I use .038" which I believe is the Jaguar recommendation

Cheers
DD

 

The plugs that I just removed were gapped at .40" Perhaps is bit wore down. Newly installed plug are gapped at .35" Do you think this will resolve the gas soaked plug issue?

 

My owner's manual specifies .040 for the plugs. The Champion Site Find My Champion Part specifies .036. I would be interested in a survey of those that gap plugs at .040 v. .036 to see whether the gap is at all significant insofar as coil issues present.

 

SNG have now refunded the purchase price on the three chinese coils.

The Japthug coils are working perfectly so far.

All's well that ends well. Let's just hope the misfire didn't take out another lambda sensor.

 

Glad the issue was resolved! We have these coils on special offer right now and in stock ready to ship.
www.sngbarratt.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=43151348-891a-43b2-9a38-617ea71443cb


Web price $87 each mention Jaguar Forums and get a further 10% discount!

 

So was changing the spark plugs today, and below are the coils that I found in place.

Curious if these are likely my 50,000+ mile old factory coils, newer OEM coils, or.... ?

They are Lucas and say "Made in Japan", and the boots look brand new. The coils themselves look pretty new too.

Just trying to determine if they should be on my future maintenance list or not.

Can you tell anything about their age and provenance from the photos below?

 

Those are the true OEM, made-in-Japan-by-Diamond-Manufacturing coils. Since they have the label with the Jag part number I wouldn't be surprised if they're the ones the car was born with

Cheers
DD

 

I just had one of mine go bad last week and got lucky on e-bay as I found a gent in Pa that had three from a 69,000 mile X-300 specimen and was kind enough to accept an offer on the three that he had left to sell. Kitty's purring and I have two extras now.

I did just take the time to put in a new set of Champions (gapped to .038) before deciding that the coil was actually bad. I did not get a really bad reading when I put my meter on it either, but it clearly was not firing the plug FWIW.

Bucky

 

Another side-note... no CEL and nothing when I scanned it.

Bucky

 

Fairly typical.

The OBDII system used on the X300s wasn't all that great in the 'misfire detection' department.

Cheers
DD

 

I set the gap on the Champion at .035" per the latest TSB on correct spark plug.

 

That is EXACTLY what the mechanic at Jaguar of Cary (NC) told me as part of his overall inspection when I asked him to keep an eye out for any misfires

Ah well....

.

 

I'm sorry to report that now Eurospare coils need to be put on the naughty list. I bought a pair of their coils from the otherwise very good partsgeek.com based on prior comments in this thread that they were a reputable brand. The first suspicion came when I didn't see a Made in Japan sticker on the coil body, and the second when I noticed that the top of the coil didn't have the dark tab that OE and proper made in Japan coils do.



The good news is that these coils cured the slightly rough running that I was experiencing before. The bad news is that my XJR started randomly dying on the road, often in the middle of a turn. I immediately went home and put my original OE coils back on, and it stopped dying, though the rough running came back.

By way of contrast, I also found a great one-off deal on an Airtex/Well coil missing its original packaging. Unlike the Eurospare ones, it did have a Made in Japan sticker like the OE coils, and the top also had a dark tab, also like OE. I installed it in the place of an OE coil that I later found to have a hairline crack in the body, and it fixed the misfire that I was experiencing when cold.

As if we needed any more convincing, it goes to show that you get what you pay for when it comes to these coils.

 

So I took a good look at my coils at night with the cover off, as per recommendations, and I didn't see any "light show", which is I assume blue sparks from the top of the coils. I thought I saw yellow light illuminating the closest coil to the windshield, but it was only viewable from one angle and I think it was actually reflections from the streetlights.

Anything to worry about?

 

I'd wanna verify if it was the streets lamps, yes or no

The light show you're looking for is a flashing (white-ish, not blue) in the amber epoxy at the top of the coil.

Presence of a light show proves the coil is kaput. Lack of a light show does not prove the coil is good.

Cheers
DD

 

I have to do a complete 180 on my previous post regarding Eurospare coils. My shutdown problems seem to do with the fuel system and possibly dirty injectors, seeing as it was only shutting down off of idle, and new plugs and a couple of full-throttle runs seems to have (temporarily) cured it. Now that I have three new coils and three old ones, I'll re-check the plugs after some time to see if they stop the fouling. If so, I'll risk the Eurospares again, assuming they are fine for now.

Does anyone know why certain coils have that tab in the epoxy and others don't?

 

Thanks for your update labcoatguy. I had purchased 2 of the coils from Eurospare like 2 days prior to your original post on the Eurospare coils you purchased. I bought them as spares to keep in the trunk for the inevitable fail (currently installed in my '97 are the originals I believe). I fully intended to send them back after reading your no-no post once I return home from a business trip but think I will chance it and hold on to them.

Please update us on how they are doing and I will do the same whenever I do install them.

Thanks again!
Bob

 

Well it looks like I may be needing a coil (haven't figured out which yet), so what's the current best place to get the OEM Japanese coils?

 

My vote goes to Japthug. Make sure you get him to add expedited shipping to your price. From Japan to USA in 3 days?

Consider buying more than one (spare?) or even a full replacement!

You can also check JDHT.

After that it gets dicey, and more investigating will be required on your part to ensure they are the OEM part and not OEM quality which shouldn't be trusted.

 

Sorry but I only have 2 coils right now, and the next batch will be no ETA. I have to buy at the unit of 40 and the selling pace is so slow, I can't afford to have so many in stock.
If anybody here wants the coil and the reservation reaches the amount of 20 I think I can place an order. But it will take more than 2 months to get there...

I am very sorry for the inconvenience.