Since I had all the Plugs out, I thought I would give 'Carmen' a Compression Test and had a Mate come over with his Compression Tester, which was a heart stopping moment I can tell you

As if one Piston had been down, then it would have been 'game over' but fortunately they had what he thought was a good reading, though as for me I wouldn't know (They were all about the same as this one) hence only one photo



When I showed him a Photo of the 'Coked Up Plugs' his first reaction was to say that he was not surprised She wouldn't Start and then we Tested all the ones I cleaned and we got a good Spark

He reckons that if I put the Plugs back, there was a very good chance that She might go but didn't have time to hang around to find out, so I will put the Plugs back in and then give her a Spin and see what happens

So little by little I'm starting to track down the problem and in the event She doesn't Start, the next step will be the Injectors

Chapter 94

'Carmen' Won't Start

XJS 4.0L AJ16 Engine (Continued)

Having removed the Spark Plugs and Coils to give the Spark Plugs a Clean 'just to try and get her Started' before I buy some New Ones, I decided to call up a Mate of mine to do a Compression Test

As I hadn't got a Compression Tester and wasn't intending to buy one, as it was something I would seldom 'as in almost never' want to use

It was quite a heart stopping moment when we got to the last one, as if there was no Compression then it would be 'Game Over' but thankfully She passed with Flying Colours

And so although She isn't running (yet!) its one less thing to worry about, as I didn't want to throw good money after bad



Within a few pounds either way, all six cylinders checked out with this reading

Once that job was out of the way, my Mate checked out the Spark Plugs by holding each of them by the side of the engine in their respective Coils and they all had good Sparks

After which he went away and left me to put the Plugs back, which after checking their gapping I carefully dropped down their holes and did them up with a 16mm Socket, which I held between my finger and thumb



So I could feel them Screwing in their holes without cross threading, after which I nipped them up with a small socket bar and then once having done that put the Coils back

OB just a thought, have you tried flooring the accelerator pedal and cranking, just in case the engine is now flooded?
flooring the pedal cuts off the injector pulse and clears the cylinders of excess fuel. Great compressions by the way.

One of the possible reasons why 'Carmen' wouldn't Start, could have been down to a faulty 'Water Temperature Sensor' and so to rule that one out of the mix, I bridged the connections with a piece of wire

But that didn't make any difference, so the next thing that I wanted to check out were the Injectors, as I couldn't hear them Clicking and neither could my Mate, who came over so he could help me do a Compression Test (which checked out ok)



And so in order to do this, I had to pull out the Fuel Rail which was a bit of a nightmare as all of the Injectors were really hard to get out but after what seemed like forever, I finally managed to do it

As although at first I thought it might be down to some Corrosion on the pins, when I cleaned one up it still wouldn't 'Click' so taking the Fuel Rail right out of the Car, seemed to be the only way to go



Those Pins looked so Corroded, that I thought it best to take the whole rail out including the Injectors so that I could Test them on my Homemade Rig






I was going to Test them on the Rail but then I came up with a totally different idea, which involved a Can of Carburettor Cleaner and a waterproof connection from an old distributor that I had laying around



The Waterproof Connection was a perfect fit for the Can and also for the Injector, which I then pushed into the other end






Then I connected a Spare Injector Plug and put the Negative Wire onto a Battery, so that I was able to push the Button on the Can and also 'dab' the Positive wire on the Battery

But only just for a Second or you could burn out the Coil of the Injector



And though I found that 2 of the Injectors were ok the other 4 were not, where it seemed that their Coils were burned out and so its looking very much like I'll need to go and get some New Injectors, so may as well replace them with 6 New ones

You cannot Fix a problem unless you know exactly what that problem is and I have spent the last couple of Weeks hopelessly trying to find it, as I knew nothing about these Engines although thanks to Katar/Vee/Daim/Warrjon/ to name but a few

I know a little bit more now than I did when I started, as having gone through everything including cleaning the ECU Plugs as well as checking all the Relays and every Fuse that I could get my hands on

I think I can say proof positive that the reason why She wouldn't Start was that 4 of the 6 Injector Coils had burned out, thanks to a 'Tip' from 'Warrjon' about Checking the Resistance of the Injector Pins

In the Photos that follow, each of the Injectors were Checked for Resistance starting with the 4 that had burned out, so now at last I think I know what 'Open Circuit' means! (which is something that I didn't know before)













It looks like Fuel Starvation was caused by a Blocked Filter in the Top of the Injectors, which caused them to Burn out and here is one of those Filters that I managed to remove by Screwing a Screw in the Filter and then pulling it out with some pliers



Pulling out one of the Filters with the aid of a 'Screw and a Pair of Pliers'

Before I went any further, I wanted to Check that the Fuel Pump was working ok, as it isn't at all unusual to find that some 'Generic Fuel Pumps' like the one that I fitted to 'Carmen' are wired up the wrong way

Where the Positive Wire and the Negative Wire are on the wrong way round, which is a very easy fix on a Pre-Facelift V12 as you can easily get to the Pump to swap the Wires around if you have to

Unlike on a Facelift XJS 4.0L with an In-tank Fuel Pump, as if you haven't checked on that before you put the Fuel Tank back, then you would have to pull the Fuel Tank back in order to get to the Pump

And so guess what I forgot to Test the Pump before putting the Tank back, though having said that I was quite sure that it was working ok, although with so many bolts to undo being 'Quite Sure' isn't good enough!

The only way to be really sure was to go and Test it, so I put a piece of pipe over the Fuel Pipe and then hung that over the side of the Car, where any Fuel that came out would then be collected into a Container for disposal

This is something that needs to be done outside in the Open, in case it causes a fire, where you need to take Safety Precautions and have Powder Fire Extinguishers standing by, just in case the worst should happen

As when I switched on the Ignition, Petrol squirted out of that pipe, full bore like a Fire hose!

Just as I was hoping and expecting it to do, so at that point I was satisfied that the Fuel Pump was working exactly as it should




Testing the Fuel Pump which was thankfully working!

Once that job was out of the way, I went down back to the Boot/Trunk and inserted a sheet of foam rubber into the gap which was at the Top of the Fuel Tank




After which is was then time to Bolt the 'Baffle Plate' back into position, which was awkward and heavy and difficult to line up




After what seemed like forever, I finally got the 'Baffle Plate' bolted back in place! and didn't have a single screw left over!
But then I noticed a couple of loose metal brackets, that I had put to one side

And these two 'Brackets' are bolted either side of the 'Baffle Plate' for extra rigidity, which was really all well and good except for one 'Minor Detail'

These two 'Brackets' have to be Bolted to the Back of the 'Baffle' before you go and put the Baffle Plate in!

Which meant that I had to take the 'Baffle Plate' out and start over again!

Not as easy as it sounds as there are Sliding Captive Nuts and Bolts involved, which turned this already difficult job into a full on Nightmare!




I forgot to put these Brackets back which have to go behind the 'Baffle Plate' !

Fitting these two Brackets was a Nightmare!

Although I finally got there in the end and even managed to put back the 'Gas Struts' on the Lid of the Boot/Trunk that seems to weigh a Ton




Putting back those Brackets was a Nightmare!



Nearly all done and just got to refit the Trim, then its back to the Engine to fit the Injectors and see if She will Start!

Chapter 95

'Carmen' Won't Go! 1995 XJS 4.0L AJ16 Engine

Nearly There!
With the benefit of hindsight, I took the long way round!

If only I had Tested those Injectors, instead of everything else that I could think of then I would have been here Weeks ago but looking on the bright side I now know a bit more than when I started, as up until now I knew nothing about the AJ16 Engine

So after some weeks of 'Blood Sweat And Tears' replacing that 'In-Tank Fuel Pump' She's finally all back together apart from the Injectors but more of those later

But having put the baffle plate back it was time to refit the interior trim and then tie up any loose ends



Time to get the Brush and Dustpan out



Re-fitting the CD Player





Unused Space Saver Wheel



Finally back in place 'The Space Saver Wheel'



That looks a lot better and is giving me hope at last



CD Player back in place, except I don't know anyone who uses them anymore



Looks more like She did before I started

Now that the hard bit is out of the way, the only thing now left to do is to fit the Injectors, turn the Key and hope that She will Start, where my original plan was to fit Secondhand ones

But being the bargain hunter that I have always been, I've managed to find Six Brand New ones the same as OEM for £80 as I am a bit paranoid of getting her up and running and then running into more problems with blocked Injector Filters

So pushing the button may have to wait for just a little bit longer, during which time I can detail the Engine Compartment

Repairing My XJS Car Lift

On those very rare occasions when I've had to use a Chainsaw in the middle of the night, I've always found that this tends to bring out the worst in people

Who on this occasion was my next door neighbour who was screaming from her upstairs window

'What the hell do you think you're doing at this time of night'

Which was a silly question as she could plainly see that I was in the process of cutting the front hedge down with a Chainsaw

'Have you any idea what time it is?'

And though I could only hazard a guess, I somehow had the feeling that I was just about to find out

'It's two o/clock in the morning!!!'

But doesn't time fly when you're really enjoying yourself, as much earlier during the day I'd answered an ad in the paper and as such was now the proud owner of the ultimate 'Big Boys Toy'

In the form of an Hydraulic Car Lift to work on my XJS except for one small problem or maybe just one big one might be a better description, as I'd bought this Car Lift from a very nice Lady who owned a Circus!

This was no 'End of the Pier Show' but a massive great 'Big Top' than came complete with a full Troupe of 'High Wire Acts' and 'Jugglers', together with one or two 'Clowns'

Who rallied round and then picked up the 'Car Lift' I'd just bought, which really made it look as light as a feather up until the moment that they put it on the back of my old Land Rover, that seemed to sink into the ground before my very eyes

At which point with that job done, they sort of disappeared and left me to it, where I was having one of those, I wish I'd brought my Trailer sort of moments!

Which somehow made the journey home somewhat longer than it took to get there, until a round about one in the morning when I rocked up at 'Orange Blossom Towers'

Where to my shock horror! the Land Rover and Car Lift, was unable to make the turn into the narrow driveway of the house, which was wide enough for Cars and even my Land Rover, though with a Car Lift on the back then maybe not so much

So there was only one thing to do and that was cut the Hedge down in the middle of the night, which as you can imagine was quite a noisy little job to do, though after having managed that and got the Car Lift in the drive, all I had to do was to unload it

And though I could have left that till the morning, as far as I was concerned there could not be a better time than now so putting a rope around it, I tied it to a Tree and then drove slowly forward as the Car Lift started sliding off the back

Which sort of had the Land Rover doing some sort of a Wheelie as the front wheels suddenly lifted up into the Air, at which point I was shaking at the thought it might crash down and somehow send me flying through the windscreen

At which point I turned the engine off then jumped out of the Land Rover, where 'nano seconds' later, there was an almighty crash, as the Car Lift dropped down on the driveway together with the Land Rover that was now back on 4 wheels

Which seemed to wake up everyone who had somehow managed to sleep through the sound of the Chainsaw and then it was just a question of towing it over the lawn, where after what seemed like forever I finally managed to get it into position

Where over the years that I've had her, She didn't disappoint and is without doubt the best piece of kit that I have ever bought in my life, up until the Electric Motor started smoking and burn't out

And so I took the motor off a scrap Table Saw, where the only problem was the drive shaft was too short and just to make things even worse, the electric motor was spinning the wrong way to drive the pump

Where I will be forever grateful to 'Warrjon' who showed me how to rewire it, so that it spun the way it needed to, where now the only thing to do would be to extend the drive shaft, where I found the old one also had a Taper and a Keyway on it

Which couldn't be replicated, as the shaft of the new motor was hollow on the inside


But then I had an idea!

To be continued.............

The Electric Motor that was used to power the hydraulic pump on my Car Lift had burnt out and so I took another one off a Scrap Table Saw, which was about the same horse power and looked like an ideal replacement

Apart from one or two problems that needed sorting out, one of which was the motor that I took off the saw bench spun the wrong way but thanks to 'Warrjon' who showed me how to re-wire it, we soon had it spinning in the right direction

Although the biggest problem was the coupling on the end which drove the pump, as on the shaft of the burned out motor this fitting was a tapered fit which also had a keyway and a grub screw

While the shaft on the new motor turned out to be hollow inside, which meant that trying to taper it to accept the old coupling was going to be an impossible job for anyone to try and do on a lathe

Where owing to circumstances that were beyond my control, in the form of a strong desire to go out in my XJS this job sat on the back burner for about a couple of years, during which time I subconsciously was trying to figure a fix

And then just a couple of days ago I had what I thought was another idea that might work, which involved cutting the drive shaft off the 'old motor' and joining it onto the short shaft on the 'new motor'

Except that in order to do this I was going to need a lathe but as I hadn't got one, I thought that I could do this job by using my drill press, which I picked up in a store front sale Brand New for only £50 which was reduced from £300!

The idea being to cut the drive shaft off from the old motor and then grind the shaft down so that I could fit it inside the hollow shaft of the new motor




Cutting the drive shaft off the burnt out motor to fit inside the hollow shaft of the other motor on the right

The reason being the drive shaft had a special fitting to drive the hydraulic pump, which I had to find a way to fit on the new motor, as the shaft of the new motor for one thing was too short and as it was also hollow inside it couldn't be turned on a lathe

So somehow I had to find a way of joining the shaft of the old motor onto the new one




What I really needed here was a lathe, not that I knew how to use one but I wanted to turn the old drive shaft down to fit inside the hollow shaft of the new one so that I would be able to retain that special fitting on the end of its tapered shaft

Since I hadn't got a lathe to turn the old shaft down, I decided to try and do it on my drill press by clamping the shaft inside the Chuck then once I had it spinning, try and turn the shaft down to size by using an angle grinder

I had no idea if this would work but decided to give it a try to see what would happen






To my complete astonishment this actually seemed to be working!







Trimming off the last little bit with a file for what I was hoping was going to be a really nice tight fit inside the hollow shaft of the new motor



To my complete astonishment it turned out looking better than I had expected






Not being any kind of a precision engineer, I finally got to the part that I was dreading, which was switching the motor on where I was convinced that the shaft would be spinning around all 'wibbly wobbly'


OMG! its almost a precision fit and the shaft is spinning straight enough for it to do the job, so now I've got to make a rig to hold the motor and the pump together

As you may have been aware, I have not yet managed to get 'Carmen' Started, as I know absolutely nothing about the AJ16 Engine, so what better time to learn something new than now

Where so far I've tried every trick in the book I can think of as well as following all the advice that has been given to me by Forum Members

Where I think I've tracked the problem down to the Injectors and so in order to eliminate that one from the mix, I've gone and got Six New ones which I have fitted today

Though by the time I'd got the Fuel Rail back it was getting dark, as I had a real problem lining up those fitting brackets and bolting back the Fuel Rail, as it is such a tight fit

Where once having done so, I decided to wait until Tomorrow before I attempted to start her, just in case she had a fuel leak and decided to burst into Flames

But this time if She doesn't go, I'm almost out of ideas and so tomorrow I'll give her a Spin and then I'll see what happens




Six New Injectors for 'Carmen' Only the best for my Baby!



The New Injectors are now in and so Tomorrow I'll give her a Spin and see if She will Start

After fitting Six New Injectors, I was convinced that 'Carmen' would Start except She didn't want to play and when I spun the Engine over She sounded exactly the same as She did before, with no difference whatsoever

Good Spark and Plenty of Fuel, so I'm starting to think the Injectors are just not getting a signal from the ECU and am thinking of getting a Noid Light and and OBD reader as had been suggested before

Though never having used one, I really don't have any idea as to what that might tell me or even where to plug it in on the Car