I have been scratching my head over this one for a few days now and im a bit stuck and was hoping for someone to lend a diagnostic hand.

I have a 2000 Jaguar S-Type with the 4.0L V8, it has 58K miles on it and up until last week, ran *perfectly.*

I have been storing the car for a friend in my back yard and every week or two I go out and start it, let it warm up to temperature, and shut it back down. Just to make sure the battery stays charged and all of the fluids keep circulating. Well, I go out to start it last week, and all it does is crank. The car hasn't been driven in 6 months.

I initially thought I had a fueling issue, because I checked the Schrader valve on the fuel rail and I did have some fuel pressure, but very little. So I ordered a fuel pump and replaced it, no change, it just cranks forever with no start, I can hear the fuel pump engage whenever I put the key in and turn it "on"

So I pulled a spark plug out, and filmed it, and got no spark on the spark plug what so ever, these spark plugs are new, the ignition coils are OEM and I just went through and did all of the spark plugs over the summer.

I traced the wiring harnesses back to their looms and everything looks okay, short of taking the plastic covers off I can't see any chew marks or exposed wires on any of the looms in the engine bay.

What causes no spark on an S-Type? Are there any common parts I can pull and bench test? I also don't have an owners manual so I dont even know what fuses do what under the hood and in the boot.

Any help or diagnostic assistance would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum, but are you sure this isn't really a 2003 V6, and you're sneaking back in with a new user name? We just had a doozy of a thread with that one. Things did not end well...

Did you test for fuel pressure after replacing the pump? Even though you said you can hear the pump running, there's no guarantee it's putting out proper pressure, or that said pressure is reaching the injector rail.

Two ways to confirm pressure:

1) A mechanical pressure gauge connected to the test port on the injector rail.

2) Use a scanner to read the live data for fuel pressure.

I recommend both methods. That way you physically confirm what the injectors see, and the feedback value as seen by the computer is correct.


Is the plug body grounded while testing? When installed, the ground path for the spark is completed via the threads in the cylinder heads. If the spark plug is just sitting loose, the body won't be grounded. If resting on the valve covers, those are composite, IIRC. You'd have to connect a grounded test lead to the spark plug body in order to see a spark. If that's the situation, your ignition system may be fine.

One other quick check is make sure the anti-theft system has not been inadvertently triggered. To check, look at the indicator light at the base of the windshield, in the middle near the defroster ducts. Here's how the light is supposed to behave if all is good and no faults are present:

First, lock the car with the key fob. Press the lock button a second time to set the alarm system. The horn should chirp once. Watch the little red light. It should flash once every few seconds or so to show the system is armed. Now press the key fob unlock button twice to unlock all the doors. The red light should go out. Now hop in the driver's seat and turn the key to RUN (Not start yet). The red light should come on solid ONCE for about 3 seconds and then go out. If it flashes anything after that, you've got a stored fault and the security system may have inhibited the engine from starting.

 

Connected my OBD scanner, fortunately it has a live data function; FRP is at 46.1 PSI with key in ON position.

Checked the security light, works exactly as you mentioned. Blinking slowly when locked, unlocked the light goes out, it goes solid when the key is turned to the on position then goes out shortly afterwards.

 

I should also add I grounded the spark plug to the shock tower, but not the engine block. Maybe I should re-test this.

 

Yes, that would be good to revisit this. You already corrected one fault, the bad fuel pump. The odds are incredibly slim you’d have a second fault (no spark) originating at the same time. Not impossible, of course, but well worth checking again. Whenever I get troubleshooting results that don’t make much sense, I’ve learned the hard way to go over my test procedures.

The upper shock mount may not be a good ground, especially if you used a mount bolt. Definitely try again with a good ground on the engine. Remember, the valve covers may be composite painted to look like metal.

If you find the spark is good, here’s a little light reading relevant to the early V8:

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource


The big clue for that is the starter cranking speed will often seem faster than normal, due to decreased compression.

I will get up on my soapbox and implore you to make sure the battery is fully charged, too. Don’t rely on starter cranking speed to convince yourself the battery state of charge is good.

 

Good and good. You’ve already ruled out two possible faults.

I’m thinking fuel pressure should be more like 55 PSI, but am not positive. Can anybody confirm? Even if not perfect, that shouldn’t prevent the engine from starting.

 

Fuel pressure with ignition ON prior to engaging the starter should be around 3 bar (300 kPa).

Did you replace the fuel filter? It's located behind the LH front wheel wheel arch.

 

I think you're on to something with this article, because the last two times I started it I didn't let it get fully warmed up, I was in a rush. I also noticed it doesn't seem to crank the same as it did before.

Im going to double check spark, if I have spark im going to pull all the plugs and dump a bit of oil down each cylinder and see if its this wash down issue.

edit; I threw a battery charger on it for overnight to see what happens tomorrow with a fresh charge.

 

I didn't, I will look into it next.

 

scope the ckp

 

Faster or slower? Or different in some other way?

Be careful not to convince yourself bore wash is the culprit, at the expense of other possibilities. I threw it out there as one of several scenarios to consider, and only if ignition is good.

 

You can also shoot a bit of starting fluid in the air intake. Anything to help it catch once so it will start. Then as you now know drive it a bit maybe 30 minutes or more. Just a start and idle really does no good.
I am leaning towards bore wash too but post back if you get it fixed.
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Very intriguing problem, can't wait to hear the resolution.

Anybody got any thoughts on the methods of testing for spark in a coil-on-plug system? Could we indeed be getting a false fail indication? I'm leaning towards the ignition being good but the testing method showing otherwise.

If I'm correct (could there be any doubt?), the original problem was a bad fuel pump, and then bore wash was inadvertently introduced to the equation.

 

If this has been a fairly long-term situation and the fuel in the tank has not been refreshed for an extended period of time, the OP has not been doing the FI system on the car any favors...

 

Karl I always enjoy your attitude!!

Difficult to check spark physically with COP ignitions. That's why I suggested starting fluid even though that also can cause problems so use just a small shot.
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I recently read a lot of all kinds articles here on the forum, and I came across something, which is easy to check, if you have electrical issues:
Remove the cover plates of the COP ignition coil and watch them at night in the dark while someone tries to start the car. There should not be any "fireworks" visible, but if there are, there is a problem with that coil with the fireworks display...

(PS: Forget about removing the "cover plates". My head is currently in X308-mode. Thus, just pop the bonnet (hood) and check for something funny at night around the ign. coils when someone tries to start the car...)

Another easy thing to check: What is the ground-connection in the boot (trunk) from your battery minus to the body of the car like? Any corrosion?

And, aliasjerk, you did not write, where you are located, so I hope you are not standing with your Jag somewhere in the Antarctica, as there is probably currently no night at all...

 

Any updates? Did we lose you already?

 

I am located just outside of Detroit, and there is no corrosion in the trunk or anywhere near the battery connections/grounding points.


So far no progress has been made, life got a bit busy wih a death in my family along with some bad weather around my parts. I did get some time to look closer at this today, I pulled one of the spark plugs back out and checked it for spark by grounding a test lead to the engine and to the threads of the spark plug, I still saw no spark on the plug, I even filmed it in slow motion to make sure I didnt miss anything.

I tried the oil down the cylinders trick as well to see if it was wash down causing the issue, I didn't even get a single fire out of it. The engine cranks and spins over confidently without a single issue, it just refuses to fire.

I also tried starting fluid just for fun, didn't make a bit of difference, not a single cough out of the engine, which leads me to believe I still have a no spark condition and everything else is fine (fuel, compression). Im frankly at a bit of a loss at this point.

 

You did make progress and now you know the problem is electrical as you have no spark at all. So again this gives more clues because whatever it is it effects all 8 cylinders. That rules out plugs and/or coils as they fail one by one.

Now your looking for things that control the power to the coils and I would start with checking all the plugs in the circuit that supplies the coils with power. As you know that car is 22+ years old and plastic regardless of what politician's say does not last 500 years! It's all junk and decayed at less than twenty years. Anybody with any amount of real life experience knows this! Plastic simply does not last and falls completely apart with age.

Don't be surprised if the plastic connectors fall apart in your hand when you try to check them! But at least that would give you some clues that it might be a simple wire connection problem somewhere?

What scanner are you using? I don't see any codes posted? If it is a crank sensor as Xalty posed above it should set a code?

Keep at it I think you are getting closer too!
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I am using a Carly for scanning my codes along with a small handheld obd2 scanner, the car isn't throwing any check engine lights at all.

This Jag has been stored for the majority of its life, so its sitting at about 50K miles, although I agree the plastics aren't immune to age, everything seems to have held up great. Despite being stored for years it started right up on the first try, but now, oddly, after being parked at my house it has this no start condition that I can't seem to track down, I am going to check the wiring/electrical, but everything is absolutely buried behind the air intake manifold, so I cant really get really good access to any of the electrical without starting to tear down everything on the top of the engine, so it's definitely going to be a slow process, unfortunately. Add to the fact that I dont have an indoor work space, and Michigan weather is literally all over the place. I tried to do a bit of work over the past few days but it has been extremely windy outside, which creates complications on its own.