This post isn't about a specific part or how-to-do or fix something. It's about gratitude and thanks and appreciation.

To everyone, past and present, who have posted their wisdom and knowledge on Jaguar Forums, I thank you.

This is the one place I've gone to request and receive assistance and advice like no other. Requests at local shops and auto supply stores in no way compare to what has been conveyed here from such a community of enthusiasts. Understandably, those experts are busy with the details of their shops and garages, so there isn't much time nor focus to get into the specifics of a certain issue or part. Recently, I asked actor Tristan Rodgers about how to get my Jaguar running again. The British actor replied, " Get the tow truck driver to tow it up a hill and point the car forward before you get behind the wheel." Funny and stinging.

But here, I've been able to draw upon a VAST RESOURCE of members that know exactly what to do and how to address the matters at hand. It's unparalleled DIY and something I have NEVER previously experienced to this degree.

And it is now becoming apparent to me that there is a certain mystic about Jaguars. Since I've been working on it more, the cover comes off, and people come over to look and admire. ALL my neighbors have come over and commented what a beautiful, elegant car it is. They want to know more about it and sit inside the car. A few have requested rides around the neighborhood in the coming days.

A local neighbor is a developmentally challenged adult. He came over and wanted to know more about the car. Since then he has helped in little things while I work on the car, things like turning the ignition key or turning a ratchet. Both were first experiences for him. I tell him what the part is and what it does, and then we do the repair or maintenance suggestions received here at Jaguar Forums together. These little event mean a lot to him, as he never had a father and no one ever showed him how to work with tools per se. Now he has his own screw driver set and wants his own box set.

The point to be made: It's not just a machine nor a repair. It can be something much larger in many other dimensions that affects others.

Thank you all for being part of that!

 

well said, time is the thing that is worth the most and means the most to those who need it, looks like you have made a big difference to you neighbour keep up the good work.
jim.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Best wishes to you and your assistant mechanic.

Graham

 

Thank you for the kind words and sentiments, Jim!
My neighbor has been coming around much more now that I've been working on the Jag... correction: Daimler... I get puntative reprisals if I don't used correct classifications from some people...

Back to my neighbor: he's just like the Dustin Hoffman character out of the movie "Rainman" right down to the same speech patterns and infections. He'll talk extensively about what he had for lunch, ad infinitum. But when I first asked him to turn an ignition on with a key, he literally ran away. Now he's just startig to get used to holding and using tools, and he still needs motor coordination with them. But everyone starts somewhere and someplace in learning.

I took him to go see a 1928 Hudson I was thinking of buying. It was a mess. He focused in on the tacks protruding from the interior and exclaimed, "That's going to need a tenus shot!" And when he saw cobwebs, "Spiders! Spiders!"

When I asked his opinion on the purchase, he said, "Pass. Too much work." Good assessment.

On the way home, he was reciting poetry from the US Civil War era and quotes from classic literature of Doyle, Dickens, and other authors.

But when it comes to spiders or thins that might ***** the skin, he becomes just like the character in Rainman: fixated and unyielding.

I gave him a multimeter a couple of weeks back, and we'll test battery volts this week. Bit by bit, we all learn....

 

Thank you, Graham!
And thanks for the "Thank you" via the posting.
My first!

I don't often get those thanks.
I once got one from a girlfriend after making her Earth move on top of the washing machine in the garage.
But tat not same acknoledgement one receives here on Jaguar Forums.

 

dumb question but does your Daimler not have a bulkhead / firewall-mounted Start solenoid from which you can start the engine without having to go to the dash's ignition switch and start button?

in my '65 S type, it looks like the one in the picture. (see the yellow arrows), the rubber cover is a Button you press to crank the engine.

 

Hey Jose!
No, the car does not have that internal start button.
I get asked that a lot. I went to see a local Jag mechanic about something, and this exact conversation point came up. He looked in a cataloge, and a replacement is like 35 dollars.

The mechanic told me a story of how when he was 19, he and some friends drove some 100 miles out of town to see a concert. They all got drunk, and the then 19 year old mechanic got popped by the police and was in jail overnight.

The next day his father had to drive up to the jail and bail him out. Silently fuming, his father didn't say a word the entire time as he drove the mechanic son to pick up his car. But the mechanic had lost his keys!

The mechanic didn't want to tell his father they would need to return home 100 miles away and return the same 100 miles back again, and then to have his father's silent wrath kindling. So instead,he popped the hood, used the internal start button of which you write, started the car, and drove home.

Now I'm not a concert goer nor drinker, but I really should get the internal start button. Another project at another time...

 

Hey Jose!
No, the car does not have that internal start button.
I get asked that a lot. I went to see a local Jag mechanic about something, and this exact conversation point came up. He looked in a cataloge, and a replacement is like 35 dollars.

The mechanic told me a story of how when he was 19, he and some friends drove some 100 miles out of town to see a concert. They all got drunk, and the then 19 year old mechanic got popped by the police and was in jail overnight.

The next day his father had to drive up to the jail and bail him out. Silently fuming, his father didn't say a word the entire time as he drove the mechanic son to pick up his car. But the mechanic had lost his keys!

The mechanic didn't want to tell his father they would need to return home 100 miles away and return the same 100 miles back again, and then to have his father's silent wrath kindling. So instead,he popped the hood, used the internal start button of which you write, started the car, and drove home.

Now I'm not a concert goer nor drinker, but I really should get the internal start button. Another project at another time...

 

Interesting story.
Even though one can turn the starter over with that button, the ignition and the fuel pump would have to be hot wired.
Which would have been done if one wanted to drive the car with out keys.

And with only two fuses in the car and the battery right handy, it would have been quite easy.

A bit of wire and some alligator clips...

I always have to shake my head at Hollywood where the guy pulls some wires from underneath the dash and the car is magically brought to life.
That has to be the biggest bunch of bull they come up with yet.

A real thief use this rather clunky device to simply force the ignition where the key goes _ at least on the older cars.

 

yes I agree with JeffR1, the ignition Switch needs to be in the ON position for the engine to start with the remote pushbutton.

the engine can be cranked without the ignition switch in the ON position, but it would not start.

 

Yet more examples of the knowledge I am grateful for being conveyed here on Jaguar Forums!

Not only do I learn the needed requisites of using the internal start button, but also the fundamentals of hotwiring! Here is the fount of learning!

The best story of hotwiring I ever heard came from a retired U.S. intelligence officer. During the first Persian War, a British SAS team hotwired a SCUD Missile launcher and drove it back to the camp, jolly and gleeful.

One can only surmise from the story of stealing a MISSILE LAUNCHER AND SCUD MISSILE (!!) that the elite commandoes were drunk the previous night, didn't want to face the silent wrath of their supervisor, used the installed start button inside the engine compartment ( start for the launch trailer, not the launch button for the missile - there is a difference), and had the ignition key.

( Proof knowing Lucas electrical has all sorts of applications around the world... )

In defense of the mechanic who told the original tale, the car was , as I recall, an MG and not a Daimler. I'll see him next week for my carburetor issue and ask for details.

Again, many thanks....