I inherited my father's Jaguar several years ago, and have held on to it as it is very sentimental. I've had a lot of work done to it over the years and loved driving it. However, my Jaguar has been sitting in my garage for about two years and hasn't ran since then. Initially, I let it go for a couple weeks without running it and was never able to start it up again. The battery seemed to hold a charge as I could hear the ignition trying to turnover. I just couldn't get it to start! Getting it fixed has been something I've been putting off as I know its never cheap, but I've decided that it's time to get it running again. I'm not a car guy, so I plan on having a professional make the repairs, but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to if there is any easy fix, or what parts I may need to replace. I hadn't put any fuel stabilizer in the tank, so I'm assuming the gas will have to be drained. I've also read that usually spark plugs, fuel filter, battery, and oil should be changed. Am I missing anything? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

BTW its a 94 Vanden Plas.

 

Welcome to the forum. If you can't get your car started by reading the 100's of posts concerning your issue here within the forum, then it can't be started. I'm convinced of that. Anyone can chime in, but I'll give you my take. Drain the gas to the bone. Change the gas filter. Clear it out of all the rails and injectors. Put fresh gas in and a bit of dry gas. Turn the key to on, not start, and listen to hear that pump go on. Do that a couple times, then try and start it. A fresh battery, fully charged is a must! Once that fresh gas hits those injectors the car should start. Try that first before going to deeper investigations. If you have even a little mechanical skills, you can do the above work I have described.

 

There is another thing ïnertia switch , a security item . If it goes wrong it goes very wrong and prevents car from starting up
There is another thing but this is nothing to do with the engine start up , because your ride hasn't been driven for 2 years , brake rotors , pad could stick or seize up . Have them inspect before driving

 

I am not a Jaguar mechanic but have worked on cars for 25 years and think all the same rules apply.

The fuel is probably bad as stated so that's important. Clean the tank,lines and replace the filter. I would make sure the pump is on supplying pressure. Change the oil and filter and make sure nothing has made a home in the airbox.... Mice love living there. Put some fresh plugs, charge the battery and clean the cable ends and give her a go.

Next if not starting its back to the basics. Check for spark and outs there do a compression check. If you have solid compression, good spark and fuel then you have at least a baseline.

 

Sometimes you can loose compression. In that case, a teaspoon or so of oil in each cylinder can help to restore it. Add by undoing sparkplugs and inserting through the sparkplug hole using a turkey baster or syringe.

If you are replacing the sparkplugs anyways, you may as well do it at that time.

Cars of that vintage only need two things to start: fuel and spark.

 

Mine was sitting idle for over a year in the florida sun.
I was lucky to get it running and keep it running as long as I did.
Iv been known to be lazy. But it was my only set of wheels too.. lol.

Definatly drain the fuel tank!!.
Even give it a coat of some antirust solution. I forget what its called now. I used some on mine...
To really drain it properly, youll need to remove it from the car though.

Replace the filter, flush the pump, flush the rail into a white bucket so you can inspect it for sludge, rust and other particles. Clean the injectors!. Check the pressure regualtors.
Inspect the plugs and make sure each one fires (or just go ahead and replace them)
Have the battery checked. I was lucky enough to get a GellCell battery in mine when I got it. I paid $800 for the car and got a $200 battery out of it... lol.

 

I agree with you guys. Clean fuel, oiled bores, new battery, and---go for it..;

Just don't use V1 accelerator at this stage.

 

V1?.

I know from experience how Gas can go sludgy and your car can suck it up
Iv a threrd about it somewhere infact.

If that sludge makes its way to the Injectors, your looking at some $$$ to fix.
New injectors run about $40 upwards.
Injector cleaning is about $10 - $12.
(i know a great place in south east US that do ultrasonic cleaning)