Hi everyone! , bought this 02 jag not really knowing the full or real story as to why it cranks but won't start. Taking it apart and found water in what seems to be multiple cylinders???. No water in oil at all. There were some floods here where I live at one point, so not sure if it's possible , a large amount of water went through the intake and flooded it out, or if my head gaskets blown, but again , every cylinder and all valves all appear wet, can both head gaskets be blown? I'm a little confused, I've seen cars with bad head gaskets before, this seems odd. The car is mfd.12/01 and it a 3.0 x type USA model, all help is much appreciated! Thank you

 

Hi,

Is it water or coolant? , plain water suggest something like your theory has happened.

Head gaskets leaks are generally one or two cylinders, and blowing both head gaskets at the same time on a street car seems unlikely.

Is there any other evidence of flooding? sediment ? under carpet damage? trunk? look under surfaces that would be hard to pressure spray.

Are you sure what in the fuel tank?

Did you have any spark, when you were cranking?

 

No evidence of flooding at all , the car is and definately has been dry. As for the water, I'm not sure if when I added water and cranked it, maybe it went right in the cylinder? The coolant was low or empty. Also after better investigating it looks as if it's only the cylinders by the firewall. The battery is brand new and got spark and all power, and the fuel is good also. When I originally poured water in to see what happens, it leaked out from somewhere,NOT near the water pump, or anything visible. Then as I cranked it came out even more. Upon dismantling the upper intake, that's when I see moisture in the intake and water and coolant in 2 or 3 cylinders, oil definately hasn't been changed and has no water in it at all, wondering if it went through a big puddle and sucked water in and flooded it or does it sound like a straight up head gasket job? And if so why no water in the oil ?? I always thought they went hand in hand!

 

When you say you poured water in, where were you pouring it into? and when you say it came out more as you cranked, where from?

Head gaskets can blow in many ways, it doesnt always result in water in the oil. Can be compression issues, coolant loss issues , oil/water issues , it just depends where it fails. Hard to imagine two head gaskets going at the same time though, but that may just be my limited exposure.

 

If there's water only in firewall side cylinders then it could be a head gasket. You could check if you have combustion gases in your coolant. And always make sure you don't crank the engine with water in the cylinders or you could damage your engine even more.

 

Danny: A plausible scenario is:
1) It began with a split or melted hose to the heater core, which is why coolant still flows onto the ground between the engine and firewall when you add some.
2) Despite the coolant loss, the former owner continued driving until the engine overheated
3) And continued driving until the head gasket blew on the firewall side, stranding them on the side of the road, and dumping coolant into those cylinders.

The flood scenario seems much less likely:
1) No other signs of flood damage anywhere in the car
2) No water in the radiator-side cylinders, only the firewall-side. Water sucked thru the intake would likely be both banks of cylinders.
3) If water was sucked thru the intake, your now hydrolocked engine would have physically damaged valves, pistons and connecting rods. Google "hydrolocked engine" images for what you'd expect to see if this had occurred to your X-Type.

Since you haven't mentioning this form of physical damage, a blown head gasket seems more plausible than flooding & hydrolocking, IMHO.

 

Danny,

run over to your nearest parts store and rent a compression gauge.
take a look at what the pressure is in all 6 cylinders that will give us an idea as to whats happening.
also if you have bad compression do a leak down test this will tell you what the problem really is.

 

Thats what happens when people power wash the engine!! I personally removed the air intake and all spark plugs cleaned everything out and its fine now.

 

Thanks for all the info, probably won't get to it until the weekend , but I'm definately looking into everything while I'm in there. Most likely it seems I'll be doing a head gasket job and anything else I can do while it's apart. I could use any tips or info on doing the head gaskets , and whatever I should do while I'm at it. I'll also take before and after pics for reference . Maybe they'll be useful for others in the future. Thanks again for all the input. I need all the help I can get !