Researched many threads regarding the Strong fuel smell on N/A XK8. My car is a 2003 4.2L XK8, Ser. # Sequence A30056. Less than 3/4 tank fuel so the Evap system seems to be self checking and NO DTC's. The smell vanishes once operating temp is reached. Looked closely at each injector location, L&R Pulse dampers, and the FPR. No visible leaks, but the Fuel Temp. sensor has residue on it. Have cover off engine and plan to wait till engine cold prior to looking for a leak. Read thread with Bob Boyle and finally located what appears to be the L&R Damper near the center of each rail. Will check these closely on next start up. With no DTC's, can one eliminate the Evap. system as a cause? No fuel oder in left front wheel area. Smell appears to be from right rear of engine and enters the fresh air intake and floods cabin with fuel smell. Open to suggestions where to look? Should it be a damper, perhaps remove the rails and have the openings modified and welded closed? What is the collective opinion on this?

 

Hey Man.

I have a lot to learn on the 4.2 and SC cars (an understatement) but I think much anything that has to do with fueling comes up the LH side of the car,,, LH while sitting in the driver's seat, I mean... Just wanting to get clear on the RH LH ideas for the thread. I think of RH LH distinction and orientation, as while sitting in the LH drives seat.

Anyways. On the regulators,,, do you have vac tubes you can get your hands on? If so, can you start pulling vac tubes and checking for raw fuel in the lines? Sometimes when the diaphragms inside of the regulators break a tell tale sign is raw fuel in the vac tubes and if raw fuel is making it into those tubes the fuel ends up in strange places, the places that are the source of the vac. Often throttle body or in and around it. Just a suggestion.

I also just ordered a purge valve for autoreserve in the UK. 25 usd,,, and mine clicks like crazy - no fuel smell - and produces zero codes. Don't know if a partial failure or intermittent will always produce a code. Also, have you checked for behind the scenes IMPENDING codes?

 

Kelly, I think the Schroder Valve is right there and it's just like a tire air valve. Take the cap off before the next cold start and see if the rubber O ring has a small crack in it and lets fuel out the top of the valve until it heats up.

 

LHD car, driver on left, passenger on right. Details are noted as driver looks from the car from his/her seat. Fuel temp sensor is on right rear or the right side rail. Schrader Valve is on left front of left rail. FRP is at front of right rail. Plan to activate the key to # on 2 position (next to crank) w/o cranking to pressurize the fuel system. May have to do that multiple time while inspecting for leaks. There is NO fuel smell on Left Front wheel area where the Evap Sys. is located. All the fuel lines appear to run up left side from filter and emerge on the left front rail near heat shield and M/C area, then up to the fuel rail on left side of engine over the cam cover. The smell has gotten progressively worse (began very faint) over last month. Hopefully cold engine will help reveal the source.

 

No fun chasing an intermittent fuel system leak. I had one on my 1999 Ram last year - at times I could smell gas outside the rear end of the truck when walking by it in the driveway. Finally discovered that a squirrel had been up above the fuel tank and below the truck bed, nibbling on a plastic fuel line in that area. A new plastic fuel line part was no longer available so we patched in a 2-foot section of rubber fuel hose and that fixed it. Sure hope the squirrel decided he did not like the taste of gasoline and ran off for good....

Good luck and keep us posted....

 

More investigation this pm after allowing car to sit 3-5 hrs w/o running at all. Turned key to # on 2 position and pressurized the system. Cked left side along lines up onto the cam cover and down fuel rail on left, no leaks visible. Went to right side after cycling key again to re pressurize if needed. The FPR was dry, the FTS (fuel temp sensor) was dry also. The rt. damper looked like there could have been a little drip but no visible drops. No strong smell on either side but right side had faint odor of fuel. Cranked the engine and let car run for 3-4 mintes and no drips or odor evident. Seems to be a intermittent leak. Will keep investigating. QUESTION--- If it is a damper ( I suspect), after I remove the injector rails, why not machine the damper ports off the rail and Tig weld the holes shut? Does this sound reasonable? Never have seen under the rail so do not know what I will face.

 

Home DIY grinding/welding on fuel lines - BE SAFE! Avoid any type of fire risk where possible.

 

UPDATE: Cranked COLD car this am, went to the suspect area and saw the damper on right side dripping profusely. Engine cover probably made smell worse so I had removed it to aid in inspection. Great to discover the source and now to repair. Plan to R&R both rails, seal the openings (WELD) and replace the o- rings. Hope we do not damage the Nylon crossover hose or injector harness clips. Spoke with a Ford Master Tech friend who advised Ford had not used them* in a while and saw no reason not to eliminate them (* Pulse Dampers)*. Our research along with others indicated similar conclusions. With plan firmly in mind, will someone share the socket sizes
(8mm / 5/6 & T-30 Torx) for the engine cover brackets and fuel rail retainer brackets? Want to be sure we have proper tools prior to diving in. Thanks for all the suggestions. Will report back once complete and after operation has accumulated some miles and time.

 

Good show!!!

Forgive my ignorance, but what does weld mean in this situation? What's going to be sealed? I missed and am missing this idea completely...

 

WELD the hole shut with metal after milling the retaining port off the rail. TIG weld appears to be preferred method to eliminate the hole once the mating port is removed.
The Socket size for the cover bracket bolts are 8mm or 5/16". The fuel rail is held on by (2) T-30 Torx head bolts on each side. Appears the wire harness connectors and few interfering harness/hoses are left to move for access. SMP (Standard Motor Parts) has a Injector seal kit (8) (FJ1102) we scored on E-Bay best offer for $21 for 4.2L Jaguar V8 & Rover V8. Maybe a 1 1/2 -2 week wait but a few other projects ongoing also.

 

Next Question needing answer: Can the Injector rails be lifted off the injectors with the the injectors remaining in the head and attached to wiring harness? Some injectors have clips holding them to rails, other do not. Much easier if the wiring plugs can stay attached. (they do not break). What is collective opinion from those who have dealt with injector removal?

 

This is just me. I prefer to remove the injectors completely. One reason, in trying to reinstall rails in mass,,, pushing the rail onto 4 or 6 injectors at a time,,, I don't feel like I can have as much control or take as much care in (especially) dealing with the Orings at the top of the injectors and how they seat into the rail. More than once I have made small chips and gouges in oring when fitting them into the rail and this is with the rails off. If they hadn't been off I mightah not noticed my mistake and either started the car to realize a leak OR leak may have started later when I wasn't looking. - you get the idea. So me, I like everything off the car when I reassemble injectors to rails.

 

Been a while since I did this job. When I first got the car, which had been sitting in storage for years, the engine ran but was rough. So I removed the injectors and sent them off to be cleaned and checked. Found one of the nozzles was clogged and wasn’t firing right, and when they were returned by the garage, they put new o ring seals.

i remember it wasn’t a big deal to unclip the electrics and just lift the rail with injectors in one go, and then unclip the injectors from the rail. I stuffed rags in the head ports to stop crap falling into the engine.

When I put the refurbished injectors back in, i wetted the oil rings and just clipped them back on the rail. Don’t remember any issues then putting the rail/injector units back in on either bank but I did have the engine bay apart in pieces at that time cleaning.

I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.

 

During research an interesting bit of info surfaced. The "cup" holding the Damper is described as the same piece as the ones holding the injectors ( to fuel rail at top) . One would suspect an injector O-Ring would be correct to seal the leak. Seems the problem is holding the damper close and tight as the injectors are clipped in and rails bolted down to maintain a constant pressure. Google revealed several designs of injector clips. Machining a appropriately sized plug could solve problem. Any thoughts on this approach? How to secure the damper or plug snugly? Originally I posted this in the BLS thread in error.

 

Yep the fix recommended, as per this old 2014 thread (link below), is capping the FP dampeners and one member mentions cutting stainless steel caps which were silver soldered on.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-damper-83606/

brgjag's write up in the thread above gives a lot of tips to look out for.

 

Success, Have the entire fuel rail assembly off the car and the 2 dampers removed. Will assess the method to remove the damper holders (Cups) for the rail and weld the hole closed. The Fuel Temp Sensor connector was most difficult plug being as the sensor was upside down and could not see. Rest of job was fairly easy. Gasoline smell is STRONG. Will update again when the welding is complete.

 

Rails are now welded and holes (5/32" dia. ) closed. The Rails were Stainless Steel according to weld guy. Took a small cutoff wheel (Fastenal brand impregnated with wax) and removed the cups, then Tig Welded the holes closed. No flare-ups from fuel. Will flush the rails to remove any debris prior to reinstall. New Inj. O-Rings to be fiitted prior to installation. Regarding the Dampers, my understanding of the damper principle is a membrane diaphragm is used in a chamber to expand and contract absorbing the pulses. Defective diaphragm seems more likely to be cause than O-Ring. The O-Rings were still pliable. Either cause was eliminated.

 

UPDATE: Tig Welding the Stainless Steel rails developed into difficult matter. The Certified Welding Man had small seep on right rail and drip on the left rail. Another trip out and the right rail was sealed but the left then seeped. Suggested Best Option, as other member did, machine 2 plugs to fit tightly into the 2 cups. Then silver solder them into cups to seal and minimum heat. This eliminates the leaks from the dampers.
Dropped the rail assembly and broke off 2 of the Pintle Cap. Ordered new caps and O-rings from The Injector Shop in Snohomish Wa. Very impressed by the help and owners efforts to help. Then The Rabbit Hole and Murphy's Law got me. The Pintle caps were difficult to install. I placed them on the bottom end and tapped with them with a small hammer to seat them. They apparently did not snap on securely. Carefully installed them into the mounting holes on car and reassembled. Cranked car and ran for about 25-30seconds smoothly, then stumbled and started missing. Threw codes and I shut car down. Codes P0300, P0304 #4, P0306 #6. P0308 #8, P1314. SERIOUS Misfire. Disassembled again and removed the rails to inspect. 1 Pintle cap was still attached and other 7 were GONE. Apparently ingested into the engine. These caps were thin hard plastic. Since the car ran smooth for a brief time, I do not suspect coils, but leaves several other causes. 1. Injector screen clogged with debris from welding. 2. Pintle Cap hung under valve and low, no compression, 3. Perhaps spark plug gap altered by Pintle Cap. 4. Possible wiring loose from moving left side harness for access. Pulled #6 Plug, gap as spec'ed. Wiring does not appear dislodged. No unusual or weird noises from engine. The 3 dead Cylinders are on the left side and only #2 is working correctly. Intend to replace the screens on the injectors and securely mount new Pintle Caps and investigate carefully prior to making another attempt to crank. Have the Diagrams for Cylinder numbering and the correct firing order for the 4.2L which is different than the 4.0L. Later maybe pull all plugs and spin engine over. Maybe compression check. Question: How to disable Fuel pump Module so system will not pressurize? Any precautions or "Gotchas" using this method? Perhaps after Super Bowl, situation will improve.

 

just put your foot the floor it will go into clear flood mode

 

Damn Man... That's an interesting one - scary I'm sure - I don't mean to minimize...

On Amazon there are fairly cheap (and more expensive) type scopes you can get to take a look down inside each cylinder. I'm interested in what others think for sure but finding a way to retrieve those caps I think is what's needed. Sure, 6 out of the seven might just get blown out of the exhaust valve and manifold, but it's that off one that might get caught in the seat and valve that could really cause a nightmare...bent valve/shaft...

Get the scope, get a 24mm socket, put it in the crank bolt, and slowly bring each cylinder to the top to see if fishing them caps out thru the spark plug holes is possible... A small spring loaded 3 finger style grabber might be your friend here. I think you can!!!!

Something link this but smaller.