Hi all,

1997 XK8 Nikasil survivor engine w/ 130K miles; however, it has not been ran for at least 6 years that I know of, and possibly longer.

In the past, when dealing with a long-sitting engine, I like to soak the cylinders in trans fluid for a few days, then change the oil before starting, to help free up the rings.

However, to the best of my understanding, trans fluid typically contains "sulfuric compounds."

So I find myself in a unique situation, of how should I treat these cylinders, what products are known safe to use for these Nikasil engines?

Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance!

-Jim

 

Jim, if in doubt use the oil we old guys have been using forever, Marvel Mystery Oil.
If you have not tried to turn the engine yet, good, don't until this treatment gets a few days for a chance to melt some of the rust.
First thing might be to check that the fuel pump is working and change the fuel filter. There is a valve on the right side of the top of the engine near the back on the fuel rail, you can check for pressure.

 

Right, thank you - a bit of history;

The car was owned by a physician who, after a few years, fell upon hard times financially, near the same time encountering the dreaded fuel pump issue.

As this was quite a procedure, and exorbitantly expensive, he parked the vehicle in storage, where it has sat, passing thru more than one owner who also did not want to tackle the fuel pump issue, until finally it came to me.

I confirmed the fuel pump failure by:
- First, deep-charging the battery & confirming it is still good
- Checked the rail for pressure, nothing.
- Attached a simple bulb to the fuel pump wiring directly at the tank, and confirmed 2 seconds illumination at key-on, indicating all circuitry is good
- Reattached the wire to the pump, and again confirmed there is no pressure at the rail with the key on.
- Also confirmed, no noise detectable when the key is on.

I have since pulled back the tank far enough to remove the pump, at which time I discovered a mountain of rust inside the tank. Thusly, I removed the tank entirely, and have ordered a replacement.

In the meantime, I have checked for signs of Nikasil failure - oil in the vent tubes, primarily, and signs of leakage on the exterior of the engine - there is plenty of dust, but no signs of oil in any of the problem areas, so I think this is a sign that it is in fact a survivor. (I did not do a compression test, but I also believe it would give false-positives due to time sitting + potentially frozen rings, and I don't want to crank it in any case.) (Also, I reason the vehicle was working until the pump failed, kept in storage all that time, and would have been discarded if it had both issues.)

So my next steps are to remove the fuel filter, blow out the fuel lines with compressed air, treat the cylinders with, possibly Marvel if it does not contain sulfates, perform an oil change, install the new tank and new pump, and finally give it a few cranks, check compression, and if all looks good I will go ahead and start it.

Once I can get it outside, I'll check the upper chain tensioners in short order - if I find the plastics, I will order that kit and get started.

 

If the car has been sitting that long, expect fairly significant headaches from anything fuel related. Old gas is nasty. It separates and part of it turns into a sticky tree sap-like substance. It seems to also turn corrosive and rust everything it touches. Expect to service/replace everything fuel-related: injectors, pressure regulator, filter, pump, level sensor, all of it. As you found out already, the tank gets the brunt of it. One can only imagine what goes on in the rest of the plumbing.

I would not start that engine without confirming the nature of the tensioners. No sense in putting much work in an older car like this to see it all go away with valves hitting the pistons. But good on you for looking this up.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

Squirt WD40 in and fire up. But you might want to get the oil pressure up first with the plugs out before doing so.

 

Oh, look at this beautiful, gorgeous metal tensioner:


So, after checking this, I managed to get it started for the first time under my ownership.

I ran it for a few minutes, it sounded just fine.

I backed it out of the garage, and let it run a bit longer.

However, after shutting it down, checking for leaks and any other issues, when I went to start it back up it cranks but does not start.

It ran great until I shut it off, and now it does not fire at all. There is plenty of gas in the tank, and I've verified fuel pressure at the rail.

I have codes 706 and 1000 appearing on the OBD2, but neither seem related to cutting off the engine like this.

Not sure where to start with troubleshooting - in the old days, I'd grab a plug and ground it to the block, but on this car that is quite an ordeal, if it were even possible.

Thanks in advance for any insight!

-Jim

 

If you haven't already seen it, Gus's site has a wealth of information about our cars, including the topic of bore wash, which was particularly a problem on the early Nikasil cars:-

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

 

Try firing up on starter fluid that will tell you if fuel related.

 

Letting the engine run for a brief period and then shut down is not recommended. You are inviting 'bore-wash'.

You might need to 'squirt-oil' all over again?

 

Quick update before I run off for a round of three-rail billiards:

- Battery was a bit low; Overnight charge, battery was 11.9 is now 12.75v
- Fuel pressure (re)confirmed as working
- Quick check of fuses found no issue (#3/#7 in boot fusebox)

Anyhow, after my checks, I went for a cranking fuel pressure test, but to my pleasant surprise the engine fired up immediately! I then let it run until the cooling fans came on (normal operating temp, in the middle of temp gauge) Very little smoke, pretty sure it is from a bit of overspill when adding the engine oil yesterday.

However, I have discovered that the alternator does not seem to be supplying charge to the battery; I am out of time for today, but a brief look did not reveal an obvious fuse location for the alt.

I will scour the forum later for alternator troubleshooting advice - but, I am happy to say, the machine is running silky-smooth and the trans had no trouble shifting thru the range, as I backed in for the upcoming alternator work... My only wondering at the moment, though, is I am still unsure of the no-start cause yesterday; I would think 11.9v would be enough to kick the engine on, but maybe not?

Thanks, all!
-Jim

 

It depends what the battery voltage was when cranking - it could well have been enough to turn the engine over, but too low for all the electronics to successfully run. You may have been in effect resetting the ECU as soon as you turned the key to the crank position.

 

So I'm continuing on with checking the charging issue;

I've checked continuity between the battery positive and charging cable on the alternator, also, the cables look fairly clean.

Should the signal wire from the ECU (white / purple, I believe) have +12vDC with key-on, engine off? (I really don't want to start this car unless it's going to be driven / warm up, to avoid bore wash)

Also, if anyone knows, what is the purpose of the extra (red, I think) wire attached to a *very* tiny nut on the back of the unit? Is that something I also need to test?

 

Jim, I can't help with your alternator questions, but I suggest you start a new thread to get more eyes on your problem.

 

^^ I concur....