Very good job going back over your work!

How the cams moved and caused no damage is strange but you found it and that is the important part. Glad to hear about the tensioners but we get many guys who pick up a 4.0L cheap and don't understand what the weak points are and they just keep driving it.
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These engines can skip one tooth on the cogs and not contact the valves, any more than that and you are looking at big bills if you use an independant garage, HUGE bills at the dealers.
My cams were retarded for some reason, so one tooth backwards instead of forwards, so I got something wrong somewhere along the line. God knows how.
Looking at it as it was, it does seem strange it ran as well as it did.
I will do a compression test though, hopefully sometime tomorrow, just to check I haven't clattered anything.
If I have......................it's all coming off again!

 

Done some stupid hours this week so far, 14 hours on Monday, started at 06:00 Tuesday morning, finished at 21:00. Back in again at 06:00 this morning, finished at 18:30 tonight.
GOT TOMORROW AND FRIDAY OFF NOW

Back onto my own toys

 

So then, to the report........................


I HAVE 300 HORSES AND THEY'RE ALL LOOSE UNDER MY BONNET!!!!!!:icon_he adbang:

After going through all the timing and putting that right, I did a compression test just to be sure I hadn't clattered any valves. Glad to say all the compression values are spot on where they are supposed to be.
Put all the ancillary parts back on, checked the oil, refilled the water, burped the system by jumping the relay pins (3+5)(good quick way to burp these engines that) refitted the fuel pump relay.
Made sure that the correct bolts were in the holes near the cam sensors.

Turned the key, fired right up.
Let it idle for a couple of minutes while still jumping the coolant pump relay, just be sure of the burping process.

NO MIL LIGHT ON THE DASH.........good sign.

Bit of smoke and steam from my grubby hands over the engine, nothing unusual there.
Took it to the end of my road and back......................power's there.
Back in the garage, quick check under the hood to see if anythings amiss, nothing to be seen.
Plugged in the computer, no trouble codes present or pending.
Not even the cam sensor code I was getting before. WOOHOO!

In the house, overalls off, cleaned up, out for a drive along the same roads where I had the uphill issues before.

I could already tell by the way it was driving that it was so much better, so round the corner, up the hill.................went lovely, exactly as it's supposed to.
Through all the gears smooth as you like, barely noticed when they changed.
Absolutely no need to bury my foot into the carpet, light touch on the pedal and away she went.

All the powers back where it should be.

Had the computer monitoring as I drove.
NO temperature spikes as before, read as steady as you like, the highest it reached was 199*F, and that was when I was going slow along a road with huge speed bumps, on to an open stretch it quickly dropped back down to 190*F and stayed there.
Temperature in the car was HOT, too hot, so I had to open the window while leaving the heater on full, just because.
Timing readings where steady enough, I don't think the computer could quite keep up with the changes, but they weren't bouncing around as before.
LT and ST fuel trims were in the low single figures from what I was seeing at a glance every now and then, so happy enough there as well.
Read for any trouble codes again, nothing at all.

All in all it seems that my previous troubles were down to the mis-aligned cams. Stupid mistake but somehow I seem to have gotton away with it.
I'll leave it overnight now, check the water levels in the morning and top up if needed.
I'm just itching to go for a good drive now...................

Oh, and my average speed counter that was only reading 7mph has changed now.

 

Great news!

Still scratching my head over the temp spikes and avg speed values. It's easy to see how the cam timing would hobble power and set all kinds of codes. The connection to the other issues? Cue "The Twilight Zone" introduction...

 

The thing is, when the cams were out it only set one code, the cam sensor code, no others, or at least none that I could read.
As you say, why the temperature readings were spiking is a mystery, the only theory I can suggest is down to the cars inter-connectivity of all of it's elctronic components. Quite possibly they talk to each other in more ways than we realise.

 

Went and got it 4 wheel aligned this morning.
Checked they had the updated specs already, they did. So no need for Brutals alignment sheet that I had at the ready.
The rears can only be adjusted on the toe in or out, but the front is toe, camber and castor adjustable.
The fronts came in nicely, all in the green.
The nearside rear, (passenger side UK) is the one that has the camber just falling out of the green zone, and I mean just falling outside of it. So much so that i'm not really thinking about it.
I can always go back in a few months and have it checked again if I want to, and if it's moved any more then I'll change the upper and lower wishbones.
Just need to change all the discs and pads now, the rears are proper ropey and the pads are close to the limit for my liking.
I can get the full set of Ferodo discs and pads for just under £200 from my suppliers.
Fronts are ok (ish).............but while I'm doing them..............what the hell.
New discs and pads all round isn't a bank breaker, and it can only be a good thing.
I will more than likely change the brake fluid at the same time.
I'll give it a week or so, then I must remember to do the anti-freeze.

 

I mentioned in my original thread on this car that I was thinking about the audio upgrade, changing the original radio/cassette for a new double din unit, mainly for the Bluetooth connectivity, but also for the DAB+ and getting Planet Rock.
After looking at everything, not so much the cost of new parts, but the hassle of finding a unit that will fit nicely and not look out of place, plus a fascia surround to trim up any gap, finding harness adapters, patch leads to keep the steering wheel controls, steering wheel interface itself, and the decision whether to have a roof mount aerial or the screen one for the DAB, it just isn't worth it.
For the amount of miles I do each year in a car, less than 3000, I can do without the hassle at the moment.
I've been reading GOBI's thread about the changer lead hack, using a 3.5mm jack off the RCA leads to give connectivity through the phone.
I'm going to run that way I think, but I might try and pick up the same wires from behind the head unit instead of off the changer itself.
Locating the mini jack shouldn't be a problem, it's nice and small and shouldn't look out of place in the front fascia panel.
This way I can still have my DAB radio through the phones data stream and phone connectivity through the speakers for calls. (he says)
Just need to find a decent phone cradle and somewhere to fit that.

 

Took the car out for a 100 mile jaunt today. First chance I've had to get out for the day and not think about work.
Had a nice but expensive coffee in a little village somewhere in Derbyshire (my mates directions) (cheeky sod even bought a flask of coffee with him just in case we broke down), stopped at a pub for a nice roast beef lunch and more coffee.
Glad to say that the car performed flawlessly.
Cruise control works, although I was a bit surprised to find it dropped a gear going from 60mph to 70mph when pressing the resume button. I thought it would have just crept up to speed rather than give itself a boot.
Would be nice to have those cruise controls on the steering wheel, instead of on the side, could keep your thumb hovering over the off button then instead of moving your hand down the wheel, but heyho.
Kick-down works nicely, only used it once just to try it, haven't used sports mode, didn't find the need to really, more than enough power to do want I want it to do.
Overall, I'm a happy little puppy.

Must get the aux socket sorted out, had to let 2 calls go because I was driving at the time.

 

Or just do like I do. The phone is only for bad news. Text is best. Unless it's an actual emergency requiring my immediate response, but even then, only call me AFTER calling the police, fire department, etc. My friends and family are well trained...

 

Sounds like you want the controls where they actually are on the later cars.

 

Yes please.
Hmmm...................steering wheels steering wheels............
.........I woooonder..............

 

Something like this would be nice, buttons in more or less the right place.

 

Here's a little "thing" that's got me going.
Sat in the living room last night and could hear somebody's car alarm going off in my little cul de sac.
Take a look out the window, couldn't see anything flashing anywhere, then it went off. Half an hour later it's back again. A higher pitched sound than the usual alarms.
Few minutes it all goes quiet.
At 03:45 this morning, off it goes again, and because it's the dead of night in a quiet little cul de sac, it's LOUD.
So on goes the dressing gown and slippers and I'm off outside to see what's going on.
What I couldn't believe that IT WAS MY CAR THAT CAUSING THE NOISE!!!

I had some kind of alarm going off, not the "normal" car alarm that sounds the horn and flashes the indicators, but some other kind of high pitched siren alarm, and NO FLASHING INDICATORS.
And it wouldn't switch off with the remote fob either!

After it went off, I came on here and started to scour the forums for any clues to what the cause may have been.
Came across possible door/bonnet/boot sensors, ruled those out because the indicators would flash 5 times to say something wasn't closed properly and they didn't, came across the tilt sensor and internal sensors being activated when the doors are double locked only, so I only single locked it, and came across something that said check the battery for low voltage after it had been sat overnight.

So 4 hours later, bleary eyed from lack of sleep and looking at a computer screen, I'm outside and first thing to check was the battery voltage.
Now bear in mind that I had just done a 100 mile run in the car, so in my mind the battery should be charged ok. Plus a few days earlier I had it on the optimate until it read maintaining charge only (fully charged).

The meter read it at 12.13 volts.
This was a new battery fitted in April last year. An Exide 950ah battery.
Strange reading to me, seems low.
Grabbed the other tester, same reading, 12.13v

Now I know these cars are a bit hissy with low voltage so I thought I would start it up. Fired up completely normally.
Plugged in the computer, no fault codes showing anywhere, although I can't read all the codes, yet, I have just ordered the proper Mongoose cable, should be here in a few days.
So I ran through the alarm system, testing all the doors, boot, bonnet, left the roof open and flailed my arms through the top to activate the inside sensors, all worked normally, ON THE CARS PROPER ALARM HORN and not on this high pitched siren sound that was happening before.
So I stopped for a cuppa and a scratch of the head, locked the car, and sod me, off it went again. The same high pitch siren that I couldn't re-create before.
It sounded like it was coming from the drivers side front (UK) somewhere around the wheel liner area, and it has a back-up battery as well; I know because I disconnected the battery and it still carried on.
After a minute or so it went off.
Still scratching my head, got to thinking that maybe the low battery voltage could be the cause, but why would the voltage drop anyway?
Went back to the boot lid and checked to see if the light was going out when it was closed, (pulled the rear seat down so it could be seen from the inside), the light dimmed but didn't extinguish completely.
The question is this:
1: What the hell is this other siren under the front somewhere and why won't it turn off with the key fob (fitted brand new batteries in both fobs today)
2: Could the boot light have caused the battery to go that low overnight that it triggered this siren but still allowed the car to start normally?

I have disconnected the light for now and will test the voltage again in the morning. So far, and it's been about 7 hours now, there has been no repeats of the siren going off. (touch wood)

 

It may be the backup battery inside the alarm itself. I dimly recall a rare thread or two about it.

(An outlier: maybe something extra is fitted to your car.)

 

Spoke too soon in my previous post.
Damn thing went off again at 03:05 this morning.

@JagV8
A dual tone alarm horn fitted?
What's got me thinking though is if it is the vehicles own alarm, why will it not turn off with the fob? Or the key?

In the (again) early hours of this morning, I could lock and unlock the car with absolutely no problems, but it still wouldn't de-activate this particular siren.
I dis-connected the main battery to shut it up.

I'm having a dig around today and will have the wheel arch liner out to see what's what.

Tempers fugit, confucious reigns.

 

If it's a backup battery in the alarm you'll make things worse having the main battery disconnected as it will no longer be charged up.

 

Been digging around the last few hours, seems it's the passive security sounder that's going wonky.
Located behind the right hand headlight. And it has batteries in it. And apparently it fires itself off if it detects low voltage, wont disarm with the keys or remote or key in the ignition.
The only question is, is it detecting that it's own batteries are dying or that the cars main battery is dying?
But if the cars battery is dying it should throw up more things than this surely.
When it went off this morning, I immediately checked the battery voltage, still at 12.13 volts, same as before, so it hadn't lost any more charge there.
Supposedly WDS/IDS/SSD can read the last alarm triggers, or last 10 triggers, and maybe point to the culprit.
My genuine Mongoose cable should be here in a few days, and I have a copy of the software already, V130, from a good source, not installed yet, so I'm going to disconnect the passive sounder for now, that will kill the siren and apparently nothing else is affected by it.
This seems to be a little documented case on the s-types, I've found stuff on the xj's and xk's that are very similar but different outcomes.
I've got a sound bite of this siren sound, I'll also get a sound bite of the "normal" alarm and post up my findings in a new thread in the s-type section as soon as I have the solution.
I don't like to have the battery disconnected due to it re-setting things, but the last 2 nights have given me no other options. I have good neighbours and don't want to upset them un-necessarily.

 

I think it's its internal battery gone/going bad (and won't be helped by a low main battery - yours isn't great nor terrible).

It's likely a NICAD/NiMH/... and can just be replaced. (Once you get at it!!)

I dimly recall someone disconnecting it rather than replace it on the grounds that some extra security on a quite old car simply was no longer worth worrying about.

Not sure if this site or the other similarly named one.

 

It might have been Devon David on his XK8 either here or there or both.