Hi everyone,

All sorted now - well more or less :-) But I thought I would tell you about my weekend with my X308..

I have currently an X-Type for the school runs, and an X308 for weekends and holidays. So the X308 is only started up and driven weekends, resting for the rest of the week. Due to trying to keep a minimum of one parking slot directly outside my house, we shuffle the positions of the cars to keep the X-Type directly ouside weekends, and the XJ on weekdays.

Up until this weekend was had 'got away' with it.. this Saturday I went to start her up and she sounded wierd and wasn't firing. a sound similar to the engine turning over 1/2 rotation quickly, then slowly on the next. I assumed it was the battery, and took it out and put it on charge for 1/2 day and popped it back in lunchtime.. same result, so obviously not the battery.

That was when it dawned on me, because the car gets shuffled between spaces on a Sunday night it had been started and immediately turned off.. this end result had never happened to me before though. Smelt around both sides and one side smelt very strongly of fuel, and other one not as much, so disconnected the battery, pulled out all 8 plugs to dry them off and poured a small (well I thought small) amount of oil down each plug hole. Put eveything back in, reconnected the battery and turned on the ignition.. *huge* amounts of white smoke but she started instantly.. Ran her on high revs for a few minutes then let her idle and the clouds of smoke died down.. still a little residual smoke but reducing and let her warm up before turning her off.

Now I know I was lucky all the months I had been car shuffling without issue :-) But if I had not been on the forum over the years I have to admit I would not have known so quickly what had happened - so thankyou to everyone for that.

The moral of this is that if I had taken the warnings seriously I would have saved myself most of a Saturday for the other jobs that need doing.. and if your X308 sounds like alternating between fast and slow turning over when starting and is not firing up it isn't the battery - it's most likely flooded due to cold fuel flushing the cylinders of any sealing/lubricating oil.

 

Nice input...I absolutely cringe when I hear a car start and is trying to warm up and someone immediately puts it in gear before the trims measure off and oil pressure is properly attained. Those are the folks who start blaming the car for being a piece of junk later on.

 

Classic case of bore wash.

There's probably nothing worse for an engine than being fired up for just a minute or two. Even if it starts OK, the rich fuel mixture is contaminating the oil. Engines should always be brought fully up to temp.

 

We live and learn eh Steve, a spirited dash round the block late on then park is no hardship though mate

In cold weather water condenses inside if not run up to temp, pitting can and does happen on the valve shims and cam lobes if left long enough between runs - that's serious enough for me not to run mine short ever.

The fitting of a realgauge temp sensor mod kit is good for knowing engine temps.

 

Hi Sean,

Yes lesson learned here lol.. but I felt it was worth putting the info up if it helps prevent anyone else doing this, or helps them recognise the symptoms it makes it worthwhile :-)

My initial aim last weekend was to look at the boot light not working, which went by-the-by as I was sorting this LOL - that will be next weekend now :-)

Thankyou to everyone for your feedback and comments :-)