Normally I'm fairly paranoid about working on ignition coil stuff, even just to check for spark, 'cause I'm afraid of frying something.

So tackling a washdown situation, what do I do? Just lay the coil-on-plugs on the intake without a passing thought of unplugging them.

During the washdown screeching, at least it was trying to fire. Now there's not a hint of life. At least it turns over a lot quieter.

Haven't checked for spark or voltages yet, need to replace battery. (drained twice in the past weeks, now won't full charge.) And it rained all day today.

Presuming I'm screwed, anyone want to address why the cheaper Type-S 4.0 COP's won't work on our XJ8 4.0's? Or are we just lucky?

Thanks for listening.

Lowell
2000 XJ8 VDP

 

Rain is something we get a lot of here in the UK

By 'washdown', do you mean cylinder flooding during cranking? Normally in this situation, you push the throttle fully to the floor when cranking-the ECU recognises this & shuts off the fuel injectors to avoid further flooding.

You do need a fully charged battery to do this though...

After several seconds of cranking, you gradually release the throttle & the ECU will then energise the fuel injectors again-then it's just a case of cranking until the engine coughs into life.

The purpose of cranking while the ECU shuts off the fuel injectors is to avoid further flooding, and also for the excessively rich fuel/air mixture vapours in the cylinders to be expelled through the exhaust until they reach a level where the spark plugs can ignite them easily-then the engine should start to 'cough' into life.

But you do need a good charge in the battery for this & it may also be worth checking the main electrical connections on the vehicle for tightness & corrosion-the electrical resistance needs to be low & there are several areas where faults can arise, causing starting problems.

I wrote a thread on doing this:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ections-94978/

 

Been working on cars for 6o years: new term, what does "washdown situation" mean?

Got em wet washing the motor? Let em dry.

 

Jim, do a search for bore wash. It's a problem primarily with nikasil engines, but has occured with steel steel liners. Refers to fuel from rich startup mixture washing oil out of cylinders if the engine is shut off before warming up sufficiently.

 

I think he is referring to washing the engine with a pressure wash. Like Jim said, let em dry OR just unplug the coils, pull them out and dry with some paper towels. Why the concern with disconnecting an electical connection? They are keyed and the harness is built so it is pretty obvious what plugs where. Dont force the "keepers"= they are brittle and will break. Just examine them to determine how they capture the other side and carefully use the furnished pad to relaese them. If you break one, do not panic. They work pretty well without the keeper- no need to throw the car away!

 

Yes, this was a bore wash situation.
I did think (for literally a second) while taking the COP's off, whether to unplug them before or after taking them out. Then they came out and layed on top so nicely that unplugging them left my mind. (I'm also nearly 100% successful in breaking connectors.)

 

We may be missing something here. You took the coils out but didn't unplug them from the connectors ? Was this so you could squirt some oil in the bores to help with the bore wash ? Did you ever get the car started ?