Driving home last night and came off the freeway, slowed to the stop sign and without so much as a hiccup died and game over.

No CEL, no codes, not overheated. nothing. Cranks sounds like it has compression but no ones home. Couldnt do much on the side of the road in the dark and rain but had it towed to the shop this AM. Always nice to have towing on your insurance policy when you drive older cars.

Oh well hopefully Its a simple fix but i may not get to look at it for a day or so.

 

Well at least it was easy. I just did a major tune, cap rotors wires plugs filters ect about 2-3 weeks ago and the rotor failed. It burned a hole in the rotor allowing it to ground out.

$70 tow and a few hours waiting for rides for a $15 part. I call it getting off easy.

 

Jeh:

Oh no! Well, at least it all worked out and you are back on the road. You know, yours is a cautionary tale. I've heard about the rotor shorting out numerous times, and that some guys even carry a spare rotor with them just in case. Perhaps I'll start.

Thanks for posting!
Scott

 

I never thought that would be an issue as I've never had that happen before. Well my fix lasted all of about 15 miles on the way back from an errand the low coolant light came on. I managed to get it back to the shop without it getting hot. But it looks like it's some kind of coolant plate under the intake manifold so the manifold has to come off.

I didn't have an adapter to pressurize the system so I was 6 ft up on the lift arm using shop Air and a rag while my buddy was under the car with a mirror trying to pin it down.

Glad it broke when it did or I would have had 2 tow bills in 2 days.

 

Do you see antifreeze anywhere around that manifold?
There is about an 8 to 10 inch hose under that manifold. It is a bitch job to get at.

 

I pulled the manifold and in the process of locating every hose on the car and replacing it. Most of them under they look damn near impossible to do without pulling the manifold.

It looks worse than it is. I think I spent more te walking back and forth fr the car to the tool box than actually undoing bolts

 

I'm about to do the same project on my XJS, pulling the manifold is definitely the best way to go and really not very hard. Also, pay attention to the water pipe that runs under the manifold, these often leak at the gaskets or can crack. I plan on removing, inspecting and cleaning mine and fitting new gaskets.

Cheers,

Allan

 

It did appear to be the water pipe that was leaking. I started working at it again this afternoon putting on the parts that I had but 10 min in and now I have to deal with a broken bolt on the front flange.

It moved then seized. I tried walking it in and out, nothing. Pulled out the torch.. nothing. worked a few more minutes and it snapped leaving almost nothing to grab on to. No luck.




Im going to file it a little flat and drill it out with a left handed bit. Retap and run. Hopefully that gets it.

FWIW both bolts had some corrosion at the base of the bolts head so be careful on those guys. At least there is some room to work.

 

Jeh,

You deserve a prize for the most relaxed and positive attitude to Jaguar ownership. Two breakdowns in a week hasn't even got you ruffled.

I hope the broken stud extracts easily and the XJ6 is soon back on the road.

Graham

 

Arrgghh!! I hate it when that happens Unfortunately it is all too common. I now always use penetrating oil first before taking out any bolts in the engine bay and always using anti-seize when putting them back.

Also, be careful using an extractor, they have a habit of breaking off and if they do, you will have a real problem. Ask me how I know this

Cheers,

Allan

 

LOL Thanks

It cost me a prime rib lunch but it will be well worth it. My buddy tigged the remnants up a little and then tigged on a nut and with the heat it walked right out.

I retapped all the holes found 4 new(er) bolts and on it went.

At least on to the next battle. Im still trying to round up a few more hoses before I can even put the manifold back on. Along with the thermostat housing to head gasket and bypass hose gasket. Worst case I will just make them.

Also saw I caught a rock with the windshield right in front of the mirror and its already spread.

On the bright side all this would only be 1 car payment on a new Toyota Yaris or some such new appliance type car so its all good. I'll have it up and rolling in a week or so once all the parts get here.

 

I must extend a very Qualified congratulations on ...... well, only being stranded once. Good luck!

 

Jeh,

XK's Unlimited has all of the hoses available as a set or individually. Also Terry's stocks most of them too.

Cheers,

Allan

 

This is such good perspective and keeps me going. Dave Ramsey says that the average car payment in the US is something like $480 per month! That buys a LOT of older model Jag.

Congrats on the work you've done. It inspires us all!

Scott

 

Thanks for the site recommendation. Though I have to admit I was a a little disappointed with Xk's.

As I sure most of you know there are something like 17 hose on an early 90s XJ6 and almost every item was listed without a picture. Yes they had parts numbers but you had to have a corresponding number to know what you needed.

That being said it looks like a good site otherwise as the hose seemed to be priced resonable and the kit is a great idea.

Ive manged to find and replace all the hoses but 3 and it looks like I can just use bulk hose as they dont have any complex bends. As far as the thermostat housing goes Im kinda shocked that no one seems to even have a listing that a part exists even Jags tis. So I am just going to get some gasket paper and make them.



On a 2nd note. A co-worker showed me this....

http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/4110337048.html



Oh so tempting. I really do want a XJS Coupe and this one looks so nice (at least in the pics) even the interior minus the auto seatbelts....but its black on black....



but i have to admit the V12 looks intimidating to deal with and I doubt it gets the 23-24mpg the 4.0 gets.

 

Hey Jeh,
Last time I replaced the thermostat the only gasket used was the large o-ring that came with the new stat. I don't think the housing needs a paper gasket, it just seals with the big o-ring.

 

Jeh,

Yeah it would be nice if there were pics of each hose. I bought the kit, most of the hoses were aftermarket made by Uro and a few were Jaguar parts. Three of the hoses were incorrect parts but they quickly sorted that and sent me the right ones. It was a good deal for the money.

Jaguar recommends using Hylosil 102 for both the housing to block and cap to housing joins. Might be hard to find Hylosil locally but I reckon any good RTV compound will work. I would go that route as paper may present a leak problem over time.

I have an XJS 4.0 and love it. The V12 is not so bad, just think of it as twice the fun of working on the 6

Cheers,

Allan

 

Well finally picked up all the hoses. Some of the smaller bypass hoses were handled just by getting some bulk heater hose from NAPA. I was hoping to get the intake on and get the car running to bring it inside and back on the lift but decided to go for a bike ride at lunch instead and ran out of time. So maybe tomorrow.

 

Yes, but it probably get as good or better than a similarly aged/priced truck or SUV. My '93 Isuzu Rodeo gets 12 city 16hwy.

I'll go back to quietly following your thread now.....

 

Well I finally had some time today and put her all back together. It fired right up and I brought it inside to leak check the system before filling it up.

I use a vacuum system to pull all the air out and it usually eliminates all the air pockets but as soon as i put air to it....Nothing. recheck and retry...nothing. So I put a little air to the system and .... Found it.



Oh well, a new one will be here tomorrow.