I recently purchased my second Jaguar that I had been eyeing a 99 XJ8 for over a year, languishing in front of a local home. Finally, upon inquiry, I was told that it had a bad alternator and had not been driven since the elderly owner died. It seemed like an excellent car, 71000 miles and it started up immediately with a fresh battery. The engine was whisper quiet and all options appeared to be in good order. It displayed a traction and ABS message and a CEL. All maintenance records were included.
I drove it home without incident. I decided to have a local shop install the alternator. I drove the car to and from the shop with no incident. Later, I drove to refuel and it went to restricted performance, with a red CEL. I nursed it home at 10-15 MPH, and after about 5 miles it began to run hot and immediately pegged the gauge. I turned the heater on max and the needle fell to half. Since I was less than a mile from home I soldiered on. Once in my driveway I shut it down, opened the hood and it promptly blew the front hose off, showering coolant everywhere.
I returned a couple hours later, reinstalled the hose, refilled the coolant and started the car. Again, it purred and I let the coolant recirculate. I parked the car in a convenient spot and shut it down. I attempted to hard boot by removing both terminals and joining them. I let it sit for 26 hrs.
Upon restarting, it ran terrible, like completely randomly misfiring, violent shake and barely able to move a few feet. I pops, surges, you name it , it's a mess. I scanned the car and found a list of trouble codes too long to list, misfires, throttle position, maf, everything at once.
So far I cleaned and checked voltage on all cable connections. Checked for blown fuses and found everything ok.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Is the 'fresh battery' new, and if not, how old is it?

If the MIL is red, you must locate and repair the misfire(s) then reset the MIL.

Hopefully the overheating situation has not caused any damage to the engine as the AJ-V8 cannot tolerate overheating.

You may also want to remove the cam covers and inspect the secondary timing chain tensioners and chains to determine if they have ever been uprated to the latest metal versions.

 

Hi there,

Please remember that even a healthy Jag can run badly after having the battery disconnected. They forget all of the input values and can stall/idle strangely until the MAFS and other items get used to the world.

The death scroll of warning lights can mean a number of things. Search for "death scroll", "false bulkhead electrical connector", etc.

 

Coolant may have gotten to the coils, but you will find out when you remove the valve covers to check the tensioners. That is essential.

 

Thank you all.
Battery is new (840cca tested/verified)
Tensioners wear out after hard boot? Can't grasp that one.
Wet coils? good lead.
I'll inspect/test the coils and pull the plugs and hopefully correct the misfire.
Still seems like injectors are not firing in sequence, other cars with crossed wires.
Always starts up immediately and this afternoon it actually idled around 1000 rpm and sounded a bit, but only a bit smoother. Exhaust sound is less pro stocker and more like a cammed musclecar out back but the whole car still rocked as before.
I'll report back as soon as possible.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to learn some of the moisture made its way down the spark plug holes and causing the misfire.

 

The 4.0 litre Jaguar AJ27, as fitted to the vehicle you purchased, originally had plastic secondary timing chain tensioners, which were prone to failure. Since you are having performance issues with a car you just acquired, it is a good idea to inspect the secondary timing chain tensioners and camshaft timing.

If this particular engine has not had both the primary and secondary timing chains, guides and tensioners replaced, the work must be performed as soon as possible to avoid catastrophic engine failure.

Hope this helps.

 

+1 tensioners

Also check the thermostat (and maybe the water pump) which may be stuck since the car has sat for a long time.

Just on a chance, make sure the overflow hoses are correctly installed (they overlap each other at the overflow tank, which is not obvious and will cause overpressure).

Also, if the car has sat for a long time, tighten all hoses and be sure the cross over connector has not deteriorated and started to crumble.

 

All of the above is good advice. You MUST check the tensioners- not for failure per se, but potential future failure as it si catastrophic.

The water pump and thremostat are both regular replacement items, so may as well do them too- the impeller has been known to break apart.

 

First and foremost I must state that I truly appreciate all the assistance and suggestions you have given me. Thanks to an immense amount of advice.
My XJ6 has been not only my faithful servant as well as my favorite driver for the last 50000 miles.
Now, the XJ8. Turns out that the coils/ plugs must have gotten wet hence the misfires. I replaced the thermostat, substituted the deteriorated plastic housing with an aluminum unit. A scan tool showed a zillion codes. I left it alone for several months. Recently I cleared the codes and retested to find only 2 throttle position related codes. I noticed a sensor on the TB with a dot of white paint. Apparently the sensor can be somewhat rotated for adjustment. After some fiddling, I got the car to idle perfectly, no misses, and no limp mode. I drove it around the neighborhood for about 15 minutes and it performed flawlessly.
Back in the driveway, I turned on the AC. The temp gauge IMMEDIATELY pegged and I shut it down. It blew one of the damn hoses right off, again showering the engine with coolant.
Upon further diagnosis, I realized the fans do not work. The 30 amp fuse was blown and has been replaced. Fans still don't work. I suppose that I have to remove the shroud/fan assembly to bench test.
Unless of course, any of you have any suggestions.

 

The fans pretty much lift right out in a few minutes. Two fasteners and two plugs. You might have to cut some 'zip-ties'.
If ONE fan becomes faulty, then the fans will not run on LOW (series wiring).
There are 2 fuses for the fans (one for each).

The relay control module is under the ABS controller accessed from under the car (near the atmospheric catchment tank).

bob

 

And... you have thanked all for the advice, then have apparently dismissed it forthwith.
So... I will add my voice to the chorus of advice to CHECK THE TENSIONERS". Not because the tensioners have anything to do with you current snigglies, but because the likelihood of them failing is so high and the result is so bad.

 

I fully agree with the tensioners check, however lets stabilize the coolant temp before we move on. Looks like you've identified the right area of concern. Once the fans work properly, shut it down and let it cool so you can pull a valve cover to ID the tensioner status.

One other thing I've noticed about this post is that it's like 2 days shy of it being a year since you started this thread. I know you said you let it sit for quite some time but, you really need to update on here what you've been doing along the way. Just saying.

 

... So, I pulled the fans. Found wire pulled from plug on lower fan. After a quick repair fans work.
Started car, slight miss but let it idle and reach operating temperature.
Fans work fine. AC is ice cold and car is idling smoothly.
Guess the plugs or coils got a bit wet from the coolant shower.
Red MIL is out. Reduced power is off as well. All seems fine, around the block and it behaves like the low mileage car that it is. Engine absolutely purrs.
Now I need to figure out the traction fail warnings.
About the tensioners...they are original. It came with extensive maintenance records. Once the car is re-registered and insured, I will attend to the chain tensioners. The job seems more time consuming than difficult.
I work at a Chevy dealer and we do tensioners and chains on hundreds of GM 3.6 engines. They all need chains! Some are but a few months old! You'd think they would have corrected the issue.
...anyway, thanks again for all your help and suggestions.

 

The nightmare does not really start until you get to number 11. Just sayin.

 

The ABS warning is likely either a wheel sensor or the motor socket on the ABS board. You will find repair info in the archives, or there is a module service that has been reported to be pretty good for a little over $50.

It takes AutoEnginuity or the dealer level scanner to reads the ABS codes in ordedr to know what the actual problem is.

 

The real nightmare is when you get an X-Type. Hunk of

 

A full year: Christopher will supply the tensioners (just down the street in NJ). I bet the thermostat and water pump are about to go, as well. If the upper radiator hose has blown off (twice?), probably the tower and crossover pipe are about to go bad as well.

 

Pressuring in the cooling system could asks be a failing head gasket.