i have spent hours searching for this in other threads. I may have missed the one that I needed, so apologies up front.

We bought a 2000 xj8 van den Plas a couple weeks ago. We had a 95 xj6 so I knew that jags had their own personalities.

I made a huge mistake and washed the engine. Previous owners or mechanics had pretty much overtightened every bolt on the covers and created cracks and such. Water got into everything and car wouldn’t run well. Restricted performance. I removed the coils, and blew out the cylinders and cleaned all the connections with electronics cleaner. I was only able to replace one plug, the rest are stuck. Got rid of the water in air filter housing and replaced air filter. Replaced maf sensor. Blew out the air hoses with a leaf blower. Blew the entire engine with the leaf blower too. She started right up and ran fine after 30 seconds or so. Idled perfectly, could floor it from a dead stop, went to 70mph no problem. The only problem I had was when flooring it while already traveling around 35 mph. Stuttered bad, like turning the engine on and off. I ordered some throttle housing cleaner arriving tomorrow, which I saw suggested on another post pertaining the stutter. I also have more electronic cleaner coming, to clean the electrical connections around the throttle. I ran out.

It has been raining and or snowing pretty much solid the last two weeks. Idk if that pertains at all.

Just got an obd2 scanner. I cleared the error codes to get rid of the CIL. They were all about misfires from when the water was in the cylinders. I went to start it, but it died within 2 seconds. Really rough idle, like it’s not getting fuel. It just keeps starting and then it dies.

the only error code I’m getting is p1000 I think it was, something about scan not completed.

I checked the fuel and coil relays, they are working. I checked the two fuse boxes in the engine compartment and the one in the boot. Nothing was blown, but I changed out anything pertaining to fuel and ignition just in case.

i think that I’m hearing the fuel pump engage when I turn the ignition.

i looked through the vacuum hoses, but don’t see anything obvious, and everything seems snug.

i don’t have a garage. If it ever stops raining, I was going to replace the fuel filter.

anyone have any ideas of where to look next?

Even after 40 attempts over 6 hours, it always starts for a couple seconds and dies. So I was thinking that it wasn’t the fuel pump shrug. Thinking it’s something electrical. But I’m no mechanic, I know just enough to get me into trouble. Where’s the ecu/ecm module? I don’t see it in my handbook.

have battery on a decent trickle charger, so shouldn’t be the battery.

i love these forums, and would greatly appreciate any ideas. Thank you

Thank you for your reply.

I just got my tent up, so will start disassembling to get to the sensor.

if I am reading the diagram correctly, it’s about half way down the engine, on the backside, a bit off center closer to the passenger side (USA). Correct? Never played with a crankshaft sensor before. I pulled up a pic from autozone too to help

thanks again and if I can get it done before the rain becomes snow here in a bit, I’ll post an update. I’m missing all the stuff in one knee, so snow and I don’t mix.

Update

I'm guessing that the sensor is only accessible and visible from underneath? Under the transmission? I can’t find it.

While looking around, I found the ecu... a great big box in the corner. There were a couple dead bugs and some leaves in there. I blew it out and pushed on all the connectors.

Two of my corners of the air filter are cracked off. Someone just didn’t like the connectors in the engine compartment. I tried using gorilla glue and a 5 second uv weld, but there’s just too much tension and it didn’t hold. Now I’m missing an entire corner. It must have fallen off. I just used electric tape to seal the gaps, the only thing that would stick.

The covers protecting the coils are broken where the screws go through. Previous owner actually had them rotated 180 degrees, leaving an inch or so gap in the front. Water could potentially still get in the cracks.

I blew the engine compartment out again with a leaf blower.

i tried starting it again before heading inside. It started. It ran extremely rough for maybe 8 seconds, then cleared up. The restricted performance came on, with an orange bar, for maybe 30 seconds, then disappeared. I let it idle for 10 minutes, occasionally revving the engine to 3000 to 3500 rpm. It did not miss at all during this time. No Check engine light.

so ummmm.... what is it? Do I need to carry a leaf blower in the boot?

are the cracks in the air filter housing causing problems, or the cracks in the coil covers allowing moisture into the coils?

eventually I will repair both, but I’m disabled on a fixed income, so might not be until next month unless one or both of these are the problems. I was thinking of using flex tape for now, to seal the gaps.

Sorry for the long post, but wanted to cover what I did, primarily sealing the air filter housing and blowing the engine off.

thank you for your time and input

We are supposed to have a few hour reprieve from the rain tomorrow, so I’ll try replacing the fuel filter tomorrow. My throttle body cleaner and electrical cleaner is supposed to come today, so will drag the tent over and work on that today.

This rain is so annoying. I’ve got a beautiful car and want to spit polish her up, but can’t do a thing. Well, there’s the massive flooding happening too, which isn’t all that fun either.

thanks so much

Hi Steve

the timing chains and tensioners were changed and upgraded 35-40k miles ago by previous owner. He said water pump, alternator and belt were done 20k ago. So have those out of the way at least. I actually asked about the timing chain, not knowing of the defect. Mine had just gone through my engine on the pt cruiser, was why we were in the market for a new car. I could spend $1600 plus on repairs, or buy a beautiful jag for a bit more. No brainer!

not sure on idler/tensioner. Is it something that a noob like me could visually inspect and determine if it has been replaced? Not something I’ve ever done or even looked at.

I do have one cylinder with a tiny bit of oil. So will definitely have to replace the plug seals. My problem is that 7 of the plugs won’t budge. What’s the best way to get them out? Soak with pb blaster over night? I’m scared to try too much brute strength, I have a history of breaking and stripping things. I can already tell this girl needs a gentle touch. The one plug that I did remove was some brand that I’m unfamiliar with... autolite? It didn’t look in the best of shape, looked like it had some carbon buildup, more than I would like at least. I have ngk platinums to replace. Couldn’t really afford the iridium, and seems like the forum is pretty split on platinum vs iridium, ngk vs Bosch etc.

I’m going to bite the bullet and get the coil covers and the air filter assembly. Two corners of the assembly are broken, both of the covers are cracked and missing grommets. I’m sure that this is not helping things. Guess I’m eating ramen the rest of the month lol. The coils themselves look newish, but will probably swap them out next month.

The gasket replacement looks scarier than my 95 xj6 was, but you’re right, it probably needs done.

even though the weather people were wrong and it has either snowed or rained this entire time from my last posting, she started right up. Seems to run fine, though I did not drive it because of the snow.

I was was working on the high mount brake light before it started to snow and had to retreat inside. It had fallen off the rear screen like most do. I cleaned it up, replaced the halogens with LED, but nothing I have tried will stick to the painted glass to reattach it. I have looked through several posts. Is there a definitive answer and solution to reattach the housing? I can’t make a new apparatus like the one gentleman did, though it looks awesome. I see several different glues tried, but all seemed to have failed in the updates.
I had made a platform out of wood to support the 95 xj6 that we had, and though not visible from the outside, every time that I looked in the rear view mirror, I could see it and wasn’t happy. I ended up using a hot glue gun with the support. I don’t know how on earth it stuck, but it was my wife’s suggestion, so tried it to appease her. Only thing that would stick on the xj6. I can’t remember everything that I had tried back then. Primarily it was pretty much everything the dollar tree and Walmart had. I even watched a YouTube video where the mechanic gave up and was able to wedge it within the little gap between the window and the rear dash, but I can’t even get it to fit. I’m scared to put much pressure on the plastic trim and the video didn’t show how he got it in, just the end result which looked fine to me. I tried looking up the jaguar oem kit, but couldn’t find it with the part number listed. Probably discontinued shrug.

anyways, I’m sorry for rambling and posting a couple more questions within this post.

I am always awed by the knowledge and kindness of the members here, and thank you in advance

-Joe

Good idea. I didn’t see that listed on the other posts. I was using goo gone and rubbing alcohol but I’ll dig up my zippo fluid. Running to pep boys in a few hours to get some more mothers plastic polish. This stuff is incredible. I’ll see what they have for epoxy there.

I got up 3 hours ago and saw something amazing... stars. Haven’t seen them for nearly a month. So hopefully I have a dry day to get some stuff done.

ordered a used set of coil covers for $50 and found an air filter assembly for $43. It looks brand new. So hopefully that will fix my moisture problem.

as always, I appreciate everyone’s time and knowledge.

I’m not sure how to change the title to resolved. I think it’s fixed for now, until next week when more parts come in.

i cleaned the throttle assembly, which wasn’t dirty at all. Cleaned the air intake, it was disgusting. I eventually just had to let it soak with cleaner then run hot water through it. And repeat. I was getting a red oil out of it, and these big black globs. I have no idea what that was.

played around with the throttle cable. There was at least an inch of play in it. Now when I press the accelerator it instantly reacts. Spun out a couple times getting used to the difference. The stutter while simulating a pass seems to be gone too. She really purrs now, better than when I got it.

the hard reset was a long, scary minute while it was relearning.

supposed to hit 55 today, so going to work on the high mount brake light.

thank you all for your replies

Well, I spoke too soon.

I started the car a couple times last night and she was fine. This morning she was back to the initial problem.

i ended up doing another hard reset, and she started right up. I have it idling now, sounds good.

any ideas?

it didn’t rain or even snow last night

Alrighty, more things on my list to check.

thanks for your input

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...bfb77397a.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...e75de77b1.jpeg
Bah.

it started and ran fine at 3:30am and 5:30am. I tried around 1pm, wouldn’t start.

i put the new air filter assembly on, and noticed the little hose was dirty, so ordered a new one. It was called several things, like air pump hose or full something or other. Shrug. It had duct tape on it from previous owner, so probably needs replaced anyways.

when done, it started first try, though ran a bit rough for 10 seconds.

any tips on how to remove the harnesses from the throttle body? I can’t get any off at all.

dont laugh, but what are these things, is it normal to have some oil seepage, or is this yet another problem. There’s one on either side, towards the front of the bonnet. I noticed the passenger side when I removed the old air filter assembly.

are there any precautions to take so my new air filter assembly won’t crack?

thanks

What kind of screw holds the crankshaft sensor? I found it, but with hardly any feeling in my fingers, can’t figure it out. I can sense a hole, so probably a torque or Allen, but don’t want to force a bit in there Willy nilly. Doesn’t seem like enough room for a ratchet. So... a bit on vise grips?

I can’t see it no matter what angle I can attain (type). I thought that I read it was a 10mm bolt, but mine sure isn’t.