Somebody should add a happy face getting cattle prodded! Hahaha, I can't fault Brian, he's been a great help and he's a little self conscious about dealing with some foreign cars, especially with the history my lady has had recently. Yes, I'll do the stethoscope myself, anyway. Brian has been great at taking care of the little "usual XK breakages" in the interior. He's been getting his Jaguar baptism by fire. Maybe me too...lol

My guess is it's probably a gunked up VVT. Since I can't find a reputable tech in the ENTIRE region, I am preparing myself for robotic surgery of the upper tensioners and secondary chains, at least. I do not want to get committed to tearing the whole nose apart to get at the both sets. I'm only good for a few hours a day, and with the car at somebody else's house I don't want it to become a bone of contention. I figure if I can get lucky enough NOT to find shredded Gen II cladded tensioners, then I will temporarily dodge the bigger bullet for now; at least until I can find someone to do the gears, primaries and guides. If I can do the secondaries, tensioners (via cam lift) and VVT's (if they can't be cleaned up) from the top, I'll be happy for now. Otherwise I could be in for a long Spring, because I sense, the car isn't going anywhere under it's own power with the present symptoms.I figured that the tank in the right wheelwell was part of the overflow system, but with the octopus and the Jag engineered cooling system (from hell) who knows what or where this leak is really coming from, or what is causing the vial to leak at the top. I'm still not sure what the damned thing does(?)...!

So, for now, I'm going into review mode, and gleen what I can from the parts explosion on the .pdf Jag parts fische. I had a JTIS disk for my XJR, but it wasn't really all that helpful, but, then again, I didn't have these probs with the old Tried 'n True six... Hmmm. Wonder if anyone has ever done THAT swap into an XK100?

Until my next installment, the speed sensors have all been cleaned, the rear half-shafts have been lubed, the cup-holder has been repaired, the cluster bulbs are next, I'm gonna reprogram the windows, and I was able to get Elite Auto Salvage (specializing in Jags and especially XK's...talk to Rick, tell 'em Bill from Reno sent 'ya) in Sun Valley Ca. to part with the spare out of an '02 XJR (same P-zero as ours) for $100 shipped to my door! That's an awesome deal since it's never rolled! This particular (245/50 17 P-Zero Assemetrico) tire is a sort of one-off "Specialized" tire for only a few cars and costs like it too, near $300 wholesale! At least the tires will match now, again... Anybody wanna buy a new (with about 70 miles) 245/50 17 Bigstone Turanza EL400? Cheap...hahaha!

Any thoughts on doing this, or guidance from anyone who has done it would be greatly appreciated. Besides, it'll give enough material for at least a few more episodes...

"Yay, though I wrench near the valley of the AJ, I shall not slip my wrench for chasing vacuum leaks from cracked manifold would not be good!"

Thanks Graham,
Bill

 

Bill,

It's called an 'Atmospheric Recovery Bottle'. The Electronic Parts Manual gives a clearer schematic than the microfiche of the Expansion Tank, the Atmospheric Recovery Bottle and the connecting plumbing:

JAGUAR XK8 - Expansion Tank & Recovery Bottle.pdf

Useful dotted lines showing the pipe connections. Excess hot coolant from the expansion Tank bleeds to the Recovery Bottle and is later sucked back as the engine cools.

That was some deal on the P-Zero.

Graham

 

Thanks, Graham. Brian and I did a 450 mile round trip, today, to look at a BMW 635 CSI Euro I've been considering as a donor for my 85 CSI US spec. We had a lot of time to sort out the Jag, at least in discussion, and I had a chance to actually see the tank and lines with the fender liner removed. What I earlier identified as a vial (seen previously only by pulling the liner back, briefly) is actually part of the tank. What I don't understand, on mine, is the line that leads to the "vial" isn't sealed, rather it's just sort of stuck into the bottle and leaking around the entry point. The line itself bottoms out inside the vial. So my question might be, at this point; "is this a "Jag" better idea, or is something missing?" The actual line leaving the tank to the ground is clear and in good shape. So why the leak? Could it be a design flaw at the tank's "vial" entry point or is indicative of a cascading issue? I should have snapped a pic while I was there but pain from riding in a pick-up all day and the great twisties (much fun ) between points A and B left my "kids" really chewing me out for the experience, making me a bit of a zombie and I just didn't think about it.

Also, Brian pointed out an oil leak that has left a bit of a stream on his garage floor (maybe an ounce worth over the past two weeks), telling me that the front seal has probably finished grenading itself...
So it seems my "lady" is telling me I need to pull the timing cover after all...

"...and so goes the days of my Mistress."

Thanks for all your help,
Bill

“Only the true desire for change can support the change itself”
(Bill-ism #33)

''You know nothing for sure...except the fact that you know nothing for sure.''
(JFK)

I am beginning to be "humbled"... LOL!

 

Bill,

Both the inlet to the Recovery Bottle (from the expansion tank) and the outlet (to drain) are connected by push-fit rubber tubing.

If on yours the inlet pipe (item 8 in the parts diagram) is just lying in the "vial", then elbow connector tube (item 14) must be missing and the "vial" inlet (item 20) broken off.

Graham

 

You are so right! The bottle is a system return and not necessarily overflow. I guess since mine has been without the elbow and boot that goes over the vial it's been weeping and leaking as I drive; so it might as well be a semi-catastrophic leak, or at least that's the priority I'm giving it...

I have a call out to my guys in Sun Valley - Elite. Left a message, I know they have at least 2 cars with this assy. available. Will keep you posted.

Thanks, again, Graham
Bill

 

Hey Guys,

I'm back! I got the bottle from Elite, in Sun Valley CA., for $40 bucks and he gave me the the hoses and "T" that it was connected to. Installation went without a hitch (thanks Graham) and there is no longer a leak. I had an encounter with the High Pressure Bypass hose that runs from under the intake. Fortunately, the hose in the valley was not dry and cracked like the forward section that popped, so I spliced a new section of hose in and it's holding so far. Thank God I didn't have to remove the intake! All the interior is fixed and working great. My lady is a car now!

However, I am still getting the Trac and Suspension Fail message after cleaning the wheel sensors and chasing the connectors, they are still there. The frequency and timing of them has no rhyme or reason. A key reset will work, sometimes; sometimes they are there on start up and sometimes they just pop for no apparent reason. But I've grown accustomed to that and I have dubbed it the "Love Syndrome" because I figure Jag just engineered a little reminder into the system to let us all know how "Loved" we are... Next stop may be the module Pin solder, although I may try to find someone who can pull my codes first. I have a copy of the "Hard Fault" pinout and diagram so we'll meter the contacts as well. The car performs fine and I have no EMS messages so I will assume that the MAF and TB are working fine. It would be nice to to find a friend with an AE system so I could evaluate conditions while driving. I read that if the LR wheel is off in rotational speed that could trigger the messages too.

My "quick click" rattle on cold starts seems to be getting quiet. I am going to do a good oil flush and use NEO 10/40 as my oil. NEO was a product sponsor during my motorcycle roadrace days and I have used it in everything since. It actually does do what few "High-End" Synthetics do; it works and frees things up that might be a little gummed up from poor quality oils. I have talked to a few techs who say it IS possible that a tensioner can be sensitive to oil properties and bind up a little, so I will give that a shot because my intuition doesn't know the difference between wishful thinking and reality based on empirical data...

The good news on my a/c is that it works, the bad news is, it leaks! Put in dye and going to "lamp" the system, hopefully it will be something simple and easy like maybe the valve core at the High Press inlet. Like you said, Graham, I traded in a life for a "lifestyle"; but so what, now I'm addicted to "Love"...

Stay tuned for more...

Bill

 

Bill,

I've missed this saga.
Pleased to see Season 2, Episode 1 on screen.
Graham

 

Hello Graham, I have a question about the small coolant lines at the expansion tank. I only have two lines (#16 is not used) not the three lines others have, will this have a negative affect on my cooling? my cat is a 98. thanks.

 

Many years ago, probably around 1972 or so, my 1968 E Type need new universals. My local gas station priced out the universals at something like $100/each and then used a "parts interchange book" (I'm not sure if they still have such a thing) and found that a Chevy truck used the exact same universals and they were available for $20/each.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Very few common parts are actually proprietary.