FIrst two things that come to mind:

-Do a quick inspection for oil or water in the spark plug wells.

-Swap the fuel injectors on the failing cylinders and see if the misfire fault follows those fuel injectors.

 

Thanks WhiteXKR !

Actually, the spark plug check is the first thing I did today:

I pulled all the coil packs on the Left bank and looked down the tube at the plugs - only to be greated by.... Perfection.... The cleanest shiny tubes with no trace of oil or even dust - and perfectly clean plugs. But I took all four plugs out anyhow and read the color (all were prefect, slightly brown and just the slightest trace of soot on the outside of the barrel)

I did a wire brush thread clean, put anti-seize on them and put 'em back in. On the input to the coil packs I used a touch of Caig, DeoxIT D-Series D5 Spray contact cleaner (which I used on every other connection I re-hooked during the reassembly - including all the fuel injectors)

Fired it up and took it our for a short gentle drive. It ran perfect for about 2 miles and then while I was waiting a a stop sign, it suddenly started missing again! arrrrrgggggg! I gently drive it home and turned it off. Checked the codes and..... There were none! WTF! is going on here???

By the way, the injector swap you suggested may well have to be eventually done as a process of elimination, but my GAWD! ONLY as a LAST resort - as doing so will require another 10 or more hours of complete disassembly and re-assembly to do that check. THAT is what I just went through to cure the dad-blamed fuel leak! Please! Not again!

Thanks again for the suggestion though - I'm just trying to cover EVERY other base before the madness of extreme tear-down to follow a whim.

This is NOT fair.... I must have really wronged somebody/sometime/somewhere to deserve this!

Sigh...

 

Had the same problem had to replace the fuel rails about $1,000 labor and $1,800 parts. Replaced the hoses under the supercharger just in case. Now I'm kind of sorry I didn't have the charge coolers and supercharger powder coated at the same time. Looks like about a $50 part but no one carried it and no one would sell me a used fuel rail. Sigh...

 

I really am sorry, life is a bitch indeed.
Hopefully someone more competent in the Black Arts will be able to help.
Good luck with the Post Mortem and keep us informed.

 

Thanks Steve and Enderle: I'm still open for suggestions...

With another four hours of experimentation and searching for the obvious yesterday (including running propane around all the vacuum hose connections) this is what I know.... It's beginning to appear that the miss-firing and "restricted performance" happens only when the car has been running for a while - basically when it's up to full operating temperature.

I made several test drives - each ending with the damn "restricted Performance" showing up. However......

Last night with the ambient temp outdoors being about 82f/28c degrees the car ran well for about 5 miles of moderate to hard driving, then, again, while waiting at a stop sign to turn right, she started to miss-fire at idle again. I pulled out onto a four-lane and booted her pretty good and she accelerated fine... I didn't expect that. I was only about a mile from home, so I headed back. She ran perfectly the rest of the way. WTF??? I checked the codes and got nothing. Hmmm? So I put her to bed and went on with my evening.

Anyhow, as promised, here are more detailed pictures of the reassembly process done Friday night. Taken when I was still in a good mood and anticipating a late night ride in a perfectly running Jag. Should have known better....

By the way, Brutal, as you can see from one of the pics, I slotted the back supercharger bolt - something that you and several others on the forum have suggested. But I must say, that I'm still confused about why I needed to do that? The bolt was completely accessible for tightening with a standard 3/8 drive ratchet with a extension and a 10mm socket.

Perhaps the ease of access to that bolt in my situation was because I had taken the throttle body and manifold off of the supercharger in situ or before I removed the supercharger. Conversely, when I installed the S/C - BEFORE I attached the T/B manifold to the S/C the rear bolt was easy to get to.

Understandably, we each approach a problem our own creative ways and I, for one do certainly appreciate ANY and ALL suggestions, so, indeed, Thank You! And Hey! At least I didn't have to do ANY alining of THAT particular bolt - Mr Supercharger slipped right in there !

Here's some pics... I hope that somebody gets some better understanding out of being able to see just what is under that mess on top of our "R" models.

 

Since we're on a straw grasping mission here and the problem is heat related - did you bleed the supercharger properly?
Install the expansion tank pressure cap.
Remove the supercharger coolant fill plug.
Remove and discard the sealing washer.
Place a suitable cloth around supercharger fill port.Jaguar recommends filling the cooling system with softened water
Top up the coolant through the supercharger fill port.
Coolant may spill from supercharger fill port when ignition switched on.
Switch ignition on.
not allow the supercharger water pump to run dry for more than one minute.
Failure to follow this instruction may result in damage to the vehicle.
Allow the supercharger water pump to run and top up the coolant through supercharger fill port.
Switch the ignition off.
Install the supercharger coolant fill plug

 

Thanks again Steve for the detailed instructions on bleeding the charge-air cooling system. I think you are on to something. I was suspecting as much yesterday. I thought I had bled the system correctly when we took her out for the first test runs - but I certainly didn't do all that your instructions specified. Today, I was able to add quite a bit of coolant to the charge-air and the main cooling system(about 500 to 700 ml total) A bubble perhaps? That doesn't seem like much, but it may have been enough. I was able to drive the car, spiritedly, for about 20 minutes today without a single misfire or "restricted performance" event. Yeah! I will use use your instructions to attempt to add even more coolant tomorrow morning. I hope it really is that simple of solution! And I hope I had not damaged anything by getting it too hot - my test drives were quite short, so I trust I'm in luck there..... Crossed fingers

In the meantime, I took the time to add a few more pics to this thread - with written details within the pic. I really hope to help folks see what is involved in with this repair - mostly, so that they will not feel so intimidated that they will not attempt a repair themselves.

It really has not been super difficult - just time consuming. And the good news is that I have less than $400.00 invested in what others have said was well over a $2500 repair! My hometown dealer quoted me $3100.00 for handling the repair for me. Hack! Choke! Cough! I thank the Lord that I was granted the stubborness and courage to take things like this on myself. Also, I DO NOT ever forget the supreme helpfulness of a like-minded group hanging out here! Thanks again guys.

Here's more pictures.

 

If that's all it is I'll be delighted - drinks all round!
Thanks for the useful pictures and commentary.
If there's a Mod passing would it be worth copying, editing out everything but the pics and making this a 'how to' or something ?
The detailed views etc. would be most helpful to the next poor s*d!!

 

Just for giggles---make sure the I/C aux. pump is running. I'm with Steve's suggestion that it sounds like there wasn't enough coolant in the I/C cooling circuit. I would also check the I/C aux. pump fuse just to eliminate that possibility as well. Good Luck. This is like reading a murder mystery.

 

I would add to that, had a similar issue and it turned out to be the pump, they tend to fail. A new Jaguar pump is about $400, you can get a peformance ford intercooler pump (and wire it in) for about $90 and it is a far better pump.

 

I'm going to very tentatively pronounce this project a success...

I say this with trepidation because - well.... I own a Jag, and the spirits of Coventry, I think, have never been happy with us "yankees" even owning one of the "Wooorld's finest Motah-caaahhs."

I topped the I/C coolant system off yesterday morning before heading off to work. I used the procedure that Steve's post outlined. When I opened the supercharger coolant fill plug the coolant was at or near the top (with the ignition off) when I turned the ignition on a could hear the pump running and the level did drop a little bit. I was able to add no more than a couple of shot glasses worth of coolant to the system. So it looks like I had the system fairly full before. I then checked the expansion tank and found it full also.

The car ran well on the trip to and from work - and the trip home the ambient temp outside was 100f/38c degrees. So I think I may be "good to go!"

I must have had a "bubble" in the I/C-supercharger cooling circuit during the first few test drives. Thanks for all your suggestions guys!

Wow, that air coming out of the S/C must be incredibly HOT!!! I'm amazed that all those big V8s with the blower sticking out of their hoods with the straight shot from the blower output directly into the cylinder heads and no inter-coolers actually function without major problems. This realization really makes me think that a methanol injection system or a "Killer Chiller" may be a really decent investment for our XKRs - particularly for cars, like mine, that have the smaller S/C pulley modification.

At this point, all seems back to normal, and no fuel or coolant leaks. Add to that, the added visual impact of a nice new clean look under the hood and the satisfaction of performing this minor-turned-major repair done for approximately one TENTH of what a dealer would charge makes this a wonderful thing!

Thank you all for being at my side in a virtual way through-out my work.

I trust my pics and write-ups can be helpful to others in the future.

"Sir-Hiss" lives to wow the peeps of Mid America AGAIN !!!

Cheers!

 

Well, we'll put that down as 90% your elbow grease, 10% JF backup.
I think your diagnosis is correct - there was an airlock which burped when you needed to add extra coolant.

 

Just passing, after a nudge with a 20 ton loader.

Max and co' give me a little time and I'll happily edit this thread.

Looks useful for the future.

 

Enderle and Maxwdg - There's one more of us with the leaky fuel rail problem. I have my '06 XKR in the shop right now. Apparently Jag is now only selling the fuel rail as a kit with 8 new injectors and a new fuel pressure regulator. Which is interesting because apparently I have 3 cracked injectors and the fuel pressure regulator is leaking too. How could Jag have known...? Is this a systemic problem? It's going to be about $3400 to fix :-(

 

Marcgr: Yes, the Jag Dealership in Kansas City quoted me $3100+ to fix the leak.

I try to handle all work on my vehicles myself, however in retrospect, perhaps I really should have taken my XKR to some sort of professional shop.

Although this thread seemed to end with a happy ending, I had spoken too soon. Take a look at the following thread if you are curious about the three month (and counting) ordeal that I have been "blessed" with.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...le-lead-79384/

I'm not sure there's a moral to this story... yet. But, Karma is really coming down on me like rain.

 

Maxwdg you did fine on this and all the others that helped you with advice. That is why I joined the forum. My XK8 is my problem child lol. My XKR is pretty dependable .

 

Hello gents: add another leaky pulse damper victim. I'm new in the Jag world but have been playing with other types for a long time, I'm gonna do some more research into the O-ring option. I know some pretty exhaustive work has already been documented lately on this failure, I'm throwing my hat in the ring as well.

 

I am sooo sorry! Best of luck to you. At the risk of jinxing things, I will say that my ride is still leak-free as of today, and the damper-less fuel rails seem very happy.

 

Gents: After several weeks of research and experimenting I have come up with a fix (although possibly a temporary one) that is fairly easy. I will not rehash what this thread and several others has already covered but a few key points: 1. There is indeed a pretty severe o-ring issue developing with ethanol as a likely culprit. I made a lot of phone calls and emails on this subject with various shops and even manufacturers. The answers you get vary widely with who you talk to but in a nutshell servicing these rings is a roll of the dice as far as whether or not the seal will hold. 2. The damper fitting does indeed move very slightly under pressure load. 3. In an 8 cylinder application the value of these dampers is a matter of opinion.

Anyway, being an old school hotrodder I tried to come up with a fix on my own. My car recently had injectors/seals done and I didn't want to start pulling things apart until I tried the "simple fix" first. I first masked/covered everything around the offending damper so as not to damage or discolor anything else. I then carefully cleaned the damper with mild solvent. Then, using fuel tank sealer (available at any resto shop online) I lightly coated and filled the seal fitting, esp. around the gap. I allowed this to dry and repeated this process multiple times over several weekends. And....

To date I have driven the car several different days for approximately 200 miles total. There is no fuel leak or smell whatsoever. So far so good.

Limitations: The sealing product is clearly not being used for what it was designed. It is not intended for pressure applications and as such is not in its design envelope. Also, the under hood temperatures (esp. summer in Georgia) may weaken the seal and cause failure.

I will continue to monitor this fix and see if it lasts. If anybody has any questions I'll be happy to answer.

 

Hi there !
Today noticed same leaking, aargh. Tomorrow will call shops that would do this job. Fuel dampers are sold from sngbarratt and will try to go that way replacing those only. Will see how this goes...money will burn that is for sure.