Just got my first Jaguar S-Type 4.0 today. Bought it from an online auction. It has 139k miles. I installed a new battery and it is still very hard to start (cranks, cranks, cranks, and sometimes fires). When it does run, it is real rough and the engine shakes and it will eventually stall after running a few minutes. I have posted a video of the car running. Any suggestions??
I have no history on the car, but it looks well kept, clean oil and fluids all topped off. No major fluid leaks that I can tell of. I do have the AutoEnginuity scanner with Jaguar expansion. There is no check engine light on and the AutoEnginuity only shows code P1233: Fuel system disabled or offline.
Also, when the car does run, I noticed the tensioner pulley shakes wildly. I don't think it is supposed to move that much, but I am trying to address the hard to start and rough running condition. (smells rich in fuel).


Gas tank is full of 93, pressure valve on fuel rail does spray out when pressed. Car otherwise appears in good condition, but I cannot figure out why there are no Check engine lights? Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Thank you very much! Mr. C.J.
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That car needs an expert. It sounds like it isn't firing on all 8 or has a air intake blockage. I would bite the bullet and get it checked out.

 

If you intend to work on the vehicle yourself, you may want to begin with removing the cam covers to see if the secondary timing chain tensioners have been replaced and if the camshaft timing is correct.

When the engine is cold, remove the coil packs and see if there is any oil surrounding the spark plugs as that can cause misfiring.

 

Yes, I plan to work on the car myself. I will first start with plugs and check under cam covers to see what the tensioners look like.

 

Sounds pretty bad to me. My money would be on jumped cam chains. If the tensioners fail the cams can jump a tooth, you get away with one tooth but if they jump 2 teeth it's enough to cause piston / valve contact. I would start by looking at the cam timing and if it is out then run a compression test on all 8 to see if you have a bent valve.

 

I would guess tensioners also. Ignore all the other stuff until you get an answer on that.

Then the real descision is do you want to keep the car and do the repair? It's not cheap and for a DIY guy it's a pretty tough repair. You can do it at home.

You might want to use a borescope and look in the spark plug holes to see if the pistons have banged into the valves.

You might not want to put any more money in it?
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Thanks for the tips. I have not yet replaced the plugs or took the cam covers off yet, so I will try to do that in the next few days and see what I am dealing with.

 

I removed all the coils and all 8 plugs. The plug wells were covered in oil, up to the tip of the plug! I'm guessing the previous owner did something to the car and possibly had the cam covers off and didn't put the seals back correctly. I thought it might have been an oil spill from adding oil, but oil was to the tip of every single spark plug.


I still find it odd though, that there are no specific warning codes that indicate engine problems. I ran the full code check with the Auto Enginuity Jag expansion and nothing sticks out. Very strange. I think I need to pull the cam covers off now. Maybe the previous repairs included timing chains that were not installed properly?

 

This is quite common with the 4.0 Litre if maintenance has not been routinely carried out. Oil fouling of the coil units is not a function of someone incorrectly installing the seals, but more of age and number of kilometres/miles on the vehicle.

Be sure to use Jaguar cam cover gaskets and spark plug boss seals as the aftermarket ones, in my experience, do not last as long and begin to leak within a short time.

Search the forum for the correct choice of spark plugs. There are many forum members with strong opinions on the brand of plug that is best, so do some research and go with the ones you feel best fit your situation.

If the coil units that have been oil fouled show evidence of cracked or deteriorated boots, it is best to replace them with new units.

When you have the cam covers removed from the engine, check the camshaft timing per the instructions in the JTIS Workshop Manual to make sure it is correct. If it is not, you need to reset it using the appropriate special tools.

 

You are right that there does not seem to be any codes to let you know that the tensioners have allowed the timing to jump.

You will need to manually inspect it to find out.
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That is a LOT of oil in the spark wells.... I have never seen that...

 

The oil in the plug wells is due to bad plug well gaskets in the valve covers...not really that big a deal, but yours are really bad. Before going off the deep end and pulling out all of your hair. Get a new gasket set. Be sure that you also get a complete set of new grommets that fit under the mounting bolts. On a XJ-8, the gaskets are held down by compressing the silicone rubber grommets. After time, these grommets flatten out . Once they flatten out, you have leaks. With that much oil, you likely have fouled plugs as well. If you have no history on this car, buy a new set of spark plugs while you are at it. After you get the new gaskets installed and the new plugs, see if the car runs better. If it still is hard to start, put a fuel pressure gage on the fuel rail. You should get about 40psi plus or minus a couple psi at idle. If the pressure is lower than 30psi, you might have a fuel supply problem : clogged fuel filter, or maybe bad fuel pump in the fuel tank. Good Luck !

P.S. Don't put any goop,or silicone on the valve cover gaskets. These were designed to go together dry and work very well if you use new grommets and torque the bolts gently about 100 inch pounds max.

 

It's up to you but on the plug well seals I always smear a light coating of Slicone on both sides. I have had too many leak in the past.

But have you inspected the tensioners yet? Don't want you to spend money then have to dump the car.
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Has this issue ever been fixed? I have one that sounds exactly like that one, with a little extra noise on top of that. I am suspecting timing chain jump, had a mobile mechanic looking at it, he said fuel delivery issue, but I am reluctant to believe that.
I have bought the car with the left side fuel sending unit having a broken hose. Repaired that, put a brand new fuel pump, and fuel filter in.
Fixed the initial issue, drove the car for about a week. One day driving about 30 mph heard a pop, like a plastic bag being popped, and the car lost almost all power. Limped it home, about 3 blocks, and it runs like crap ever since.
Hard to start, rough idle, all the way down to stalling, while it sounds like a box of plastic parts rattling around inside a metal box.
Replaced left side fuel sending unit with another one, fuel pressure regulator, still same issue.
At this point I am thinking saying goodbye to it. Which is a shame, it has an awesome interior, ostrich leather seats, Foose 20" color matched rims, straight body, although the paint on the top side is rough from the Nevada sun, but is a nice car otherwise. It has a clear NV title.
I never had a car let me down this bad, was not even pushing it when it failed, and the repair is cost prohibitive for me. I am a GM, BMW, and Mopar guy. I have been fixing my cars since I was a teen, about 30 years now. Never have I ran across a more convoluted illogical system in a car.
If someone would like to tackle these issues, and fix it up, or could use the parts, shoot me a message at h3oburntnt@yahoo.com I would want to sell it whole, not parting it out, and let the parts sit at my house.