After I had a little discussion with a Jaguar dealer in NY in 2017 who beside charging me about $500 to change one of my back up defective sensor (enraged that I did not want to paint it from grey to my car color --which is grey-- for $200 more) he asked for $1200 to change my cabin/air filter and flush my break fluid, mysteriously my car got engine light on and misfire in cylinder 1 two months later, and as after replacement of the #1 ignition coil and all spark plugs (by a local PA mechanic) the cold in February 2018 killed my battery, here I am again back to that dealer. He charged me $400 and played some time to change my battery and guess what? two months later I got my engine light back and the local mechanic detected Bank 1 O2 sensor very active which really made me mad especially when he stated that my car needs a new converter (and when I asked him which one he said that he did not know because I had five converters) and anyway my car is not worthy to be repaired. Converter? One of the five? Not worthy? Hmm. I installed both sensors of Bank 1 three months later. Peace and quiet for a whole year after I had those oxygen sensors installed, no engine light on, but exactly after one year --this just past July-- my engine light was back. I scanned the trouble codes with my own brand new scanner and I got a P0305. Hmm, I went to another local mechanic and he replaced ignition coil #5 and again all the spark plugs. The trouble codes kept on showing a P0305 right after this replacement but the poor guy did not find any misfire. Subsequently I drove to NY (no power loss on my way, no rattling, and no bad smell exhaust) and went to more local mechanics (this time in NY) who all said they did not hear any misfiring but definitely I should go to the Jaguar dealer. And now I am terrified:

Dealers proved to me that they are dishonest and local mechanics that they do not have a proper software to properly check my car problem Boy I am terrified: The one who sold the car to me four years ago lied saying that it has a brand new catalytic converter, the one who played with the battery and back up sensor did cross threaded some bolts and heat housing as the local mechanics told me, the one that I requested info about the story of the "brand new converter" swore that we never had such conversation. What should I do? What should I do? And don't tell me please to fix it myself as meantime I found even more trouble codes which I did not have before in total seven (P0300, P0305, P1316, P0453 and pending codes P0301, P0303, P1313) I am too old to do it. Please, good gentlemen, tell me what I should do. The car runs fine and I am too poor to buy another one.
Thank you.

 

Sounds like you are being messed about a fair bit but you have come to the right place.
First of all I would replace the battery as a duff one can cause all sorts of problems; make sure that you have the radio code.
Clear all the codes with your scanner then drive it around for a while and see if you get the warning lights up again and then read codes.
Normally with all the codes that you are getting the car would run like a bag of spanners if they were all true, that is if it started at all.
Report back here.

 

Marcela, I would say to do a little bit of research and see if you have a European car repair place near you. I would take the car to them and see what they say. From the sounds of things, you simply have a wiring issue with cylinder 5. Granted, because of the P0301 and P0303, I would look behind the passenger headlight (for you) and see where a bunch of wires get bolted to the engine block. I am willing to bet that you will either find this bolt loose or if you undo the bolt, you are going to find that the ring lugs under that bolt are corroded. A little bit of sandpaper, maybe a knife, to clean up the ring lugs may do all that you need.

In short, what you are experiencing is that one code (condition) is making the computer think that many other things are happening. You fix Cylinder 5, I get all the other problems go away.

 

I DID show my car to mechanics "expert" in European cars but they said, what I said that they had said: that they don't hear any misfiring but I should take it to the Jaguar dealer. In general mechanics consider European cars BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volvo & other German cars. As far as replacing the paid for $400 battery, should I do it myself? After I paid $400 for this "interstate battery" that the dealer alleged that it was a special Jaguar battery just because they stuck a label reading "Jaguar" on it? I already called for an appointment with another Jaguar dealer. So should I cancel it? Or I should try to find out what they say after listening to my story/DTCs and scanning it with their $200/hr scanner? But after that to go to a regular mechanic who does not have fear of working with a Jaguar, this little Ford baby, with that "Jaguar expert" info. I will let you know what I dared to do.

 

You're in Pennsylvania, contact member Dr. Dome for guidance and help.

 

marcela, before going to the dealership, I would say to try what I did. It should be very easy to do, even with the weather turning. Take you a half hour or so. It sounds to me like you have a weak spark, not a non-existent spark. So, your emissions may be a little high, but the engine is running good enough to not be really noticeable. Hence what you are seeing. Worst case, I would say to take it back to the mechanic that you have been using and ask him to clean the grounds for you. That should be well within his capabilities. Don't ask him to diagnose anything. Just tell him that you are willing to pay for an hour of his time to clean some connections. If you look here on the forums, there are tons of pics of the point that I am talking about. It is on the side of the head, right behind the passenger side headlight. Seen your problem on a few cars.

 

Chris,
Now it is dark, tomorrow it rains, so I will poke my nose behind the passenger (what did you mean "for me") headlight to look for the loose bolt or dirty connection Tuesday.
Talking about bolts maybe you could translate to me the following observations made by two different (local) mechanics:
"intake manifold bolt on drivers side previously cross threaded into insert; insert is broken loose in plastic housing; lower intake manifold should be needed to ...(not clear what) .. to correct concern." Which connects to another observation: " Extract one frozen bolt holding heat shield in place, second bolt broken a long time ago, manifold would have to be removed to replace". What does this story tell you about that could help with understanding my problem until Tuesday? Thanks
PS. Moreover I am now in NY, not PA, where my good faith mechanics are. The two "good faith" mechanics in Queens that I showed my car to seem both intimidated by their software vs. the dealer. Or maybe this is the deal by itself too.

Oh, and one more thing: In the last conversation with the G.F. mechanic, when he was exasperated by the engine light P0305 +P0354 codes popping up right after his replacing #5 ignition coil and the spark plugs, he suggested "techron" additive to fuel and to come back to regular high octane fuel instead of the no ethanol one (which not only is trickily advertised as with 91 octane when actually they have there in 90 octane) as a remedy: What is the catch?
Please send me to the pics showing location you were talking about or send me one yourself. Thank you so much.

 

Marcela, the intake is a plastic piece. This has brass inserts (as I recall) that are pressed in place. If you get a bolt stuck in the insert (cross threaded, corroded, etc), you can break the insert loose inside its hole and this will not allow for removal of the bolt. The only fix is to remove the intake and replace the assembly with the inserts. The intake on these cars is made up of a few pieces that get sandwiched together. The piece in the middle has the inserts. If you do have a loose bolt, that could possibly cause a vacuum leak, but I would be expecting you to have a P0171 or P0174 error code. But, if it is minor, it may be the cause of your problems.

As for "for you" comment, keep in mind that people in this forums may have right hand drive cars. You have a left hand drive car. So, your passenger side would be their driver's side. Trying to prevent confusion for others if they were to do some looking.

As for the "Techron" recommendation, in short, by switching to a different manufacturer of fuel, you are getting a different detergent package. This will cause different stuff to be cleaned from the fuel system. This in some cases can clean what is affecting a car. Doing a different brand every say 3 months for a tank is a good maintenance item to do.

 

.

Interesting Thermo, very interesting and makes perfect sense.

 

Yup, and I run "pure gas" now. Not as easy to find but I like the increase in gas mileage. It's the same price as premium so that's not an issue. A couple of points less octane (& NO octane is NOT how much POWER is produced by fuel), but hasn't caused any noticeable knock difference.

 

Dell, you probably won't notice much difference running 100% gasoline compared to a 90%gas/10% ethanol mix because you loose a few horsepower from the reduced timing, but the 100% gas has more energy per unit volume. So, the same amount of gas in the cylinder will make more power. Not sure which way is overall better, but it is probbaly pretty close.

 

At any time when your plugs were changed did teh mechanic note if there was oil in the plug wells? Have you ever changed the the intake manifold gaskets? Having the intake manifold loose could be the root of your trouble.

 

No, Alfadude, nobody (told me that he) observed oil in the plug wells and no, I never changed the intake manifold gaskets. Actually there was a complaint that:
"intake manifold bolt on drivers side previously cross threaded into insert; insert is broken loose in plastic housing; lower intake manifold would be needed to be removed to correct concern;" and (another mechanic): "Extract one frozen bolt holding heat shield in place and the second bolt (was) broken a long time ago, manifold would have to be removed to replace." So I do not know the root of my trouble yet.

And, Thermo, I still don't understand your response to my question about techron: to be or not to be used. As far as the no ethanol gas you cannot swear about its octane as advertised by the gas attendant.
As far as looking behind the right headlight, I could not figure out what wiring bolt you were talking about to clean around and under (see pictures showing the behind my car's right headlight wires.
PS: after going around the block I checked my scanner and I saw that the P0354 and P0420 disappeared. But this doesn't mean anything considering that the last mechanic erased my engine light which kept coming back right away.

 

Every one of those ground connections shows corrosion, so every one of them should be dismantled and cleaned with fine sandpaper, and tightly refitted. For the record, I did exactly this on an XJ8 with odd symptoms, and the result was an instant cure.

 

How fine/grit please?

 

Something medium would be fine. You don't want it too coarse or you won't be able to rub it back and forth easily. Too fine and it might take too long. Try whatever you have laying around. Even some steel wool or something like an X-acto knife would work. Anything to get the corrosion off and so you see some shiny metal is all you need.

 

Be careful with those bolts they can break if too much force is used. They do not require much at all to tighten.

Hopefully they will undo easily.

I find a fine wire brush easier than sand paper on derusting bolts like these.

 

Marcela, pardon me as it has been many years since I have owned an X-Type. So, things are starting to get a little rusty. But, if you open the hood of your car and look near the passenger head light, you should be able to see the top of a coil pack there. Look down just a little more and to your left and you should see a bolt that goes into the block that will have a few wires attached to it. That is the connection in question.

As for the grit sand paper to use, something in the 100 to 400 grit is all that you need. You can even get away with a "greenie" scouring pad. The big thing is that if you find the connections in a dark silver/brown state, you want that removed. When you put things back together, the connections should be a bright silver. I would also note what order the wires are on the bolt. There is a basis for how they are stacked. In short, the higher current wires are closer to the block on the stack.

 

On the x type years ago the back cylinder 1,3,5 that youre having issue with many times had misfires because the wiring harness chaffed against the metal bracket that is part of the harness and bolts to the back of the engine to support. We opened harness checked for worn chaffed wiring and wrapped everything up much better. This used to be a tsb but im sure is no longer there because we're talking maybe 12+ years ago. Those bolts are not cross threaded in the inserts. The inserts are brass and they bolts steel. They seize to each other and then pull the brass insrts in the old plastic out. I have fixed many of these with epoxy the inserts back in and i always spray a little oil on the bolt threads. Also the lower intake gaskets are very thin and are big vacuum leakers. I would replace these at the same time you fix that issue and have everything apart long with the coolant hose underneather the intake and the metal pipe o rings. You go to different shops and they replace spark plugs because that would be a normal proceedure not knowing if theyre done in the past. You didnt say anything and they have no history so would you expect something different? No. Just keep that in mind when you keep flip flopping between different shops. You have to as a owner say no i have had them replaced xxx mileas ago and this and that were done. Replace the imt orings with factory green sealant coated ones if this has not been done either. You need to look at alot of this as proboble future issues and preventative. Otherwise its like treating ant mounds, you treat a couple and then new ones pop up and you chase them around and round. Blamket everything and all know issues why youre in there. Coils are just like spark plug wires in days of old. They have a life expectancy. The ones in the back have accessby removing the intake, going in there for 1 or 2 is foolish. Replace them all.

 

Can't you pinpoint the location of the "connection in question" that you are talking about for me from the pictures I sent, please? Those bolts with wires connected on them are the only ones that could be seen behind the right headlight. Please, help. Either pinpoint on my pic or send me yours. Please.
Thank you.

On another note, I went to the dealer today and he told me that his scanning my codes would cost me about $400. I was so happy that finally I could run away a.s.a.p. never looking back. Rechecking the codes I still found to have the P0305 (the replaced ignition and sparks), P0453 and P1316 as "pending" and again P0453 as "stored."