I have a low mileage Feb 2008 registered 3.0 petrol X-Type estate that hasn't been used regularly for 3-4 years, just moved occasionally on the drive.

Never had a problem before but moved the car (with jump battery as the original is duff now) to wash it - started first crank as usual. However when went to move it again it fired very briefly and stopped. Now it cranks just fine, everything else works but just won't fire up. Has half a tank of (admittedly old but no problem before) gas. Can't hear the fuel pump running.

Going to go through the fuse boxes for a blown fuse and I do have a generic OBD tester which I'll plug in to see if it will talk to it. Any particular things for me to look out for please before I satrt tearing it apart?

Andy

 

A generic OBD tester should be suitable for this and will indicate whether it's a spark or a fuel problem. However, generic code lookups can often be very misleading wiith Jaguars and you should refer to the Jaguar Diagnostic Guide.

Old fuel and a dead battery aren't going to help but the brief start then fail suggests fuel pump related as the most likely cause.

Graham

 

Well, after checking all the fuses and waggling relays nothing odd showed up.
Thought I'd check for a physical spark and managed to pull the only visible plug after lifting the airbox a bit. Wasn't able to remove the airbox though as the right hand inside screw has rusted so badly you cant use a Phillips driver and it'll have to be drilled out if I go into the airbox again.
Spark plug looked in good shape with .050 gap but I suspect it could be the original as the car has done less than 60K miles.
Went to crank it over to look for a spark and the bloomin' thing only started up!
Instantly stopped it, put everything back together only to find it sounded like it had a flat battery despite the jumper battery I have being well connected.
Put the jumper leads onto an old MX5 nearby and this time it span over and started as sweet as a nut.
So, I'm wondering if it is just sensitive to a slightly lower voltage and even if it does crank over briskly it still isn't running the fuel pump &/or the sparks.

Plan is to put it back on the road in the near future so a new battery will have to be the first thing to do and just keep the fingers crossed.

 

Good to hear you got it fired up. A new battery, some exercise and fresh fuel should be the answer.

We don't get many problems with dirt in the fuel in the UK (I usually cut open the old fuel filter when it's changed and there's rarely much been trapped) but ageing fuel can cause problems through water in the tank from condensation. Ethanol absorbs water, gets heavier and sink to the bottom of the tank. This is known as 'phase separation'. When this happens more of an ethanol/water mixture is pulled by the pump making starting difficult or even impossible.

Graham

 

Hey GGG,
I seem to recall the old truckers using a cup of Methylated spirits in a tank of diesel every few fills to help clear any moisture in the tank.
Seems to bind together and then can be drawn through with fuel as normal.
Perhaps can be done for petrol as well?

I remember the old first year chemistry experiment of measuring and combining 50ml of water and 50ml of meths and getting about 96ml of final fluid volume, such was the way the differently sized molecules would intermingle.

 

If it's gradually absorbing water, I guess drive it more often

 

Didn't know that one but when I was running tipper trucks and plant around forty years ago, we used to add a gallon of paraffin oil to a tank of diesel in the Winter to lower the freezing point. Haven't heard of this trick for many years so diesel fuel must modified nowadays. Water was never a problem as a tankful never lasted long enough!

In the UK, standard petrol went from 5% ethanol content to 10% late last year. This was recognised as a problem for some older vehicles because tanks, pumps and seals are not compatible. However, I think leaving it standing unused in the tank over Winter for example in any vehicle could give more trouble with separation.

Graham