Hi All. New to this forum. Have recently bought an XJ6 Sov 4.0 lt. Got the car home from private sale. Everything looks ok. Battery empty of juice so ran flat. Filled with electrolyte jump started everything fine. Left for a couple of days, connected trickle charger and left overnight. Meanwhile cleaned out elbow before throttle body, rebuilt and checked all connections. Tried to start today. Cranks over Tacho shows movement, eng light on. Not firing at all. Should I disconnect battery to clear codes? Will I need radio code? What is a cheap useable OBD11 reader possibly from Canadian tire or similar. Many thanks for reading this

 

Do a hard reset by disconnecting and touching the two battery cables together.

Also buy a new battery, these cars don't like batteries that have very little charge in them.

 

Thanks Mike I'll give that a try in the morning. Do you know if there is a radio code with this Canadian car?

 

Could be a failed fuel pump. Have someone turn on the ignition while you have your head in the trunk to see if you can hear it operating.

 

I don't know about radio codes for Canadian cars so can't help with that.

 

Classic causes of cranking with no start
1. Crankshaft Postion Sensor (CPS)
2. Temperature Sensor (not the single wire connection one for the temperature gauge - the other one nearby that is the ECU engine temperature sensor).

In my experience neither of these raises a fault code.
I had a faulty CPS that consistently showed a reading on the tachometer every time that the car would not start. After months of being stranded due to intermittent no start and searching for the problem elsewhere because the tachometer showed a reading I finally took a chance and replaced the CPS. That was 9 months ago and since then starts instantly every time. But as Rob says you should also check for fuel supply.

 

Well thanks everybody for your help. Mike, took your advice and bought a new battery. Old one seems heavily sulphated due to previous owners neglect. Checked for spark. Not great but definitely spark. Cracked open fuel line and nowhere enough pressure to my mind. Tried at both ends of the rail. Working on my own is difficult at times. Thought I would drop off fuel feed line and see if much spurts out. Spark not great perhaps a new CPS. On the xj40 used to be able to jump the pins on the fuel pump relay socket to make pump run all time. Is this possible to check pump?? Normally whenever I have bought a car I've put no more than 2 gallons in just in case. Turned my back at the petrol station and the wife had put in 10, with a smile on her face. I wish it was her draining the tank and not me. Any further thoughts please feel free. Cheers

 

Well the plot thickens. Decided that as there appears to be a spark, I should show attention to the fuel. On my old XJ40 the fuel line (I believe) went first to the regulator valve and from that to the injector rail. The pipe at the back of the engine returned fuel to the tank, is that correct? So I dropped off the union and put the front pipe into a plastic container to see what and at what pressure fuel would come out. The dear wife turned the key only for the fuel to shoot out from the rail end. Confused I am. Went to the filler cap and released the cap for a lot of pressure to come out. Shouldn't the Rochester? valve taken care of that? Any ideas whats next???

 

You appear to have good fuel pressure, spark and cranking but still not running.....
Do you actually have fuel injected - are the plugs wet after cranking ?
Are there any fault codes present ?

 

Yes , memory has deceived me again. Thinking back
I put the pressure gauge at the rail end nearest to the
bulkhead. Will attempt to connect a water pressure gauge in
the morning and see what the pressure is then. I didn't get
enough fuel out to see condition so will see on the morning.
Unplugging the MAF is worth a try. Any idea where to find
the ecu connector. ill also try a shot or two of quick start
into the elbow to see if it will run on that. Should prove
if there is any spark there I think?? Is it worth removing
the CKPS to clean any muck from it? I have a number of new
cps boxed but with 3 pin plugs are they worth playing with.
One is a late 94 cps unit. Thanks again for your thoughts
and help

 

Thanks for your reply V126man. Fuel pressure uncertain. Will check this morning. Spark yes but would like stronger. New battery 1000CAA. Plugs removed cleaned and NO petrol on plugs. No fault codes showing. Thanks again.

 

Well what an interesting day. Couldn't find pressure gauge so decided to start at other end. Checked all fuses, relays plugs etc. No problems there. Jacked up car took off drivers rear wheel and noting all warnings not to strangle the pipes removed fuel filter as first item regarding lack of fuel. Well the filter is solidly blocked. Blowing will get nothing through. Refitted new filter and all parts and had the missus crank the engine with the fuel pipe off the rear of the rail into a plastic bottle. Fuel now rushes through but at unknown pressure. Fitted pipes back. Engine spins over but will not fire. Gave several sqirts of easy start into elbow via breather hose and the engine roars into life. Continues to run happily on fuel from the tank and did so for about an hour before I turned it off. Tick-over is very high 1500 revs plus. There is a pronounced flat spot on opening the throttle. Noticed that pulling off the MAF plug engine would die pretty quickly. Removal of the temperature plug, no difference or air temp intake. Each time engine stopped it would start again on the key. Left for about twenty minutes and again wouldn't fire without easystart. I have come across this once before with someone else with a X300 but do not know the cause or remedy. Later looked at the petrol from the cranking and there does seem to be a lot of water in it. So apart from the dodgy petrol any clues as to how to correct the poor tick-over and running. Thanks again you guys.