Went out to drive my XJR today and start it up it starts fine then goes to a horrible 500rpm idle has been 2-3 weeks since I last drove her). After a few minutes I finally get some codes. It is misfiring on all cylinders. I had a clogged drain in the fill flap a few weeks back so I figured I'd have a look. Bingo, it is filled again and sitting right about the level of the cap. Nfo real rain for 3 days. I figured out that my clog was actually a burn where the drain hose must have come into contact with the exhaust so It was plugged up again. Question is how do I get 3/4 of a tank of bad gas out? Looking for suggestions. Can I pull the fuel filter and then turn the car to on and have it drain or will that not turn the pump on? Thanks for the help. Stupid, lazy me should have diagnosed a bit better.

 

Well, there's a couple ways....take the fuse relay(s) out for the fuel pump(s), put the rear end on jack stands or slip some ramps under her. Get up underneath and undo the fuel filter and let gravity do her job. You may want to put a lead line on it to put it in whatever containers your going to use. By taking out the fuse relay(s), that should stop the pump impellers from engaging that would prevent gravity from working. I discovered this on my last fuel filter change by accident when I didn't put my relays back in and got soaked with fuel.
You can also remove the fuel line from the base of the tank (this could be a bear) and let gravity work from there.
Be sure to bleed off your line to the engine and clear the codes before trying to restart it. Also, and very important, when you go to restart it, turn the ignition forward 3 times to just before start, but don't rotate the motor. Your just trying to prime to line with fuel, then try starting it. By priming it, you don't burn out your pump(s).
For anyone else who has run out of fuel or may in the future with a fuel injected vehicle, follow that procedure for the same reason.

 

You (presumably) do not have 3/4 of a tank of bad gas. You have some water that is sitting in the bottom of the (mostly good) gas. So, if you are a purist, you can siphon out what you can through the filler neck, which will get most, then remove the tank and clean the rest out.

OR, you can just "deal with it" by connecting a hose to the shraeder pressure test port, jump the fuel pump relay and let the gas/ water mix run out into a container until you stop getting pearls of water in the mix, which should be less than a gallon or two. Then start a regimen of a few tanks of gas with the recommended quantity of fuel dryer. then change the filter.

Yes, this is an imperfect solution, but most tanks have a little water in them anyway- I would sure not let the car sit too long until i drove the tankfuls through it. A good excuse for a road trip!

 

Highhorse.
I agree with your suggestions ( I was posting basically variations of the same) BUT I call foul on your entire premise of priming the pumps. The pumps are in the tank, their inlets are flooded and that means it is impossible for them to "loose prime". Now, a good argument can be made about running a pump dry, but that has no relationship to the issue at hand. If there is fuel in the tank, the pumps are primed!

 

I agree, but the premise of this is to empty the tank as much as possible and better safe than sorry..

 

I like this relay idea. Any idea off the top of your head where the relays are at? My JTIS isn't with a friend who is trying to figure out a way to make it work on windows 10.

 

Trunk, by the battery....(here's a guide when the JTIS is unavailable...http://www.jagrepair.com/S-TypeTSB.htm)

 

Cool, I sure hope this is the problem. Too dark to do anything now but read and I read too much about the timing tensioners snaping having similar symptoms. It would just be my luck for my metal tensioners to break.

 

If you suspect them then, it would be so much easier to pull a valve cover than drain the tank.

 

Well I went out this morning to start draining but figured I'd give it one last try starting. She didn't want to start but after a few tries started and took a poor idle. Today though I could give it some gas and it got better as it warmed up. Drove to Advance Auto and got some HEET then drove a good 30 miles. It is probably running about 90%, a little miss here and there, no codes so hopefully I can burn thru the tank and then change the fuel filter. Oh and still need to clip off that burned drain line.

 

You gents really like making work for yourselves ;o))
Siphon out the majority of the fuel....then add a litre of mentholated spirits
to the tank....metho is water miscible and should solve the problem until you can refill with fresh fuel and a bottle of fuel system cleaner.
Of course....you HAVE cleaned out the fuel filler drain haven't you? ;o))

 

Most likely your fuel is E10 (10% ethanol) so adding HEET is redundant.

 

Yes, and the fact is the water is already sitting on the bottom of tank. Plus, putting more ethanol in would almost assuredly burn out an injector seat or two or break them down for a future repair. Also, these engines were not made for increased ethanol. I believe the amount was 5% (or none at all) when they were built.

 

Any vehicle produced in the past 40 years should be able to handle E10. Check your manual for confirmation.

 

Adding 12oz of HEET to 12 or so gallons of gas isn't really gonna raise the E10 (assuming that it is at the max amount and in this age where oil is cheaper than Ethanol I'm sure it is not) to more than E10.5 and the only thing I was hoping it would do was to help mix the water with the fuel so I can get it out with a good long drive tomorrow and then fill up with fresh fuel. I am much more concerned when I get gas in my TVR as it wasn't designed for ethanol or unleaded fuel.

 

I doubt the injector is what goes first from high alcohol! And, the E10 will only absorb so much water. Just try an experiment adding water to a glassful of E-10 and you will see what I mean.

 

Actually shortly after they started putting the ethanol in fuel, engines started breaking down at the valve and valve seats. The alcohol dried out any part made by petroleum of the previous era. Thus why we have E85 specific vehicles, if you run that in a regular vehicle it will start tearing it up.
Its going to be interesting, some politicians are pushing for E20 and that will strain the last eras production vehicles.

 

Oh boy, here we go.

I knew I shouldn't have mentioned Satan E.

 

Get the pdf. I posted a link a while ago.

 

Highhorse:
I assume you are reporting what someone told you, but if you are going to jump non the anti Ethanol bandwagon, at least get a story that makes sense. Maybe you were in a hurry and failed to read what you wrote, but your statement that alcohol "dries out" any part made of petroleum is utterly ridiculous in itself (does alcohol always come in a metal or glass bottle?) and THEN you refer to valves and valve seats. To what valves do you refer? I hope you don't think the engine valves are "petroleum based".

There are some known properties of alcohol that play havoc with a older car engine if it is not designed for it. Like corrosion and heat content.

It would be easier to have a legitimate discussion about the merits of E10, E15, and E85 if the discussion is based on facts.