after a five mile trip on "the Hook". It has not run in a couple years, but seems in pretty solid shape, showing 91K miles.
All I have is questions, as I am new to Jaguar.
Is there a drain for the fuel tanks, or a decent way to get any old fuel out?
Is there a way to remove the bottom where the battery sits, so it can be cleaned and repainted?
Is there any difficulty or advanced technique required to drain, flush, and refill the cooling system? It is full (it's not in the crankcase) and the oil is clean.
Are there any peculiarities to flushing the brake fluid with a power bleeder?

Thanks everyone.

 

Drains, yes.

At the bottom of the left and right quarter panels/valance panels there is a plastic plug which covers the actual tank drains.

In a bit of Jaguar weirdness the plastic plugs can only be removed with the panels removed. Or....broken away.

Or disconnect the fuel inlet hose from the fuel rail and simply use the fuel pump to pump out the tanks. This isn't as good as draining them, though. The last gallon or so remains at the bottom, unpumpable...plus if the gas is rusty you'll be running it thru the pump. Bad idea.







I'm a bit foggy on this but I think the battery tray *does* unbolt. Can't remember the details.






Nothing exotic about the cooling system with repsect to flushing/draining/filling. Normal techniques are fine.

There probably won't be a drain plug, though. You'll have to drain the system by removing the lower hose. Messy. I use a screwdriver between the hose and the radiator nipple to control (sort of) the flow.

If there IS a drain plug it'll be at the bottom of the cylindrical transmission cooler which is attached to the lower hose.



As far as hydraulics go there are no peculiarities. The inboard rear brakes mean crawling under the car to open the bleeders, though.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for the great information; I could not make it with these cars that follow me home with out help!
I found the rubber plugs under the rear quarters; about 2 or so inches in diameter, correct? I will try to ease them out as I really want to drain the tanks, as you said. I did think about pumping them out also using the fuel pumps and then changing the filter (I am changing the filter anyway) and without drains that is what I would have done. I will open the drains, see what comes out, then flush with some clean gas until I am satisfied it is clean.
The battery 'tray' (actually a flat plate, more or less) has two flat spots that appear like they might be the end of studs that are welded onto the plate and which enable bolting the plate underneath somehow. I will investigate although I don't see offhand how to access the underside. there has to be a way (oh, no there doesn't; remember it's British!).
Best regards,
RR

 

Right!




Yeah, what you see when you drain the old gas and/or drain the old fuel filter will dictate your next steps.

In some cases the tank rust issue can be quite severe....especially if the car has been sitting for a few years.

In other cases....it's not too bad. What you have might be stale but not contaminated/rusty. We'll keep our fingers crossed :-)

I'm getting ahead of the game here but some guys with fuel problems install filters *before* the pump. This is usually done after rusty fuel has already ruined a brand new fuel pump...forcing them to shell out $$$ twice :-)


Cheers
DD

 

They are accessed from inside the car ...if my memory is correct. Most
remove the whole thing as they are usually so corroded and replace with modern attached units.

Also gives you a change to use a different size (larger) battery and convert the
cables to modern side terminals.

 

I just drained my tanks a couple weeks ago by taking the metal bolt out of each tank. The fuel took forever to drain out. I mean a really long time, maybe an hour to get one gallon. I have no idea why. I drained them a few years ago and I don't remember it taking that long. Next time, I might pull the hose off the pump and pump the tanks dry instead.

 

UPDATE: a report on the evening's activities.

I got to do a little work on the Jaguar after work and after taking a widow lady's Crown Victoria to the repair shop (bad coil):
I removed the rubber drain covers on each side: they turned out to be round circles of black foam, about 1/4 inch thick, and they came out without any damage. I saw a bolt, so on with the wrench. Oh, what's this? Turned out the bolt was screwed into a larger, brass threaded plug which came out rather than the bolt. the driver's side tank was dry: about a teaspoon full of dry rusty fine dust, but Io think the tanks must have been drained already, as the rubber gasket for the large plug was badly damaged on the driver's side, was not bad on the passenger side, where the plug had about a teaspoon of wet rusty dust. I poured some regular unleaded in each tank with the plugs out, and maybe a small additional amount of stuff came out, but not much. I removed the bolt from each side and oiled it then reassembled until I can get the two rubber gaskets.
On the driver's side, there was a round something or other in the center of the large opening after I removed the bolt and brass plug; it seemed stationery so I left it alone. On the passenger side, the same thing except it was loose and sort of dropped down when I got the large plug out of the way. I could turn it and see enough to know it is some sort of strainer with fine mesh on the sides, and I saw it in a parts catalog as well. It would not come out through the hole and I did not try to force it.

Will these strainers or whatever come out through the drain hole, or? Seems to me that they should be attached to the gas pickup hose or tube somehow; maybe they are and they just sit in the bottom of the tank and I should leave them alone. The part of the screen I could see on the passenger side looked clean. I may try to push the other one up and see if some trash is holding it and then try to flush it again with gas.

I smeared some Connolly"s Hide care all over the seating surfaces of the seats; really glopped it on. I clothed it off and buffed some and the seats really looked pretty good. I know it's recommended, etc, but it seems to me the mineral spirit evaporates pretty fast and leaves a sort of wax. I can't see that very much of it soaks into the leather and "feeds" it. But I defer to those with more knowledge. Are the seats leather on the face and vinyl everywhere else, as I think? If so, I will put some Mequire's on the vinyl parts.

The wood is not marked throughout the car, but it appears as if it has no finish whatsoever; it's certainly not glossy like the wood in the Rolls-Royce. Should it have some sort of treatment? I read a suggestion somewhere to put some sort of furniture oil on it; recommendations?

There is some sort of thin black undercoating like material flaking off the wheel wells and along the bottoms of the rockers. Underneath is... shiny black paint. No rust whatsoever, at least so far. I assume this is perhaps a dealer or aftermarket wax protectant undercoating; it is nothing like asphalt as it comes off in thin, dry flakes, and it is very brittle. I suppose it dried out enough to turn loose. I have read that cavity waxes and under body waxes eventually dry out enough to "fail" and I suppose this is an example. But I can't argue: no rust underneath. Car was sold new somewhere in Illinois (Chicago area?) and undercoating may be a quick buck for dealers up there; we rarely see it here. At least it seems to have come South soon after its purchase, based on the service stamps in the manual.

I will look for bolts to remove the battery tray; I agree they must be inside, but they may not be accessible.

I plan to remove the spark plugs, either toss them and replace or give 'em a look, and spray some lube into each cylinder. sooner or later I will try it: if I can find a way I want to bar it over before trying the starter.

Fun fun, but will it run??

 

Howdy and welcome to the forums. Check out my albums. I put together some basic pics and instructions for pulling gas tanks for somebody that contacted me. It might help answer some questions.
The strainer does fit over the return tube. It is cheap plastic and I reccomend you pull it and replace it. One of mine came out intact. The other not so much. The broken strainer actually would not allow all of the bad gas and much to drain. If you want to be sure you get it all, get the strainers out. They are anywhere from 7 to 20 bucks each depending on where you find them. I ordered mine through Napa.

 

To answer the question on the filters - yes, they pull straight out. The return tube on my tanks was not perfectly centered under the large cap. To get the new strainer back in without damage to the screens i lubed it up well and centered the tube better for a straight shot. The drain cap will hold the strainer in place.

The battery tray bolts are actually inside the firewall. They are tough to find, but once you see them, you will see how easily they come out.

My 86 has the same issue with all the rustproofing falling off. I have been removing as much as I can, cleaning the wheel wells with solvant, and then spraying on some decent quaility rustproofing.

My engine was siezed. In order to get a nut on the crank, it was easier to remove the radiator shroud. Or just move it away from the radiator some to get a bar on it. If you want to manually turn it, thats the way to go.

 

Back from recent travels, and back on the Series III. I removed the plugs; they were a little black sooty but otherwise OK; put a couple squirts of oil in each cyl, and replaced the plugs. I was tempted to rollit on the starter with the plugs out, but I want to remove the fuel pump relay first and I am not certain which it is (where is the fuel pump relay located?), to keep trash out of the pump.
I got a wrench and tried it on the alternator pulley bolt. With a little pressure on the belt to stop it from slipping, the engine turns quite easily and normally. I can even hear compression leakage as I hold against it with the wrench. I barred it around a couple of rounds and did not encounter any tight spots other than compression.
Now I am waiting on The Boy to get home, so he can help me push it to a good position to get the rear elevated on plastic ramps so I can see about the fuel tank bungs, and see if I can get a temporary gas filter upstream of the pump. Once I am able to do these things, I think I will try it.

One question did develop: there seems to be two VIN numbers: there is a tab on the firewall where the tubular fender braces bolt, and it has a 17 digit number which looks like a VIN, with a star at the beginning and end of the series, BUT it does not match the 17 digit number at the base of the windshield on the driver's side which is the same as the number on the registration. What is going on here?

More new info:I learned a lot, just by looking in the spare tire well. I found all the fuel piping, the pump, and filter. The filter has the odometer reading when installed written on it with a marker: about 1000 miles less than the reading now. I removed the hose from the driver's side tank at the solenoid and blew through it: nothing. It was also clean inside.
I see that I can install a temporary filter on the inlet side of the pump pretty easily. I will try to find some suitable rubber seal washers for the tank bungs, and maybe try it sometime tomorrow. I removed the filter screens at each bung, and they were clean so I put them back.
It does occur to me: what controls the solenoid? Is it the fuel level mechanism somehow?