Probably, the giant copper washer in the solenoid isn't making proper contact with the 2 bolt connectors.
We used to fix those on the farm as it was a loooong way to town to get another one that was needed NOW!!
I wrote up a report on one once, you might find it interesting.
(';')

 

The headlights look much better, IMO.

 

Thorsen
The GR starters are all the same, assuming the same make.

 

Since today is a new day I am able to look at this with a fresh perspective.
The good news is that with the 700R4 conversion, it is my opinion that starter removal is easier than with the TH400 transmission. With the TH400 you have to use about 2 feet of extensions and a 7/16" 12 point socket to to remove the upper bolt holding the starter in.
With the 700R4 conversion, there is enough room in between the bell housing and the engine back plate for me to slide a 1/4" ratchet and remove the bolt that way. I was able to drop the exhaust from the header down pipes, remove the torque converter cover, and pull the starter in about 20 minutes. So I have that going for me

I thought I had planned this as the cherry on top of all the work I have done, but my Jaguar had other plans. The 'Jaguar V12' intake manifold badges (EBC2843) are nothing but a guilty pleasure adorning a car that is a guilty pleasure all in itself. I resisted buying them for so long since I had other things to spend my car money on, but as this project winds down I thought it was time to fit them.


Moving on to the starter, I took it to my bench and tested it. The pinion would extend but the motor would not turn. @LnrB gave me a head start on my troubleshooting suggesting the contacts inside the solenoid but first I took the motor apart. I've heard these starters are rebuilts (nothing wrong with that per se) but I wanted to see what I was working with.

The rotor had a score mark that I couldn't match up to anything on the case. I'm not sure where it came from but I am not going to lose any sleep over it.


Next I popped off the cover and tested the solenoid. When I applied power the solenoid moved in/out which would bridge the contacts and send +12 volts to the starter. Everything looks ok here.

I pulled the solenoid and checked the contact surface. This looks a little rough for a 10 month old starter with maybe 100? 200? starts on it. But I don't think it's my issue.


This picture shows the contacts that the solenoid closes when the key is turned and the solenoid is pulled in. You can see the spring that the solenoid rides on. On the top is the copper contact that sends +12 volts to the starter motor. On the bottom is the copper plate that is connected to the battery and always has +12 volts to it. When the key is turned, +12 goes to the small wire on the starter which pulls down the solenoid, connects the two contacts and engages the pinion to the flywheel. The two contacts being connected means the electric motor gets +12 volts sent to it which spins the starter in turn spinning the engine.


While the contacts don't look great, they don't look bad enough to cause a no-start either. I realistically have 3 options here:
- Clean up the contacts and the solenoid, put it back together and reinstall.
- By pass the contacts in the starter and put in a remote solenoid. This means running heavy battery cables to wherever I mount the remote solenoid.
- Buy a new starter.

At the end of the day I went with a WOSP starter from Moss Motors. I had lost faith in this starter and while option 1 and 2 are workable, I'd always have that nagging worry in the back of my head about if it was going to fail again and leave me stranded. And since I plan on some pretty serious trips this year, I don't want to worry about having a starter problem when I am in Eastabuchie Mississippi.

 

Good decision. I take it you can get a refund?

 

I thought Eastabuchie was a made up name!
But No! It's a Designated Micropolitan Census Area!
What a Hoot!

I can see why you might not want to be stranded down there.
(';')

 

I need to find out what the warranty period is for the gear reduction starter I bought last year. I'm guessing it's 1 year but I'm also guessing they're going to tell me I am SOL since I opened it up. I need to find my receipt amongst the large pile of XJS receipts I have in the folder

 

I went to college about 10 miles from Eastabuchie and the first time I saw a sign for it my best friend and I were out carving up the backroads in our MGB's. Mississippi has it's fair share of towns with funny names - Rolling Fork, Tchula, D'lo, Panther Burn - but I thought Eastabuchie was about the craziest one I have ever seen. Ever since then I have replaced Bum F* Egypt with Eastabuchie Mississippi when referring to an out-of-the-way location.

 

I think I might have found the smoking gun for why my starter stopped working. I'm not 100% sure this is it but sometimes the problem isn't apparent until you compare the old part to the new part.

On the left is the plunger that I pulled out of my 10 month old starter. On the right is the plunger from a starter rebuild kit I got off Amazon. The left plunger has pitting and is a dark color; the new one is obviously copper. I'm not sure if the gear reduction starter was rebuilt using cheap components or if it's had a REALLY tough life over the last 10 months.


My new WOSP starter should be here Tuesday. I'll see what I think about the quality of that before I make a decision of using the WOSP or finish rebuilding the 10 month old starter and using that.

 

I put a WOSP starter on when I did my Simply Performance manual conversion, and I'm pretty impressed. It really cranks the engine over. I've only got about a month on it, but so far, so good.
Jon

 

My new WOSP starter from Moss arrived today. Size-wise, it's pretty similar to the one I pulled off.
The Classic Car Performance starter is on the top; the WOSP starter is on the bottom.


When I put them face up I noticed that the Classic Car Performance pinion had 11 teeth and the WOSP had 9.


Measuring them out showed the pinion on the Classic Car Performance starter was definitely bigger than the pinion on the WOSP starter.



I bolted up the WOSP starter and hooked up the power cables. The different pinion size did not seem to be an issue. The WOSP starter cranked over the big V12 quickly and I was back in business.

Tomorrow I'm going to get the Jaguar back on her feet and test out the cruise control.

 

Coming from the *Bigger is Always Better* Farm Heritage, I might be a bit concerned about replacing a bigger pinion with a smaller one. However, if the starter with the smaller pinion works and the other one doesn't, that's all that counts, isn't it!
(';')

 

Very true! I'd guess the smaller pinion uses less amps but spins the engine slower but that's just a guess. I'm curious what size/tooth count pinion the factory starter uses but I'm less concerned about that now

 

After bypassing the transmission cooler inside the radiator, I was really curious to see what my transmission temps were. These are the inlet and outlet temps at the front-mounted cooler. Fair disclosure, I had the probes taped to the transmission cooler pipes so I was technically measuring the temperature of the aluminum fittings and not the actual fluid, but I think it's close enough. I was seeing anywhere from a 25° to 35°F drop depending on speed and if the torque converter was locked. Ambient air temp was about 65°F today so I think I am OK - although I might try to move the cooler down into the air stream more.


I did get a chance to try out the cruise control and it was a no-go. I might have to send my friends at Dakota Digital an email to see what they think but that's not the end of the world.

 

Ooo! I *Like* those numbers!
(';')

 

Thorsen, assuming that is a Fahrenheit temperature, all is perfect. If Centigrade, far , far too hot!

 

Today I got my new Classic Car Performance gear reduction starter that I bought 2 weeks ago. To be clear I opened up the USPS box and took the cover off; I did not hook it up to power. I wanted to take take the end cap off to see what the solenoid plunger looked like. The ring that bridges the two contacts is not made of copper, but you can still see a copper colored spot on it.


I assume they tested this before they shipped it out to make sure it wouldn't be DoA and the current deposited copper from the contacts onto the solenoid plunger.


Compare this new plunger to the one I bought last year and I had to remove earlier this month. You can see what I can only assume is copper from the contacts transferring to the solenoid plunger. This is what the effect of a couple hundred start cycles will do:


I still have my WOSP starter on. I'm going to rebuild both of my Classic Car Performance starters with a rebuild kit that has a copper solenoid plunger.


If you're going down the Classic Car Performance gear reduction starter route, I'd also buy a kit and replace the plunger before you install it.

 

Yes, that's the effect of many Hundreds of starts on the copper contact ring.
There is so much current passing through that there Will be arcing to some extent. This arcing causes the contact scars you see, one for each start usually.

I'm thinking this is why the copper disc is so thick; so it can endure Thousands of starts without disintegrating.
It's always good to have a spare starter.
(';')

 

I had to run up to Wisconsin today to pick up some beer for my Dad. He's on a Spotted Cow kick and the only place you can buy it is in the state of Wisconsin. Since I'm going to see him next weekend, I thought I'd bring him a couple of cases.
Rather than take the boring way of just bombing up I-94 and jumping off the Interstate just after the border, I decided to make a day of it and take some back roads. I caught I-90 west and picked up Hwy 47 going north on some 2 lane country roads. I'm proud to announce that even with a box of spare parts, a large toolkit, and a jack - the trunk of the XJS can swallow 48 bottles of Spotted Cow.


I like hitting up out of the way spots when I'm having an adventure and the lady at the liquor store said I had to go to the Broke Spoke and try the Spotted Cow burger, which I dutifully did.


No self-respecting Chicagoan can cross the Cheese Curtain without hitting up the Fireworks store.


The "Pyro Technician Tray" was calling my name and luckily the trunk of the XJS is large enough to hold spare parts, a large tool kit, a hydraulic jack, 48 bottles of beer, a large pack of fireworks plus a large bag of more fireworks.


Before my trip began I filled up the tank and reset the odometer and the Trip Computer. When I got back to town I went to the same pump at the same gas station and filled it back up. 152 miles travelled and 5.6 gallons of gas used. That comes out to just over 27 miles per gallon which is fairly impressive since there was a steady 20mph west wind all day and I had the speedometer needle "Straight up" @ 80mph for most of my time on the tollways. I attribute most of the 27mpg to the overdrive transmission and lock-up torque converter.

 

I'm going out on a limb and say, You Are Back In the XJS World!
Congrats!!
(';')