I just went through replacing the head gaskets on my 1999 XJR. I live over 200 miles from the nearest Jag dealer, and when I talked to them about the problem, they wanted about $4000 to fix the car (not including shipping the car to them), so I decided to do it myself. I just finished the job, including changing the timing chain tensioners, rails and chains. Pretty involved, but I finally got it all back together. However, now the car won't start. Before trying to start it, I removed the fuel pump relays, left out the spart plugs, and pulled the engine through several revolutions by hand to insure that nothing was going to bind up. Next, I spun the engine using the starter for about 2-3 minutes to insure that the timing chain tensioners were pumped up. Everything seemed fine to this point. Finally, I installed the plugs, replaced the fuel pump relays and attempted to start the car. Nothing. I went back and rechecked all the connections to insure everything was plugged in and tried again. Nothing. I then checked the schrader valve on the driver side fuel rail and found no fuel at all. I then checked all the fuses and the ineria switch, and tried switching the fuel pump relays with other relays that I know are good, and again, nothing. I pulled a spark plug and it is completely dry. Also, I can't hear the pump(s) working at all, so I'm pretty well convinced that I'm not getting any fuel. I don't want to take on the considerable hassle of taking out the fuel tank to check the pumps if I don't have to. Also, I don't have a scanner, but the only message I get is "check engine". Does anyone have ANY ideas? I'm about to pull all my hair out, and I don't have much to pull as it is! Thanks for any help or advice you can give.

 

Any help out there anyone?

 

I'm not sure what help you are looking for beyond that which you already received in your previous thread. Your fuel pumps were getting power, but were not operational. What question is left to answer?

 

1st of all get a scanner. They cost about $100 (might find them for less than $50 on ebay) and you will find it extremely usefull not only on the Jag but other cars you may have. It has saved me MANY hours of frustration troubleshooting cars.

To confirm the fuel pump not running, there should be a pressure relief valve on the fuel rail. Put a rag over it and press down on the pin and see if any fuel comes out.

 

Hey Ron, if you look back at the threads you'll see that you're watching a rerun from like a week ago. Your suggestion is how he began episode one.

 

I GUESS Tcbjaguarxj6 is tryimg to resolve how come the fuel pumps are not running. It makes sense to me that he PROBABLY disturbed something while screwing with the wiring during the engine work.
Andrew, do you know if the fuel pump on the X308 runs if there are no crank pulses? I am too lazy to go check, but that seems like a posibility. Other than that, Tcbjaguarxj6, you are just going to have to get the schematic out and troubleshoot whether you have fuel pump power or not. If you do, take out the tank and fix it like JTO said. If you do not, try jumping power to the pump to see if it runs, then troubleshoot why you have no power.
BTW, I agree with Ronmexico. For gosh sakes , a man who can and would do a head gasket has a screw loose if he has no scanner. (and not in the Jag!)

 

Pump should run 1-2 sec, ign on and no cranking required.

Here's the the original episodes, before reruns:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=21457

 

you know, I missed the part about it sitting. So, I guess it could be the pumps froze?

 

Secondary pump could have already been bad, sometimes people don't notice if they're lightfoots I think. Regardless, power and ground confirmed at the evap. loss flange connector atop the tank means the problems are all inside it.

 

Thanks to all of you who responded. I guess I was just looking for someone who had the same experience and could tell me if there was anything else I could do to determine the cause of the problem. I do not have a scanner, as I have not needed one until now, but I may get one anyway for future use. I don't know that it would have told me anything I have not already determined, as I have now done enough troubleshooting just using my multimeter and the electrical system schematic I have to determine that the problem is either bad fuel pumps or the wiring from the harness connection on top of the tank to the pumps inside the tank. I am getting full power from the relay terminals to the harness connection on top of the tank, and yet the pumps don't run even when bypassing the relays and taking power direct to the harness connection. I guess I'm going to be forced to take out the pumps, which I'm not looking forward to doing, but I'm sure it will be less involved than replacing the head gaskets and tensioners was. I'll let you know what happens.

 

tcbjaguarxjr:
Yea, you are right the scanner would not help on this, except for elimination. BTW, you might look at AutoEnginuity with Jag extensions. You seem like someone who could use its expanded diagnostics since you are willing to jump into bigger projects yourself.
You didn't ask for advice on the pumps, but that won't stop me! Don't panic when you find the left lamp harness snaked through the filler pipe. Just pull the plugs and get it out. When removing the lines from the bottom of the tank, you will need to push and twist the fuel line remover fully into the fitting. I have not been able to do it without lowering the rear end assy. (unhook tailpipes, loosen all the fron bolts, remove rear ones, allowing rear end to fall about 4 inches, enough to get my fat hand in) Others have built an extension for their tool to get more to push with.
Good Luck.

 

Yeah, that guy "all" really knows his s**t. I wonder if his paid subscription service "alldata" gives you the same troubleshooting advice. I know a scanner wouldn't, it tells you nothing in this situation. That information was contained in the link that I posted to the other thread where I "all"ready posted it. See y'all.

 

So, Andrew, what bee crawled in your bonnet?

 

Ram it

 

I appreciate everyone's advice very much, regardless how much certain of you seem to be irritated by an "amateur" asking questions. I've worked on cars all of my life (I'm over 60), including building them from the ground up, and I have never thought that I was too smart or too sophisticated not to ask questions, nor have I ever thought someone else was too stupid to deserve my time to try and help them with a problem. After all, I thought that is what these forums are all about.....Jag enthusiasts helping Jag enthusiasts with problems that are sometimes unique to our cars. The dealerships are rarely any help at all, especially to those of us with the courage (or naivete) to tackle something more than an oil change. Again, I thank each of you for your input and I'll let you know how it goes from here. Have a great day.

 

Very well said tcbjaguarxjr.

**sigh**

 

Just an update to say that I finally got around to removing the fuel pumps (as you can tell, this is not my only car, and I only work on it when I get around to it). I decided it was time to get her back on the road, so today I tried the advice of disconnecting the fuel lines under the tank in order to remove the tank to get to the pumps, but as I have rather big hands, I could not get to them without dropping the differential. Also, it appears that the fuel lines on my car do not have the correct "snap on" connectors any longer. It looks like that at some time in the past, someone eliminated those connectors and just pushed a piece of rubber tubing over the steel lines and called it good. I never had any leaks, so iI guess it worked fine this way. After trying to pull the hoses off the tubing, I understood why they didn't leak, as I became convinced they were not coming off without having more room in which to work, so I decided to see if I could get the pumps out without removing the lines or the tank. As it turns out, I didn't have to remove the lower lines after all. Here is what I did:


1. I drained all the fuel out of the tank by feeding a 1/2" rubber line into the tank through the filler neck and connecting the other end to an extra 12V electric fuel pump I had for my '82 XJ6. I filled up three 5-gal plastic cans, so the tank was pretty full when the head gasket blew.
2. I removed all the side trim panels and insulation from inside the trunk.
3. I disconnected the overflow tube from the tank filler gasket and pushed it down until it was flush with the floor of the area that the tank sits on. I didn't push it all the way out so that it will be easier to push back up from under the car later.
4. I disconnected the driver side trunk lid strut so that it would not interfere with the filler tube when moving the tank.
5. I disconnected the wiring harness at all the appropriate points on top of the tank.
6. I pulled the rubber "gasket" surrounding the filler neck up and off of the end of the filler tube.
7. I took out the tank strap bolts and the lower tank strap brackets.
8. I carefully pulled the tank out far enough to rotate the top of it toward the rear of the car, being very careful not to cut any lines or wires with the rather sharp edges of the tank, or pull too hard on the hoses connected to the tubes at the bottom of the tank just above the center of the differential.
9. I removed the locking ring on top of the tank.
10. I reached in and, after loosening the worm clamp, disconnected the rubber lines to each pump.
11. I removed the pump hold-down bolts (1 on each pump) and then removed the pumps from the tank.
12. I put the tank "hat" back in place and moved the tank back to take any pressure off the lines.

I then hooked each pump up to a fresh 12V battery and both pumps are definitely completely dead. The in-tank pump harnesses check out fine with my multimeter, so I'm ordering new pumps tomorrow. I still don't understand why both pumps would go out like that; the car started and ran fine when she was parked with the blown head gasket. Anyway, thanks again for all your help and I'll let you know when she is running again.

 

Good on you for figuring out the best way to drain the tank. You can also jack the back end of the car up and suck the fuel out through the sending unit hole once the level is low enough.

Just to reiterate for others, I have seen the fuel pipes damaged by manouvering the tank with them still connected: sounds like that's what happened in the past to yours. Apparently it can be done, but I'll still be disconnecting them and removing the tank completely. You won't have a choice in situations where the tank requires cleaning anyway.

 

OK, here's the latest episode of my saga.....I got my new fuel pumps installed today (after cutting my hands to ribbons on the VERY sharp edges of the hole in the top of the tank.....be careful if you tackle this job). I put gas in the tank, turned the engine over for 1-2 minutes with the fuel pump relays out to pump up the timing chain tensioners and anything else that needed it, since the car has not been started in almost 6 months now. I then replaced the fuel pump relays in their correct slots, hooked up the battery and listened for the pumps. Voila! They worked! Then I tried to start the car. The car started within a couple of seconds, but would not idle. It ran all the way up to almost 3,000 rpm, at which time it missed a little bit and settled down at that 3,000 rpm level, regardless of what I did with the gas pedal. I turned the car off and checked everything out. I did find that the clamp on the intake tube after the mass air meter had not been tightened down, so I tightened it and tried again. Same thing. Several stops and starts later, same thing. Upon starting, the engine immediately goes up to about 3,000 rpm and then cuts out so that it won't go any higher, no matter what you do with the gas pedal. I don't know how long it might run this way, but I decided not to chance it, so I shut it down for the day. Anyone have any ideas what to check? I don't have a scanner and I'm not comfortable with trying to drive it to Autozone. I think this is the last step toward getting my car back on the road, and I'm anxious to do so. Please give me suggestions you may have in your experience. Thanks again.

 

.....by the way, the "Check Engine" light is on, too.