The saga began 10-10-12. It is 12-12-12 today- xso that is 63 days, or 9 weeks and today might be the day I get it back!!!

They said they are sorry it took so long, and that they are doing a full detail on it. They also said they did a port and polish job on the heads and "really opened up the valves" so it will breathe better, and felt there will be around a 30-35 HP gain. Sounds like a snow job to me, but there are speed mod shops that claim that- the one in East Lansing wanted $3,500 to do it and I declined, since their claim of 35 more HP was calculated by me to be $100 per HP and I was already supposed to be at 475.

Any how, if the blessed event happens today I shall inform all and then go to work on my upholstery - the 2 Recaro racing seats. UK Hide in Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 0YF, e-mail sales@ukhide.co.uk sent me a 54 square foot hide of Autolux #4559 Ivory for 3.75 pounds/ft2, and 46.20 for carraige- 248.70 pounds sterling. They claim to have purchased all the hides from the old Connelly Leather and can service needs of Jaguar owners. So- maybe today!!

 

"Wonder of wonder- miracle of miracles!" I got my car back today. They had filled it with gas and had done a full detail on it. The total amount of the work came to $7,090.00, of which I had to pay $1,248.00. My amount was for the 5 cylinders' parts that were not defective. Theirs included the Head Gaskets, Exhaust manifold and intake manifold gaskets, the cam gaskets and seals, the valves, intake and exhaust of the 3 defective cylinders , including the push rods, valve guides and springs, and the seals for the cams , the crankshaft, the milling of the heads, the porting and polishing of the valves and heads, and all disassembly and assembly labor. My amount also was for an oil filter, oil, the procedure to do the carbon cleaning and a $30.00 shop materials charge. They told me I need to run 2 tanks of gas through it before taking it to get the emissions test while the ECU reconfigures the functiions by driving experience. My amount also included $79.00 for initial diagnosis, and removing 3 small dents ($120.00).

The car does have notiiceably better acceleration than at any other time I can remember- the higher horsepower may be true. The new Hankooks I had put on just before this saga began have offered a better ride and still superb handling, and the new insulation material under the bonnet has reduced the supercharger sound. I am quite pleased with the results.

They have ruled out any high temperature event as causing the problem. I do know I had a recall and they reprogrammed my ECU to fix a glitch that was causing what they called a false malfunction of the thermostat, and that had been replaced three times before the software patch was installed in my car. Any definite finding will be relayed to me. Also, the air inlet hose into the super charger had become loose once, and the engine had bucked a little before the dealer found out it was loose, interfering with the mass flow sensor- but there was no classic valve or valve lifter or chain noise accompanying the event, so I don't know. I'm going to report to the forum any findings they had made.

So, to all you intrepid and helpful serial readers of this tempest in a teapot- the bottom line is this- unlike my nautical friends who bewail their boat owning days as only being happy the first and the last days of their ownership- look at us! We get the joy of first driving our Jaguars, and then the thrill of being reunited with them after the repair and trouble shooting sagas we have, since most of us would never think of selling one unless it is to pave the way for the next cat in the stable!

My heartfelt thanks to all of you out there. I feel like a fool at the age of 67 to be so distraught without my XKR and so damned proud and happy with it, but there it is, I have it bad for the car and the marque, and insist that I'm not alone in this exhilerating feeling. Happy driving to all!

 

Excellent news. I'm sure you're very pleased to have her back, and in better shape than before. Enjoy.


.

 

Great news Arland.
Enjoy the car before winter sets in.

 

Congratulations! I have been a reader of this thread and am very happy it was resolved (finally) to your satisfaction.

To have all that work done for $1200 is icing on the cake. Hope you enjoy many trouble free miles now.

 

"including the push rods"?

Xks don't got no any Push Rods! Ask for a Refund!

Glad to hear the Saga is Happily Ended.

 

Pauls Right they don't got no push rods, but glad to hear your back on the road. Hope you can get some more driving in before the winter sets in. I'm taking the XKR out tonight, to look a the light shows. it's 47 degrees out right now. Hopefully we get another mild winter like last year. Didn't Dallas just have snow?

 

Paul- That was from memory, as the receipt was many pages and I had left it out in the garage in the car. Sorry about the confusion, but I'm as you all know, no engine genius. I guess there are no push rods in O/C engines. I am an International Water consultant, and a darn good one, but ignorant about the nuances of the AJ159-S engine.

Actually- there were cylinder gaskets, exhaust manifold gaskets, camshaft gaskets, spark plug seals, timing cover seals, crankshaft seals, inlet manifold gaskets, induction manifold gaskets, o-rings, inlet valves , exhaust valves, valve seat springs, antifreeze, oil, inlet manifild gaskets, seal-water outlet parts, an exhaust manifold heat shield, spark plugs, coolant hose, oil filter, cotter valves, and vsrious other fittings.

Also, I know the diagnostic progression- Road test, SDD diagnostic, perform diagnostic for cylinder #2 misfire, swap coil, replace plug with known good plug, perform cylinder leak test, performcompression test,
perform decarbonation, road test, retest, engine top end disassembled and inspected, reperform compression/cylinder leak test, remove cylinder heads both sides and send out for machine work cleanup and valve replacement, reassemble and re road test. customer opted to rebuild cylinder heads since they were torn down, loaner car provided to you as VIP customer, value $30.00 /day- 65 days x 30 = $1,950.00, N/C to customer, VIP card gets 15% off customer share of bill.

The machine shop threw in the porting and polishing- my guess is either to make them all the same from a mistake or to build a relationship with JAG, or to accomodate slightly larger valves- who knows why, it's good to go.

After getting in the car and driving it 20 minutes, I got my first yellow light, from the 'DSC SYSTEM FAULT' upon taking a sharp corner. Second start of the engine it went out and stayed out.

Paul Pavlik- I'd like to see your car some time as you said, but maybe til Spring now? I don't know if you drive yours in the winter. As soon as I can run 2 tanks of fuel through my XKR I will go pass my emission test and then try to put her up for the snow season. 30 DEC we go to Pasadena, CA and the Rose Bowl with UW and Stanford, then Big Sur and Vegas, then 3 weeks at our condo in St. Pete Beach, Tampa area. By then the Packers will have won the Super Bowl again and Spring will be coming!

Hope this helps all to understand the event even further.

 

"Paul Pavlik- I'd like to see your car some time as you said, but maybe til Spring now? I don't know if you drive yours in the winter".

Arland, Spring would be best. As soon as there is any sign of salt on the road, I cover the Jag up till Spring. That could be any day now.

 

Just a footnote to all this, but, as I live in Milwaukee, it is interesting to me to note that aftter being separated from my Jaguar for over 9 weeks, the day that I pick it finally up at the Milwaukee County Zoo, three baby Jaguars were born, the first since 1972. The TV announcer said they are very fast, both the cars and the cubs!! So Jaguar got a free promo and it seemed to be that now the world is in a better place. So I stopped into a roadside place to get a hamburger for lunch, and an irate pensioner type at the end of the bar, seeing my car out the window, said to me with a sneer, "That is a beautiful car. What do you do to afford an expensive car like that?" And the legend lives on.....

 

I noticed in rerreading my thread on gettting my engine fixed that you have among your mods a remote converttible top feature. What is involved with that? Did you invent it?

 

Arland,

Here's some reading for you https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ou-want-53390/

 

Here is the link to my website with all the information: http://www.thejagwrangler.com/conver...e-control.html

Be sure to read the FAQ. Guess you can say I invented it, but the idea originated on the forum.

 

Sorry Im a bit late for the acknowledgement of your car's return, I don't know how I missed it. If nobody has mentioned this, the DSC 'light' going around the corner is a result of a tire losing traction and the DSC activating, its not a real fault. lol

Hope all remains well from here on.

 

Glad to hear you got your car back, I know it is like to be jacked by a mechanic and for goodness sake, stop doing whatever bad thing you did to get into this mess!!! LOL
Enjoy your hotrod.

 

Atilla (65 years experience of working on cars)

When the compression drops on one cylinder, it's usually due to valve or compression ring fouling. There are several chemical solutions on the market (Pep Boys/Autozone/O'rilleys/ etc) that fix the problem as you drive (add to your gasoline).

There is another 'Old School solution' which has been used since the days of Tin Lizzies. A water vapor injector can be purchased or DIY made from an old canning jar and a few pieces of rubber tubing. I got the original drawings from the inventor of the rig in the mid 1920's (yep, 100 years ago)., I met him in the 1970's. Basically, a piece of rubber vacuum line running from the top of the water jar to the bottom and it acts as a 'bubbler' to agitate the water. Another piece of small diameter vacuum tube running from just inside the lid to your main vacuum line on the carb or Throttle Body. Once it's hooked up, the Bubbler will suck in a bit of extra air and agitate the water (looks like a kettle that is boiling). The piece of tubing that runs to the main vacuum line has the extra air and is nearly saturated with water vapor. The water vapor, once ingested into the intake will 'Steam Clean' your entire combustion chamber(s), valves, cylinder head, piston and compression rings. And oh by the way, it generally increases fuel efficiency by about 20-25%. Only extra 'steam' goes out the exhaust as the water vapor tends to 'steam scrub' your exhaust gasses.

Once you have run through about 2 tank fuls of gas with this rig attached, check your compression again. A few years back, a friend gave me his old Camaro and it had between 30 and 50 psi compression. After running this Water Vapor Injection for 2 tanks of gas, the compression was back up to factory spec on all cylinders.

CAUTION - If you build it, never put more than HALF the volume of water in the jar or you can get 'Water Carry Over' directly into your engine. This volume of water will generally last about half to a full tank and only needs to be refilled when you get Gasoline.

Caution#2 - only use DISTILLED Water in the jar unless you want to grow stalagmites/stalactites in your combustion chamber from all the Hard Chemicals in tap Water. which will ruin your engine.

If you have a carburetor instead of Fuel Injection, attach the water vapor hose to the Progressive Vacuum. Fuel injected engines don't have a Progressive Vacuum port.