I have a 2000 XJ8 with 86,000 miles. I havent driven it very much over the past few months. I have started it and let it run a bit here and there to keep the battery charged. I recently took it to a friends house about 10 miles away and it sat there for a couple days. I went to start it and it acted like it didnt want to start, like a car with worn spark plugs trying to start in the cold weather. Its cold here too, like 20 F. Anyhow, it started, stumbled and died. When I went to restart it, within a couple cranks, it sounds like the engine slowly lost all the compression but two of the cylinders. I thought, what the crap. So I took off the oil cap to see if I could see the camshaft moving when I crank it and noticed it is poofing air through there when I crank it. I thought these engines didnt have the nikaseal problem. But it seems that is what happened, that the pistons have lost their seal against the cylinder wall. Anyone had this happen? What are your guys thoughts?

Blaze

 

I'm pretty sure we've had this before in the forum, and there are others better qualified than me to offer advice on this, but it does sound familiar to me.

Rather than the nicasil problem, doesn't it sound more like the usual flloding leading to washing oil out of cylinders?

I used to suffer that quite a bit until someone told me never to start and stop the engine before it had chance to warm up. Doing that means the gush of fuel needed for starting stays in the cylinders and washes the oil away, giving no compression when you come to restart later...it always happened to me when I took the car out of the garage to wash it, and then just put it back without a run...next morning...phone call to the Rescue Services!!

It could be just that, or then again, it could be something more sinister. Also, having left it a while, if the battery isn't great, that doesn't help either.

Hope it works out.

Peter

 

it needs new plugs anyway and I already have them here. I guess I can change them and then squirt some oil in there. How much oil do you squirt into each cylinder?

Blaze

 

Here's the setup I use, you will be able to start your car if it is merely flooded.

Get a pump oil can, 5w30 works fine. Attach a two foot piece of vacuum hose (like windshield washer hose) to the oil can stem. Get a plastic vacuum T which fits securely into the end of the hose. Snip off the ends of the T as close as possible.

The T will now fit into the spark plug hole, and the oil will squirt horizontally onto the cylinder walls instead of straight down onto the piston crown. Give two squirts in the cylinder, rotate the hose 90 degrees and squirt it twice more. Repeat for each cylinder, then test compression if you have a gauge. If you're cranking the engine with the key to performa compression test, it's easiest to remove the fuel pump fuse to avoid additional flooding.

If you don't have a compression gauge, screw in fresh plugs and crank the engine over with wide open throttle. You may have to crank continuously for 30 seconds or more, and this will not damage the starter motor.

The only thing you can see through the oil cap is the B bank intake cam, the primary chain which drives this cam never breaks. You don't know anything about the secondary chains unless you verify compression on all cylinders, or until you remove the cam covers to inspect them.

A 2000 model year enginemost likely has Nikasil lined bores, but failure is not instantaneous: the lining deteriorates over time, and is accompanied by increased oil consumption and blowby. The air cleaner element will usaully be oil stained on engines where blowby is significant.

 

JTO - you ever tried your oil squirting technique with a can of RESTORE instead of oil?? I've always wondered if that would help a Nikasil damaged engine (more so than just dumping the can into the oil).

 

COUPLE SHOTS FROM AN OIL SQUIRTER, AND IF YOU HAVE ANY OIL IN THE SAPARK PLUG WELLS WHERE THE COILS ARE YOU NEED NEW CAM COVER GASKETS, AND WHILE YOURE IN THERE YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE PREPARED TO DO THE UPPER TENSIONER IF YOU FIND THEYRE NOT THE UPDATED METAL BODIED ONES

 

I think the only person who gets magic inthe can is Chris Angel's girlfriend.

 

ACTUALLY ENGINE RESTORE WORKS VERY WELL AND HAVE RECOMMEDED TO PEOPLE WITH BLOWBY ISSUES. AND SINCE IM ORIGINALLY FROM THE SHOW ME STATE, I LIKE TO CHECK THINGS OUT MYSELF AND HAVE RUN COMPRESSION AND LEAK DOWN TEST BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER USING ENGINE RESTORE AND HAVE ALWAYS GOTTEN GREAT IMPROVEMENTS. YOU JUST HAVE TO USE WITH EVER OIL CHANGE

 

My Vin is the 5 digit one, so I thought it wasnt nikasil lined, but could be wrong. I added oil to the cylinders and then put the plugs in and when I started it, it tried starting at first and then started, stumbled, and died. After a couple cranks it started the compression loss thing again. I then hooked jumper cables to it and let it charge a little bit. I tried it after a few minutes it reallywhirled over and then the compression, like came back or something and it started and run perfect. That was weird. I wonder if it just needed a jump the whole time. I checked the oil cap opening while it was running and no blow by. So I guess it did lose compression based on that and the sound of the thing. I took it out and drove it good and put it back in the garage. It looked like Uncle Buck for a little while till the oil burnt out.

Thanks guys for your help.

Blaze

 

if the voltage drops below a certain amount, the engine still cranks but throws alot of problems, like either injectors not firing and or coils too. so maybe you where just experiancing that, really hard to tell looking at a keyboard though.
are you in Houston? or just using the cliche?

 

Hey Blaze,

That's good news, and there's no reason to suspect that you have a problem beyond the fact the engine was flooded. The VIN is not an indicator for Nikasil bores, you have to check by engine number. 00 08 18 and later are safe, and I rebuilt a Nikasil engine that came out of an '01 model year car last year.

 

Is that date referring to August 18th 2000? I know the build date on the door of mine is April 2000.

Blaze

 

The engine number is a date code, but it has no direct correlation to the VIN or the built date of the car. It's stamped on the block, on the left side at the base of the thermostat housing tower, right where you can hardly see it. Obviously if your car was built in April, and still has theoriginal engine fitted,it doesn't have a steel liner engine in it that was built 4 or 5 months later.

 

Back when I first started looking at these cars I thought the VIN dictated if it had one, that way I could avoid the nikasil engine. Looks like I ended up with one anyway. Oh well, it runs good and gets extremely good mileage. I cant complain. It doesnt use oil at all and doesnt have any oil deposits in the air cleaner. I guess im in good shape. Thanks for your help.

Blaze

 

Great that you've got her going again Rodknock95. As I said before, sounds to me like you've got a battery problem too...not surprising if you leaveher for long periods without being run. Might pay you to fit a new battery now, or at least keep your current one well charged, and maybe you won't get probs again.

Peter H

 

I agree with Brutal, the indicators point toa weak battery. Get it load tested to see if it can hold its amperage. Driving very few miles will kill a battery if it is not in excellent shape.