5 .... also nothing.
Thought maybe my test rig had gone bad or lost connection, so checked #1 again .... tested OK.
Injector #6 also tested good.

So .... I have two dead injectors.
I popped those two back into the carb cleaner soak .... figured it sure couldn't hurt them any!
Will retest again in case some miracles happen.

Stay tuned, sports fans!

 

Fingers crossed then.

25 feet of wire and a giant horn button, for 'Cro-Magnon' injector testing.

Must be worth a pic!

 

Well, it ain't much to look at, but here ya go:


LO-TECH REDNECK FUEL INJECTOR TESTER

The wire length is probably excessive, but there were several factors to consider.
Both hands are gonna be busy with air hoses, cleaning fluid and whatnot, so foot control seemed like the way to go ... hence the oversized button.
Wasn't sure if I might end up using this in the engine compartment or whatever, seemed a good idea to make sure it would reach wherever needed.

The concept is simple. Straight shot from battery positive post to positive side of injector, ground from negative battery post through the button to supply momentary activation.
Worked great!

BTW ... the two dead injectors did not magically spring back to life, so I have two rebuilt ones on the way here. Supposed to arrive Monday.

 

sounds like an interesting project.

 

Thank you.

OK, I'm back with an update.
Did a brief detour over to the "general tech help" forum in an effort to diagnose my fuel system problems:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=40437
I still don't have that problem solved, but I'm chipping away at it.

I did achieve a milestone of sorts, the engine actually starts and runs. It doesn't run well, mind you, but I was able to determine that the mechanical aspects of the engine seem to be fine. No undue noises, oil pressure and coolant temps are fine.
(BTW, after a couple months fiddling with this thing, I found it interesting that it decided to run on Friday the 13th! Maybe an exorcism really is in order ....!!!)

At this point, the engine isn't running well enough to actually drive the car. Since it's up on jack stands, I was able to determine that the transmission goes into the indicated gears and the wheels turn in the selected direction. I find that promising.

The engine starts up fine, but something in the fuel system is causing it to gradually get overloaded with gas to the point that it's leaking out of the purge control valve for the carbon canister. (US spec emission controls if you hadn't already guessed.)

My plan of attack is as follows:
1) Determine that the return line to the fuel tank is not blocked.
2) Carefully inspect all vacuum lines and fittings. (What a PITA ... I wrenched for years on motorcycles so I'm familiar with the term "densely packaged", but this is ridiculous!)
3) Disconnect and clean every electrical connector I can find, and treat with dielectric grease.
4) Install a fresh set of spark plugs.

Hopefully something in that sequence will either correct the problem or at least point me in the right direction.

Any hints, wild-a**ed guesses or other input will be appreciated.

Thanks for reading,
Retro