Fellow XJ Gurus,

Here in NY the last few days we have suffered hot temps 95+ in what has been called a "heat dome" When I got home during one of those hot days I happened to pop the hood by chance to visually inspect the engine (because you can never be so sure with our temperamental saloons) and I noticed a distinct smell that was not familiar but unfortunately brushed it off. Up until this point everything was fine minus the smell, however the next morning I tried to start the car and I only heard one click and no crank. Sighs, so I started with the basics and checked the battery, turns out the battery was low, despite the battery only being 9 months old. I drove to Costco and exchanged the battery and was excited to install and start the car and be on my merry way, but that was not the case. Same issue when trying to start the car, one click no crank. After dreading life for a few minutes I decided to research and after hours of research I came across checking the earth points on the car. To make this long story shorter, after inspecting the earth points, turns out my RH false bulkhead connector was found to be what I would call fried? corroded? I attached a picture for visuals (incase anyone says the nuts should be tightened I loosened the nuts and then took the picture.) Anyway it turns out that was the interesting smell that I was smelling. My question is:

1) is there a replacement for those connectors? I can clean the nuts but the plastic parts melted away. I tried looking at the SNG Barret catalog but did not find anything.

2) can I reattach with the plastic parts?

3) what happened for this to happen?

-----------------------------
2001 XJ8, AJ27 Engine, 53K Miles.

 

Your connection overheated because it was not tight enough and developed some corrosion. The contacts here should be kept clean and tight (but not overtight because the material for the post and nuts is brass). Look for the part #7 shown on the diagram:

 

Thank you M. Stojanovic. Cant believe that small connector can cost 70-115 dollars. I ordered one and am looking forward to installing it and firing the cat back up. Will report back then.

thanks again!

 

thank you for the insight, ordered the part, swapped it out and the car starts up powerfully again!

 

There are alternatives...however it is best to keep it all stock.
Jaguar XJ8 X308 Terminal Post - LNC1380AA (everydayxj.com)

 

The shown alternative appears to be also stock, just a used one.