Hello friends

I am trying to find a posting about simple things to go over before putting the cat on the road.

I found a post awhile back ago that had a list but didn't realize that I could save it at that time.

One of the procedures was to clean the ground points that Don B. mentioned and he has great info with pics and tricks in doing this.

Any leads or suggestions.

 

Hi Wewillbefree,

There's always something you could do on a Jaguar, so no shortage of ideas.

For a car that's been sitting undriven, the best thing is probably to drive it, just to help keep lubricants distributed on all moving parts, to keep sediment in the cooling system from hardening in the heater core, etc. Off the top of my head, here are some jobs that tend to get neglected but are worthwhile:

Basic tuneup - plugs, oil & filter, air filter, fuel filter, distributor cap & rotor, windshield wiper rubber refill or blade, check condition of drive belts, etc.

Flush the brake system with clean, fresh fluid from new unopened cans. Over time the brake fluid absorbs water which promotes corrosion and reduced brake performance.

Remove the air intake plumbing and clean out the oil and gunk that has accumulated from the crankcase breather system. Also clean the carbon out of the EGR port on the underside of the intake manifold behind the throttle body. I have photos of the port and how I cleaned it.

Check the front wheel bearings and if there's any play, adjust them. If it's been awhile since you cleaned the bearings and repacked them with fresh grease, that's well worth doing. The front wheel bearings are one of the few things on an XJ40 that were underengineered and they require maintenence far more often than on most cars. See my photos.

Check the duckbill drain in the cowel below the windshield for leaves, seeds, etc., and consider removing the rubber duck bill to improve drainage. Check the drain in the fuel filler neck rubber gaiter by carefully running a length of string trimmer line down the drain until it exits from the bottom of the car. Do the same with the four drains in the corners of the sunroof frame (if your car has a sunroof). Likewise, clean the drains for the Climate Control Unit that run alongside the transmission tunnel and search the forum for ways to clear blockage in the CCU caused by deteriorated foam insulation.

Flush and backflush your cooling system and refill with fresh coolant mix.

Whenever you're working in an area of the car, open up all the electrical connectors and flush them with zero-residue contact cleaner, let them dry, apply a little dielectric grease to the outside of the smaller half of the connector to help seal out moisture and oil contamination, and reconnect the connector (dielectric grease is an insulator, so do not apply it to the electrical contacts themselves, especially on connectors for sensitive circuits like those of sensors).

Pull any relays in an area where you are working and look for corrosion in the socket and on the terminals of the relay. Before cleaning a relay socket, disconnect the negative battery cable since some sockets always have 12V on one or more pins. Use a small brass brush and electrical contact cleaner to carefully clean the sockets and relay blade terminals.

Check for slack in your throttle cable and adjust if necessary. See my photos.

Check your tire pressure. None of us does it as often as we should! :-)

Grease the U-joints in the rear half-axles. This is another job that doesn't get done often. The ones that fit into the wheel hubs are especially hard to access.

Check the low-pressure hose that runs from the power steering fluid reservoir to the pump for leaks. The hose is close to the exhaust manifold and tends to harden and lose its seal at the reservoir nipple and/or pump fitting. I think I have photos that show how to replace the hose with a section of inexpensive 5/8" oil-resistant hose from your local auto parts store. It's a good idea to flush the P/S fluid every few years but none of us do it as often as we should.

Buy a new Crankshaft Position Sensor (CPS), install it on the car, and put the currently-working used one in your trunk as a spare. The CPS has a tendency to fail unexpectedly when you're somewhere you can't buy one quickly, so it's good to have a spare that you know works.

Check your front shock top bushings. They tend to compress and harden, especially the one on the left side due to its proximity to the hot coolant reservoir. The hard rubber aftermarket bushes will last much longer, but the ride will be much harsher over bumps than with the OE yellow foam bushes.

Every once in a while, clean the radio antenna mast with a soft cloth moistened with silicone lubricant spray (don't get the spray on your paint, and WD40 can be used if you don't keep silicone spray on hand for window weather stripping and such). Keeping the mast clean helps reduce friction that can lead to stripping of the long nylon cable gear inside the mast.

Check your exterior lamps for water ingress and clean and seal as necessary. Clean light bulb sockets of corrosion. If your bulbs are old, you may be surprised at how much brighter new ones will be. Before our son drove our '93 to college 6 hours away I replaced all the tail lamps, brake lamps, fog lamps, side marker bulbs, etc., and I was really surprised at how much brighter the new bulbs were.

Check your suspension bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc.

Check for leaks at your differential output shaft bearings.

Put together a Roadside Emergency Kit with fuses, relays, bulbs, your spare working CPS, distributor cap & rotor, and other useful spares. See mine in my photo albums.

If you get through that list, let me know and I'll give you more! :-)

Cheers,

Don

 

Well thanks Don B.

There goes my summer. Already booked the wife and kids vacation. They don't come back until school starts.

Just kidding. This is great. Before I had read your response, I had pulled out a relay from underneath the hood. It was terrible and scary. We discussed how to clean them up but I'll definitely be following your lead. I did ask about cleaning the throttle cable. Going to print out your post and check it off as I go along. We have a good look underneath the vehicle, all in all looks great. Even has undercoating.

I pulled out the carpet in the trunk to get to the ground wires. Luckily we did because there was a lot of moisture and mold started to grow. About cleaning up the ground connections. I have been putting extra star washers on them. Does this take away purpose from the bolt thread count, or does it more than composite.

Any cannot wait to come back for some more homework.

 

I don't think there is any problem adding more star washers - I've done it too.

 

Thanks Don B.

It's always good to have a piece of mind.
Now if only I could find all the other pieces.