Good morning,

Went out this morning to take a Sunday drive- car would not turn over. Cranks but no start. VCM indicates Fuel Fail 26. Any help on this issue?

 

I hate mystery cars but you need to download the S91_AJ6 4.0 Engine Management.pdf.
It is a large file (14mb) so it will not upload here.

Gus will have it (I sent it to him years ago).

bob

 

My car is a 1990 XJ6 Vanden Plas. Battery at almost 12 v. Crank is good, just will not turn over. Ran beautifully yesterday all day.

 

Cranking and turning over is the SAME THING.

I think you mean that the starter is causing the crankshaft to rotate but the engine will not start!!

EXPLANATION follows

Jim Murphy, I love cars and driving-- on the street and the track.Answered Mar 28, 2012 · Author has 488 answers and 1.8m answer viewsWhen you turn the key (or push a button) to start a car, the battery sends electricity to the starter motor, which "turns the engine". Simultaneously, the fuel system is supplying fuel and the ignition system is supplying a spark to the cylinders, which will ignite and the engine will start running on internal combustion--instead of the starter motor. This "turning the engine" is literally the turning of the crankshaft, which (by extension) moves the pistons up and down, turns a cam shaft (or several) and opens and closes valves etc. Thus the term, the engine "turning over" means that the internal reciprocating parts of the engine are moving.

To say the engine "won't turn over" implies that the crankshaft isn't turning and by (literal) extension, the pistons aren't moving up and down, the valves aren't opening and shutting etc. The internal reciprocating parts of the engine are not moving.

USAGE:
Generally I've used this term to describe the problem or ask this question of someone who is describing to me the symptoms of a car that won't start . To me, if they say yes to the question, "will the engine turn over ?" It means that the battery has enough "juice" to turn the starter motor, which is "turning the engine over"...but it won't start and run on it's own. This narrows down the possible problems to a probable lack of fuel or spark.

Conversely, if they answer, "no" the engine isn't turning over...then the first suspect is a dead or weak battery that doesn't have enough power to turn the starter and the engine. It could be other things, but from a probability standpoint the battery is the first "suspect" if the engine "won't turn over".

 

DTC Fuel Fail 26 is OXYGEN SENSOR FEEDBACK (LEAN).

I doubt that the sensor fault is the NO START problem.

I had a 1992 XJ40 that failed to start due to a faulty distributor rotor.
Another car I repaired had an open circuit in the wiring to the ignition amp. (white/pink wire? under the passenger side dash area)

Fuel pump failure??

Lots of things to check.

bob

 

Thanks for the information. I am learning a lot from everyone here. I sprayed some starter fluid into the air intake but got no response. I felt the gas filter and can feel the gas come through. It has to be on the spark side?

 

If the rev counter doesn't register a few 100 rpm or so when cranking there's a good chance your crank position sensor has died ...if it does register, check the rotor and distributor cap.

Larry

 

The Cat Roars Again.

After checking the fuel side I went over to the spark side and after moving the connection between the ignition coil and distributor cap the car came back to life. Thanks again for all the info and suggestions. Question now is should I be looking to replace said items (and where is best place to percur them) or should I just clean the contacts/connections?

 

I would just clean them and see if it happens again. How old are the cap, rotor, and spark plug wires?