Hi all,
I'm a new member with a simple problem...for a mechanic. How do I remove spark plugs? I've read that it requires no special tools...

For one spark plug, I have removed the electrical connection (removed small spring clip and pulled off electrical connector), and the c-shaped retaining plate (removed two small bolts). And that's where i'm stuck. I can't see the spark plug and not sure what else to remove. It looks like i need a tool to extract the next component from the engine.

Any related advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

 

You sound like me trying to do my taxes. That's why I pay a pro.

 

Good for you old man. You must have plenty of dosh...are you a banker?

 

Hey tom, got your email.. Which engine do you have? The 4.0 or the 4.2? The problem with using my write-up as a reference for you job is that I was giving the steps to do plugs on the 4.2 R, not the regular V8 or the 4.0.. I'm not too sure which C clip your talking about?

Be nice to JTO he's one of the 3 smartest people our forums.. (mechanically )

I hate to say it, but it sounds like you may be in a bit over your head... If you still know how to reassemble it, that may be your best route.. I would hate to hear you broke something and had to wait a week for replacement parts.

But if you do want to learn how to do this yourself, taking some pictures for me would be very helpful since your not up on the technical lingo yet. JUST BEWARE: that anything made of plastic that goes from 200 degrees to 50 every day for years is going to be VERY brittle and very prone to breaking. Eric

 

It sounds like you are down to the point of removing the coil. But as JTO & Eric says, if you are having a problem at that point, it might be best to take it to the professionals.

 

Eric,
I have the 4.0 litre engine.
I don't have a digital camera but i have attached an image of the clip. It's about 30mm dia x 1.5mm.
If you think I'm in over my head, wait till you hear I'm going to attempt the oil+filter, air filter, fuel filter, full-load breather pipe, and front brakes. Should be fun! I'm an out of work engineer with plenty of time on my hands.

JTO,
Forums are about sharing knowledge. Please be part of the solution...

George,
After removing the clip would you expect the coil to come off the plug - with a little force (bearing in mind what Eric said)?

 

Attached to the bottom of the coil is a long insulation cover that has probably affixed itself to the plug due to time and the heat. Pull and twist and it should come off. Careful, covers have been torn but it has to come off.

Remove the plug with a spark plug socket with the rubber insert or the plug will be left at the bottom of a deep hole. Start the plug with a length of proper size rubber tubing over the end of the plug until the threads catch. Then tighen with a standard deep well socket. If you use the spark plug socket it will then seperate from the extension and remain at the bottom of the same deep hole.

I always coat the interior of the insulation cover with a little dilectric grease to eliminate the issue in the future.

 

Mr. Walker,

If you look in the upper right of this message, you will see that this is my 1375th post to this forum. I will readily admit that a few of these posts were well-placed barbs, or off the cuff remarks, but the vast majority contain sound advice from a somewhat literate professional with 27 years of Jaguar service experience. That is exactly the kind of advice you received from me.

Although you did not specify, I now know that you XK8 is fitted with an AJ26 engine: so it must be a 1998 or older car. I know that because I was unable to comprehend your first post, and realized that what you were trying to remove was not a spark plug if your description was accurate.

The picture you attached, along with your admonishment, is a fuel injector retaining plate from an AJ26 engine. Put it back, gently tighten the bolts, close your bonnet and walk away.

Correspondance courses take alot of time and effort to write, and are of little value when they cannot be properly interpreted. So after a lengthy dissertation of spark plug replacement for a novice, the next series of questions involving the oil down your spark holes, or how do you gap an iridium spark plug, etc. will be sure to follow. I give the best advice that I think is appropriate to people, based on my interpretation of the level of comprehension they exibit. You got the best possible advice from me,. Ignore it if you wish, you are likely to damage something on your car if you tinker with it yourself. If you're really unlucky, you might damage yourself. Removing fuel injectors from a pressurized fuel system is one such inevitability.

Addendum: Forgive my inaccuracy, I neglected to realize that the post count was cumulative and therefore reflects additional posts I have made subsequent to this one. The number shown above will be greater than 1375, and will continue to increase at some inestimable rate.

 

JTO,

Thanks for the i/p, even if it was condescending. At least now I know where not to look for the plugs

Air filter and full-load breather pipe are on the car. 2 down 4 to go.

 

Only an engineer would think that was condescending. My dad is a mechanical engineer, he spent his career designing and constructing nuclear power plants which are still in perfect order 40 years later. He's smart enough to let other people change the fuel rods, and he pays people to fix his cars. He nearly burnt the house down removing paint from his porch roof once, but that's another story. I pay specialists to do their job too.

 

Did you just say your dad also thinks you are condesending?

"Only an engineer would think that was condescending. My dad is a [mechanical] engineer..."

 

Hey, did you just say your dad also thinks you are condesending?

"Only an engineer would think that was condescending. My dad is a [mechanical] engineer..."

 

This really isn't going in a good direction. Maybe it's time to just drop it?
Brian

 

Silly me, I left out the word "sanitary". Only a janitor would presume to be able to repair a complex machine without proper research material, or think that advice he received online would be good enough to gamble on without substantiation.

At least you have the qualifications to sweep up the leftover parts in your driveway.

You have to remove the full load breather tube and the air cleaner housing before you can replace the spark plugs, so you haven't accomplished anything. Good luck with them brakes.

 

Who needs reality TV when an entertaining Jaguar Forum is available?!

I have a friend that is a Master Certified Jaguar tech, and he does everything for my XK except clean and polish it. I am somewhat mechanically inclined, but I certainly know my boundaries. I really appreciate seeing advice from professional master certified Jaguar techs on these forums. I hope we don't irritate them too much as to push them away. None of us win if this happens. After all, they are the ones that help us keep our cats purring day in and day out.

Tony

97 XK8
05 XJ8L
...and several really cool bicycles

 

What sucks is that we keep losing Big Brothers on this show...FactoryJagTech is long gone, ibjags has dropped off the map, and Real_Tech hasn't been around for a couple of months. He first arrived in response to my invitation, after reading some of his posts on another forum...I have alot to learn, too.

The other guys who teach with their experience are jag_genius and Brutal, and they have apparently cut back on the amount of time they spend here. If I omitted anyone who has a sigificant amount of knowledge and has been willing to share it with everybody, my apologies.

Nobody gets paid here, lest any newcomers are under the illusion. So I will thank Tony if any of his remarks apply to me, and share his concern about what's going on with the others. In the mean time, I'll continue to keep my mouth shut when I don't have anything of value to add, and speak up when I do...even when the most appropriate advice I can give is "Don't go there".

 

LOL I apologize for this tom character JTO I'm embarrassed for him, but don't let him ruin it for us all.. You post some of the most valuable information on this forum and for that we're all grateful.. It's always the new idiots with 1 to 15 posts that cause all of the problems.. I haven't seen BRUTAL on here very much either.. I think he's fed up with morons trying to challenge his free expert advice, just as you are I'm sure.. Or maybe Brutals busy with his frontier with the magnusson if I had that truck I don't think I would have very much free time either..

 

I have seen too many instances where some newbie will visit a site or forum seeking some information that may be critical to him/her so they just start posting the question. It may be true that if they spent some time searching through hundreds of threads and zillions of posts they may find their question has already been answered but maybe they do not have the time to do so. I have been guilty of this, not only when initially coming to this site but on others as well. A newbie does not want an answer like "look through the past threads", especially if the person answering can take a few more seconds and just respond to the question.

The best solution for this sort of thing is to have a sticky "tech tips" or "frequently asked question" area of the forum. A simple example is the convertible top hydraulic problem or the headrest cable problem. These topics are addressed in numerous threads scattered about the site but wouldn't it make more sense to have sticky topics for these type of chronic issues.

I am not looking for flames here but just offering my $0.02.

Doug

 

Along the same lines, I have always been hoping that one of these forums would adopt a Wikipedia model: information edited and sorted into catagories, which would fulfill the recommendation you are making. I have a horrible time trying to look up specific posts on this and other forums, and usually only succeed if I can remember the poster's name. Any step to catagorize archived material would be a good one.

 

Hi all,

Seems like I've been gone forever, looking at all these additions to my thread. That’s right...my thread - just as a reminder: i started this thread for the purpose of getting some technical info that would help me solve my spark plug problem. I didn’t request peoples opinions on whether or not it was a good idea to do this job myself. And, I didn't force anyone to contribute or twist any arms or insult anyone (although i may have given an insult for an insult).

Anyway, here are instructions.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4695000_coil...-xk-vdp-v.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_can_yo...001_Jaguar_XK8
http://www.jagweb.com/aj6eng/xk-engine/index.php

I found them useful and I hope others who visit this forum might also find them useful. This is not rocket science or controlled nuclear fission. Given pro advice and the right tools, some tasks are well within the scope of the non-mechanic.

3 down 3 to go. If anyone is interested I will keep this forum updated on my progress. Otherwise this threads can be considered complete.