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After selling my X150, it's time to come back to the X27 world. I had a 1996 4.0 convertible that I loved. Now I'm in the market for a V12 - let me know if you know of any for sale in the Chicagoland area or midwest!
It's coming from Fort Lauderdale and has 48k miles. It needs new tires and I'll spend the first couple weeks base-lining her with new oil and coolant, flushing the brakes, replacing fuel hoses - all the fun stuff. Then I'll start driving her and see what she needs from there.
I've wanted one of these for a long time. I always talked myself out of one but wish I would have pulled the trigger when they were all over Craigslist for less than $5k. But I'm not getting any younger and while my X150 was a great blast to drive, it didn't provide much opportunity for working on it. And that's part of the fun for me.
Well that didn't take long. My XKR left the garage and less than 2 hours later I bid on and won the auction for a 1989 XJS Rouge edition. I have to get through the paper work and I'm guessing shipping is going to take a few weeks but I'm very excited to start down this path!
It's coming from Fort Lauderdale and has 48k miles. It needs new tires and I'll spend the first couple weeks base-lining her with new oil and coolant, flushing the brakes, replacing fuel hoses - all the fun stuff. Then I'll start driving her and see what she needs from there.
I've wanted one of these for a long time. I always talked myself out of one but wish I would have pulled the trigger when they were all over Craigslist for less than $5k. But I'm not getting any younger and while my X150 was a great blast to drive, it didn't provide much opportunity for working on it. And that's part of the fun for me.
It took less than a week to buy my XJS, pay for it, and have it shipped form Miami to Chicago. It was a little dirty from the trip but now it's safely nestled in my garage.
New tires ordered and it's a good thing - the date codes on the existing tires put them about 23 years old. I'm going to pull them off tonight and take the valve cores out - they look like a problem waiting to happen. Then it's to the tire shop tomorrow for 5 new ones.
Well that was an awkward first drive. I got my new tires mounted today (I took the wheels off the car so they didn't have to worry about jacking it up) and after putting the wheels back on, I went for my first drive to the gas station to fill her up. I noticed she was running a little rough but nothing too concerning. I filled her up with premium gas but she kept running progressively worse until she stalled. I pulled over and waited for AAA.
After an hour (why does AAA take so long?) I tried to restart and she would run as long as I had the pedal pushed, but she wouldn't drive. So she got her first Haul of Shame.
I have some trouble shooting to do over the next few days, but for now she's safely back home. I don't think I got a bad tank of gas as she was running poorly before.
Welp, hopefully you got a great deal at the auction as it sounds like the fun is beginning. 30 year old cars that haven't been driven are going to have a plethora of issues. Good luck on tracking this one down.
I've started working through the "No Start of HE V12" checklist and have found a couple of things.
(1) The battery was 7 years old and only showing 12.1 volts. I replaced that.
(2) Fuel pressure and fuel flow are both good
(3) I took a fuel sample from the hose that feeds the fuel rail and there are small black specks in the sample. I believe they are pieces of the inside of the fuel hose that are delaminating. I'm worried about that clogging the injectors.
(4) The CTS was open circuit; bypassing that did not result in an engine start
(5) I deviated from the script and tried a squirt of starting fluid into the left throttle while my wife cranked the engine. The engine did not try to start. This is usually my quick "fuel or ignition" test. When it did not try to start with starting fluid I suspected ignition issues.
(6) The ignition wires look (and feel) to be original and would not come off the distributor cap. So I pulled the A bank coil wire to the cap, plugged in a spare spark plug, and checked for spark while the engine was cranked. It had a sharp white spark.
I still need to continue my trouble-shooting. It could be the injectors are clogged. It could be wiring harness is cooked. It could be so many things that I'll only know by testing each one.
Even once I determine what the issue is, I'll still need to pull the fuel rail and replace all the rubber hoses. I'll replace all the plugs with MGK's and put on some Magnecor wires because that will be the time to do that. My AC system is empty so I'll need to decide if I do that now or wait until later. And I need to decide if I'm going to do all the coolant hoses now or save that for a rainy day.
Here's a picture of the debris in the fuel sample I took.
That's frightening. About 5 years ago I had a Range Rover Classic that had a fuel injector fail. It caught my arm and the truck on fire. I'd show you the pictures but it's pretty gruesome but lesson learned - no taking chances with gas or things that store/move/contain them. You haven't lived until you hear yourself say "Oh **** I'm on fire!"
I verified the integrity of the wiring for most of the sensors from the engine compartment all the way to the ECU in the boot and I'm good there.
While Both A and B coils had a nice white spark, I pulled the plug leads for the #4A and #4B cylinders and the spark was a weak yellow when I hooked up a spare spark plug lead and plug I had.
I wish I could pull a plug and see if it's wet with fuel, but there doesn't seem to be a reasonable way to get to the plugs.
So my plan of attack is to replace the bad CTS's (both sides are bad) and the ATS.
I'm going to pull the fuel rail and replace all the rubber hoses in the engine compartment. I'm either going to buy remanufactured injectors or sent mine out to be cleaned. I'm leaning towards door #2 so they can tell me how much junk they flushed out.
I'm also going to replace the fuel filter and all the rubber lines in the back. It's a shame I just filled up the tank.
I'm debating on replacing the pump but will probably just leave it.
Everything ignition related under the hood - plugs, wires, cap and rotor, and coils will be replaced.
While all the plugs are out and everything is exposed - it's going to be a great time to check compression.
I'm also expecting to find some wires that will need to be replaced too.
And as long as I'm that deep - I might as well...
- pull the intake manifolds and replace the valve cover gaskets. It looks like the A bank is weeping.
- debating if I attack the AC compressor while I'm there. I'll need to move it to do the plugs. Do I put it back or replace it with a Sanden? Will make that call while I'm there.
- pull the radiator and have it cleaned/re-cored/replaced.
take the cruise control unit off and you'll be able to get to most of the plugs. You'll have to take the A/C compressor off it's mounting frame to get to the 4 most forward ones.
I still need to continue my trouble-shooting. It could be the injectors are clogged. It could be wiring harness is cooked. It could be so many things that I'll only know by testing each one.
Even once I determine what the issue is, I'll still need to pull the fuel rail and replace all the rubber hoses. I'll replace all the plugs with MGK's and put on some Magnecor wires because that will be the time to do that. My AC system is empty so I'll need to decide if I do that now or wait until later. And I need to decide if I'm going to do all the coolant hoses now or save that for a rainy day.
You're obviously not a raw recruit so I'm sure you'll do fine. And there are many approaches to tackling a car like this. I think you're on the right track
IMO......
I'm betting your new XJS has all the typical problems that 99% of the older XJSs have. This makes it a prime candidate for the "Do it all, do it right, do it once" approach. Then you can forget about for a long, long time. For many this is preferable to the ala carte approach.
-Remove intakes to replace cam cover gaskets
-All new fuel hoses in the engine bay
-Injectors removed for professional servicing
-New injector harness (DIY or purchased outright)
-Repair/replace vacuum hoses
-Repair/replace brittle wiring as needed
-New plugs, plug wires, cap, rotor
-Clean throttle bodies, set throttle gap, and adjust linkage
-Throttle linkage bushings
-Some other things I might remember later
Got a lot done today. Thanks to @BradsCat for the suggestion on removing the cruise control bellows. I tried to start the car (it wouldn't) and pulled a plug from the A-bank. It was bone dry and had heavy deposits on it - I'm guessing it's been quite some time since the flames of internal combustion have visited that cylinder.
I also pulled the power resistor mounted on the right side of the radiator panel. One of the pins was pushed in and I doubt it was making contact. I pulled it back up and it locked in place. I also cleaned the connectors and pins while it was all apart.
It was time to remove the hood so I had room to work. I use Bernard's hoist idea and got it out of the way so I could easily get to everything. I've started pulling the top of the engine - air rails, fuel rails, etc.
I talked to SD Faircloth at Jaguar Fuel Injector Service and I'm going to send my rail to him.
I also decided I was going to pump all the gas out of the tank. That's going to make replacing hoses/filters easier and eliminates stale or bad gas as an issue. It's a shame I just pumped in 15 gallons. Fouled plug Sunken pin
Another busy day in the garage, and I believe I found the smoking gun.
First, I drained all the fuel out of the car. That will go to the hazardous waste recycling next week - it's certainly not going in any of my cars!
Then I pulled the fuel rail, air rails, spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor. And there was the smoking gun - a scorched rotor. The cap also appeared to have a fair amount of carbon tracking on the inside.
I couldn't get a picture of thee inside of the fuel injectors but they looked pretty ugly. The good news is they all tested OK when I checked the resistance.
That's classic Marelli distributor failure. You're lucky you didn't burn the whole car down. It puts raw fuel on the hot cats, which can cause problems...
It's a quick trip from the joy of victory to the agony of defeat. I just did a compression check and it looks like I have a fairly serious issue on the B bank.
I'll do a leak-down test later this week but things are not looking good.
03-22-2021, 01:57 PM
