Have a look at discussions on why to leave it off or on. I get better mpg with it off in the Summer. I do not use the Jag much in the Winter here.

The charge cooler cover insulates the coolers from engine heat mostly when the car does not have air pushing in thru the radiator. At highway speed not a problem in the Summer as hot air dos not accumulate below the hood/bonnet.

So if you limit the air coming thru the radiators as well as take off the charge cooler cover you might have more heat from the engine transferring to the charge coolers from the outside. Also the SC radiator might not get as cold.

Connecting the two coolant systems, SC and engine, in a more positive manner in extra cold weather would be the answer.

Still why do some people suffer the water problem and not others?

 

There is no reason that water get inside the engine that much to locked it from turning, unless you drove through the water deep up to intake nozzle; Here what I think: Your starter was stuck(It's happen), when the car got to the dealer the mechanic just get the hammer and tap on the starter and it started, now they can't tell you the true and charge you some thing they not do, so the story teller give you the the cylinders hydrolockBS , that way they can charge you labor to work on the engine( they don't really do any thing), and when you come to pick up the car, brrrooom it started. So now your only choice is to let them ( fix it ) and get your car back. But the starter stuck is symptom of it will go out soon

 

cjd, if the cold air moisture goes through the intercool to become water enough to created hydro lock in the engine, I bet all the cars in the North America, Europe, China and Russia can not operate in the winter, some ice in couple of cylinders not going to hold up the crank torque of the engine, unless it filled up and froze the whole cylinders, and that not possible to have that much moisture, because any moisture in the intake air came in the engine will be burned and pushed out the exhaust, a little moisture in the hot engine will evaporated through the intake and exhaust port. Your air compressor theory is completely difference: Your air goes through air compressor, it did not goes in burning chamber, it goes through a condenser( with refrigerant pipes zigzag inside) to the other side that's why it condense to become water; You not even compare Apple with Orange but you compare an Apple with a Potato.

 

Dribble of water can not hold up the crank engine, only two cylinders (if) the water can got into them when engine stop: one with intake open valve and one with exhaust open valve ( but water can not get in by this valve either), if the cylinder filled with water with open valve will not able to crack the cylinder when water is frozen, because as the volume of water expanse it will oozed out through the open valve, and engine cylinder is not a glass bottle, if it crack that easy every engine will blow right up when started. cjd, you knew a lots theories, but you don't think.
The conclusion of this problem is: QuikCat's car only got stuck starter, it's easy fix, the mechanic can not charge $500 for just tap on the starter, so he give QuikCat a hogwash story about water in engine and hydrolocked it.

 

QuikCat, I don't know how the spark plug's tip is bent, but the sound in your video clip it sound like some thing jump or knocking around (no help), but your starter not crank is the sight it will going out soon, think about replace the starter.

 

Although I no longer own the XJR, I can guarantee that it was not a problem with the starter. I've owned over 30 cars, and have worked on the majority of them, including diagnosing, repairing and replacing starters, and I know what a failing starter sounds like (and have used the hammer trick several times). The started worked flawlessly until I sold the car in the fall (with full disclosure of the problems in cold temperatures), approximately 9 months later.

If you read through my postings, you will see that I confirmed this is recognized, although infinitesimal issue, that happens to supercharged XJRs in extremely cold climates. We had over 3 weeks hovering in the zero and below zero degree (Fahrenheit) of temperatures, and the engine froze (only) twice.

If you think about the amount of space between the top of the piston (at TDC) and the cylinder head, you know that it would take very little water/ice to interfere with allowing the piston to complete its stroke. The starter is not strong enough to bend a connecting rod, but it is strong enough to bend a spark plug tip.

Despite the issues, I really miss that car…

 

QuickCat-

Nice to see that you're still around. For reasons as yet unknown, there's been an outbreak of hydrolocked engines on S-type R cars this winter.

 

Colder than ever morning ... high relative (relative) humidity ... driving with generally small throttle openings causing induction (partial) vacuum (S/C bypass open so no pressure increase across S/C) ... leading to adiabatic cooling causing super-cooled liquid fog droplets to form downstream of throttle ... freezing out on sub-zero cooling coils in intercooler causing ice build-up ... intercooler warming after engine stops ... ice melting and falling into inlet manifold (vertically below intercooler) and into those cylinders with open inlet valves.

Solution: warm coolant to S/C to just above 32F ? Switch off intercooler coolant pump, maybe ?

 

I believe that could be happening.

Already suggested switching off SC pump however some have said it would throw a fault code which on its own would be ok with me however if it causes limp mode not so good.

 

So, would some time idling the engine when still after driving help heat/homogenise the temperature under the hood to melt/exhaust that ice before shutting down?

 

It possibly could help.

However the optimum solution I think would be to stop below freezing coolant flowing thru the charge coolers some how.

One could bypass the SC radiator with appropriate valve/connectors and piping at the front of the charge coolers. To be really sophisticated have the valves electrically operated according to ambient temperature.

For someone who knew what they were doing it would not be that difficult.

SC pump would still operate but in a loop outside the charge coolers.

It is ironic for me suggesting this since I have gone out of my way to increase cooling in my charge coolers!

 

It's RP - because once it knows (via IAT2) the charge air is not behaving as it should it has to be cautious with timing to protect the engine.

 

This was suggested and tried over on the S-type section and apparently didn't work. The engine hydrolocked anyway.

The best course of action would seem to be finding a way to prevent the ice from forming in the first place.

 

This was suggested to me from the Jag tech at the Minnesota dealership. He also suggested that if possible, go out and start the engine approx 2 hours after you shut it off to expel any water that may have condensed before it freezes.

 

If the ice would have melted and substantial water have ingressed in one or two chambers through the opened valves, wouldn't that risk damaging the corresponding piston/rod/valve assembly during subsequent compression because of the non compressible water?

Seems to me preferable to have the ice meting progressively and water being continuously exhausted in small amounts during idle before shutting down the engine.
But unfortunately Mickey says that it doesn't work apparently...

 

This was me and the car in question was an X350. It idled for ~5 minutes and then sat for 8+ hours before it was frozen at 4F ambient temperatures (and midnight). Idling longer may help, but I plan on starting the car a few times a night on really cold nights from now on. What makes it weird is that we had had a few other similar temperature nights already this winter with out the engine freezing and there was nothing different about how I drove the car those times.

 

Just trying to keep the apples and oranges tied together:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...inders-174082/

 

I have something of an update on this as it almost happened again last night. I went out last night and knew it was going to be really cold, but I didn't think about it in relation to the engine freezing until I was already out. It's been warm recently but the forecast was for -1F last night which is definitely in the trouble-zone for this engine. I had a 40 mile/50 minute drive home, mostly doing about 50mph, some 30, a little bit of 60, almost all on 2 lane state highways. It was 14F when I left and 3F when I arrived home. I parked at let the car idle for about 15 minutes before shutting it off and going to bed.

This morning I went to start the car. The temperature had increased to about 20F by that point. The car did start, but not the way it usually does. Normally, the starter spins the engine quickly, it will catch, and then settle into a smooth idle. What happened today was that the starter turned the engine slowly and with a bit of a screeching noise, it caught, and then idled roughly. It was quite lumpy, as if it wasn't using all 8 cylinders. I revved it up and around 2000rpm it was better but still not as good as it should be. At 4k I couldn't notice the lumpiness, but it was still there at idle. I revved it up and down a few times and held it at 2k for 30 seconds or so and it got better slowly. After about 3 minutes it idled smoothly and everything was back to normal.
My thoughts are that there was ice in the cylinders, but not enough to cause the engine to freeze completely solid.

 

If there was ice/water in a cylinder it would either be enough to lock the engine on compression or cause a slightly rough start while the ice/water was ejected.

I do not see how that would cause screeching.

The screeching I would think would only occur if a belt was slipping?

If that were the case then could the SC belt have slipped wile turning the engine over because something was impeding the rotors in the SC?

 

Last night I realized, that I might have bigger issue, than starter motor.
So I tried to crank from Damper-stuck.
Good thread, so I might have engine still. I re-ringed it 2 years ago; it has had valve seat issue for 80k miles, just came up as I tested compressions.
I really would´t want to repair Jag 8, mine had too little ring cap also from factory.
So;
Egr-valve, steady 260km with about -15celcius.
(extra coolers in series with oem)
Next Morning; -hopefully sticky "half"-crank with less inertia.
This was first time.
If my Cat lives still, I would try to boost it before shutting down.
Regards Eero