The book of the Jaguar XJ-S by Brian Long

When I was in Berlin visiting a bookstore there was a small section with car books. To my surprise I noticed this XJS book which happened to be a German edition:

I liked it very much. So once at home I did some further checking and of course it was available in English. It's really a great book covering everything about this car. So I had to have it. I purchased the latest revisited edition. And it arrived today. Am very pleased with it

Fuel filters and fuel pump replacement

Today I had some time to finally build up the fuel system. The parts were delivered earlier this week, 1 new seal, 1 fuel filter for the sumptank, 1 fuel filter and 1 new fuel pump

 This looks clean now:

When removing the normal fuelfilter this is what came out of it! Heavily contaminated. Clearly not replaced for a long time:

The sump tank I had cleaned last week. Just filled it partly with gas and partly with small stones. And then shaked it for a little time untill it was mostly shiney inside. I also had it soaked a little using Forte but I think that was a complete waste.

When placing the new fuel pump I noticed a small mistake. The large screw which should be used for plus is marked minus. And the small screw which should be used for grounding is marked plus

When everything was build up again the engine didn't want to start. When connecting the old fuel pump again it worked instantly. However it wasn't running great and eventually stalled. Then it run again but it did not ran smooth and was playing up. I really suspect the old fuel pump is worn out, which does not surprise me seeing the heavily polluted filters. And the brushes are likely also poor. Hence I had already decided to have it replaced. The new fuel pump is however a very cheap one, I will do some further checking again but I sense it needs to be returned. Unfortunately I ran out of time to properly check it. Not happy, I should have ordered a new Bosch fuel pump instead.

Jaguar Lynx Eventer

Today was a very special day. My partner in crime was over and we planned some car visits throughout the day. It was of course mostly Italian orientated but I did happen to encounter a few Jaguar's as well. And one of them was a very special one. And in fact I did knew in advance it was at this special vintage car workshop as I saw it for sale on their website. Interestingly enough I saw a day before someone in my contacts tagged someone in this specific FB posting:

As you can see it's a posting from the photographer. Apparently this was published in the latest Dutch Autoweek Classic. Good I spotted this else I would not have known. So I had bought this edition which had a nice Lancia article in it as well. When checking the license plate it turned out it was the one located at the workshop we were going to visit. Typical how all of this gets together.

The magazine itself I handed out to my partner in crime together with some other goodies. So I need to buy another copy and make a digital scan and post it in the download folder. Watch this space.

The visit to this workshop was spectacular to say the least. In any case a very unique and resourceful place. And amazingly enough only about 10 min away from house and I was unaware of it, untill now. I've met the owner and another customer and simply was stunned. The good news is he will take care of the front window replacement of my 400. Yes! But let's not drift away, here some pictures of the Lynx. Unfortunately the place was not very well lightened, so you will have to suffice with these.

I had also taken a picture of me in front of the car which got send to the Italo car freak whatsapp (IHWC - www.italyherewe.com). One of the guys had made this funny cover about it:

Jaguar XJS Keyfob

Yesterday I was at Berlin Classic Remise (http://www.remise.de/Classic-Remise-Berlin.php) and when browsing around I noticed this little shop specialized in British cars. And they did happen to have the Jaguar XJS keyfob / keychain I was looking for.

I had the Original keyfob with the keys when I purchased the car. But unfortunately it was completely worn out and with severe patina:

By now my mother has stitched it again and as such I will use it for my spare keys.
The company was called Limora and has a very good website, for those interested:

http://www.limora.com/

And the good news is that it only costed € 7,-

Car and Classic / april 2016

"Xjs prices have more than doubled on the last year".

https://www.facebook.com/groups/4185237245/permalink/10154552828682246/

Classics Cars Magazine : Jaguar XJ-S vs BMW 850i

Now available in the download folder. Thank you Frank.

gas tank & sump tank contamination

Well, it seems I was not far off on yesterdays blog:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/10/fuel-tank-inspection-and-filter.html

Today, I did made an attempt to look into the fuel system, mainly inspection of the fuel hoses, the sump tank and it's filter. Again I had to drain the main tank - just as per older blog:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/09/eureka-fuel-gauge-repair.html

Then I had to drain the last bit via the sump tank. I was surprised how much still got out of it. Clearly the main tank was not completely drained, I reckon another 10 liter came out. I was hoping the sump tank could easily be removed by taking out the battery and the battery holder. Turns out the battery holder/bracket was nasty bolted and not accessible due to the sump tank. After dismantling all the various fuel hoses I noticed the sump tank could be removed fairly easy nevertheless. It's just the location in the boot and the body manouvres you have to make (yes, I'm getting old).

Previously I did mention the fuel pump might have been replaced in the past but maybe I was wrong. My guess was just based on an extra clamp being lose on the hose (typical). Oh well. It seems to be an Original Lucas in any case. It looks like it hasn't been touched recently though, it had the Original mounting clamps, isolation foam rings and glue on it.

I'm not sure who designed the fuel hose setup but it's a bit messy. All fuel hoses looked to be in a pretty good state though.

Now all was drained and all hoses were disconnected I could remove the actual fuel pipe with the filter and the sump tank. And it was worse then I expected. Seeing the state of the filter and a first glimpse in the sump tank shocked me.

So I guess my assumption was pretty close. It was heavily contaminated. Time to remove the sump tank and empty the remains in a bowl.

Also the sumptank pipe going to main tank seems a little dirty

And here the sump tank emptied in a bowl. Yes, the bowl is suppose to be entirely orange, that's how much dirt was in it when all particles sank to the bottom.

When things were a little dried up I also hit the filter and the fuel pipe a little, this is what came out of it. Yikes!

It's almost surprising the car did run that well. But as said, all this dirt must have clogged up the filter. And after a longer time of driving it sucked up all the other flowing dirt and blocking the fuel intake and shutting down the car. The previous owner must have been really Lucky to have been capable to run 2500 km. I also suspect a lot of this dirt losened up when he used the car over the past year since prior to this the car was hardly driven at all.

Another shot inside the sump tank:

So clearly there is more cleaning to be done. Apart from the new filters which I have already ordered I think I'm also going to order a new fuel pump. And of course I have to do a bit of cleaning of the main and sump tank. Coming two weekends I'm occupied with other things so it will take a while before I can update on this matter.

Update 9-10-2016: Today the sump tank has been standing in the sun. When emptying it the following pile came out. Amazing, I thought I already had removed a bit yesterday, didn't expect this much to come out of it. Tomorrow I will buy some fuel system cleaner, likely Forte and will do further rinsing and soaking to get the remaining sticky coating out of it.

Fuel tank inspection and filter replacements.

If you recall this blog:

http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/09/engine-shutting-off-stalling.html

It is still an outstanding problem to be solved. Now the car is not idling high anymore I can look into this issue. Of course I did search around a little already but nothing related could be found that described the problem I was experiencing. In any case it is likely to be a fuel related matter. The following was very usefull and learning material:

http://www.jag-lovers.org/books/xj-s/07-FuelEFI.html

And the following document was even better in explaining the complete setup:

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Electrical/Elect-Tech%20All/81%20-%2088%20XJS%20Engine%20Performance%20S58.pdf

(now available in the download folder).

This diagram gave a good basic overview of the fuel flow:

From this I learned there are two fuel tanks, one main and one sump tank. And also I now noticed there is another fuel filter in the sump tank next to the normal fuel filter.

As said, the car is starting and running fine. It was just that after a longer drive (about 20 - 30 min drive) it would shut off. The car itself is running at normal temperature and is definately not overheated. So I don't think it's caused by some kind protection mechanism that cuts it off. I also don't think it's caused by the fuel pump (why would it only manifest after 20-30 min). It looks like this one has been replaced in the past though. Also the fuel filter looks ok - not sure if or when was that replaced. But I'm pretty sure the filter in the sump tank has not been replaced. Given the fact it has been parked for a very long time I suspect there must be some kind of dirt or other polution in the main tank. Nevertheless the previous owner has been driving about 2.500 km last year. I wonder if he never ran into problems. Perhaps he has been making small trips only? I know he told me that he once ended up the emergency lane on the highway due to a lack of gas. Or perhaps he encountered the same problem as I did? 

When replacing the fuel sender unit it was clearly heavy corroded. I now suspect the gas is not flowing well from the main fuel tank to the sump tank due to contamination (slush) and likely also having a dirty sump tank filter. My guess is that gas is running out from the sump tank due to limited gas flowing from the main tank in combination with a dirty filter. Or else the latter might cause a pressure issue. This is something I'm going to check tomorrow. I did order both fuel filters from SNG Barratt but unfortunately they have not arrived yet. Nevertheless I will have a look. 

Magazine Träume Wagen : Kaufberatung Jaguar XJS

Now available in the download folder

Magazine : XJS at 40 - we test all the key models from 1975 to 1996

I purchased this magazine to build up my knowledge on the entire series. The article is now scanned and available in the download folder. Happy XJS reading everyone.

Jaguar XJS spotted

This time not by me but by friend Pietro. It's a very classic one in green with beige interior. It looks to be in good and Original condition. It's also an early HE edition. The blue plates are illegal since this car is not from 1978 or earlier. But it gives it a vintage/classic look for NL folks. Clearly they look better as yellow plates.

According to the RDW it's delivered on 1-1-1982. So it must be one of the first releases. Imported to the Netherlands in 2005 and 1 owner since.

Dashboard instrument panel lighting

When I used the car once in the evening I noticed how poor the dashboard lighting was. Also I was in doubt if all warning lights were functional. So time to get this checked and remove the dashboard. On both corners there was a hidden cover which had the holding screw behind it. In total it had 17 light bulbs 12V 1.2W (15)and 5 12 2.2W (14) light bulbs. However one light bulbholder (12) was missing. Sigh. So I have to find a replacement. Unfortunately these are not newly available. I also upgraded the 2.2W lights to 5W to increase the light level. I checked last evening but I was not impressed by the 5W light bulbs, I couldn't see an improvement. Oh well.

Chrome fender trim removal

This was suppose to be the first item on my "to-do" list to get done as it's awfull. When I showed a picture of my latest purchase it was in fact the first remark someone made (and it did hurt - thanks Guido!).

The only thing I was affraid of was what would come out underneath. But today I had time left so let's get this done. It's just amazing, these things are just screwed straight into the body. Only one screw went bad and I had to use a grinder.

Luckily the outcome was it was mostly overall good and hardly no rust or whatsoever. Afterwards I washed out the wheel arches as there was a lot of dirt/sand/mud which will cause rust. Still the paint does require a good cleaning and the inner arches perhaps a little respraying. But for now it will suffice.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I'm very happy with this cosmetic improvement. Makes the car more quiet and clean.

AAV replacement - part II

As per previous blog: http://erwinxjs.blogspot.nl/2016/09/auxiliary-air-valve-high-idle.html

Now the follow up. The parts arrived earlier this week. The hose appears to be China made :-(

 The gasket however is German made :-)

The AAV is likely made in England by Lucas:

Here the air intake in a cold state, it's not entirely open though.

And hereby a test I carried out to check if the valve was working in hot and cold water. It's not exactly an entertaining video to watch, but it shows the functionality:

Today it was time to mount it and put everything back together

And yes, it worked perfectly, this was only shortly afterwards. When fully warmed up and after a small test drive it was steady at 800 RPM.

What a huuuuuuge difference this makes. It drives almost perfect now and I did not even had to adjust the AAV. On to the next job.