was going to post asking about the sound a long unused engine made as it tried to turn over, started rev then stopped, however in the mean time something else has happened.
started to be intermittent in whether it would perform it's incomplete turn over or a dead click noise day before yesterday.
now all there is is a dead click noise. all car electrics turn on, head lights, radio, dash lights etc, but only the click from the engine bay now.
battery shows 13.9 volts, terminals tight.

 

That sounds like a faulty starter solenoid.
Look here for an explanation, including how to fix it:
(';')

 

post-script;
ok, pulled in my toyota's battery and got the original try-to-turn-over sound, put back the original battery and got the try-to-turn-over sound again, but after several tries itr becomes the click, like the effort drains the battery. in fact checking it again after eight or nine turn over attempts the 14 volt has dropped to 12.9 volt.

 

here's a sound recording~

 

I am going out on a limb here, and saying that is the sound of a S3 6 cyl struggling.

Might pay to put your car details in your Sig as we all have, thus removing the guess work.

As Elinor said, the starter sounds sick at best, BUT, my thoughts from across the ditch.

Battery cables are as sick as the starter. Follow the +ve cable from the battery to the +ve terminal post on the firewall, then follow that across the engine bay behind the engine, and locate the same +ve terminal post on the RH side. The battery cable TO the starter motor begins life at that RH +ve terminal post. With the battery disconnected, remove the nuts from those +ve posts (DONT DROP THOSE NUTS, THEY ARE SPECIAL), and clean the terminals, and grease and retighten. Then comes the FUN bit, do the same at the starter solenoid battery cable connection.

Next, the earth cable needs the same attention. Especially the engine TO chassis cable.

Listenning to that video, that engine sounds like the ignition timing is waaaaay advanced, and the starter is fighting huge "pre-ignition" kickback.

The starter relay in also very high on the suspect list. Remove it, NOTE THE TERMINALS THAT THE WIRES ATTACH TO BEFORE REMOVING ANYTHING, coz your memory is NOT that good, trust me. Remove the tin cover, CAREFULLY clean the twin contacts inside, and spray with a contact cleaning solvent, reassemble, and reconnect the wires you made note of.

The drain on the batteries after so few start attempts is a little excessive, but that is a BIG engine, and requires some serious "juice" to rotate it fast enough to fire it up.

The starter motor may be toast at the end of all this, but the above needs doing, simply due to old age.

The battery for the Jag is the same spec as the Commodore/Falcon, with 600+ CCA. Readily available in Kiwi Land.

 

Oh, so familiar, but in a different specie as to the starter/engine.


Still stalled. Rain around here. needed, but stalls Jaguar work!


A bit repetitious but hopefully helpful.


1. Get down and under. Find the woven wire ground strap from transmission to chassis. Make sure it is sound. It may look good, but fail a resistance and/or continuity test.


2. Still down and under. Make sure the ignition is off. Use a jumper to jump the small connection to the large one on the solenoid. Cranks healthily???


3. Still down and under. large jumper. Big contact together. Starter spins happily but does not crank? OK, if not, not so good. Starter is tango!!


4. Topside: Large post with lots of wires on RR of engine bay. Battery + goes here. Take it apart and clean and lube. Mine was slightly corroded. Wire brush and contact cleaner mad it clean and shiny.


5. Still topside. Cable connections at the battery. Scrub to clean and shiny and lube.


6. More topside. - cable at wing wall, remove, scrub to clean and shiny. light lube.


7. Topside on the firewall. Clean and tighten and lube lightly all connections at the relay.


8. Relay may be junk or dirty. inside.


Carl

 

sorry, yes

the body is a 1974 XJ6 Series2 while the engine has come from a 1985 XJS Series3
good spotting

 

have two starter motors, both turn over perfectly, one currently installed one while other is a spare.

cleaned all the points as JagCad suggested and check wiring. hoped it would be something simple like this but not.

yet to look at relays closely.

does the sound recording sound to the trained ear as if petrol is reaching the injectors or is there no way to be sure from the noise itself?

 

Try retarding the timing a bit. I agree with Grant....I think the starter might be struggling against too much timing advance

Can't tell about injectors....but that wouldn't have any bearing on how well the starter turns the engine or how the starter sounds.

Cheers
DD

 

shifting cables from one replay box to another to test. noticed a red wire that was cut when i got the motor and wondered if this is important or just a red herring. their is also a black cable that comes up in the cable bunch to the relays and hangs loose unplugged. the bunch includes (7 leads) white~red, white~blue, black unplugged, black with thin green stripe, brown and a white~yellow (which goes to a double pin and an out put of the same colour jumps across to the red diode unit. (think the relay is a 22RA but cannot read it as too faded..)

 

cheers Doug and Grant, just saw the additional comments you have added and will look into this too

 

can see the big numbered dial for adjusting the ignition,
how complex is this is terms of tools? i'll see if there is anything on the forum
but any suggestions would be good.

 

At this stage of the proceedings I would simple loosen the 11mm clamp bolt in behind the power steer pump, and rotate the distributor a SMALL amount in the "Anti-Clockwise" direction. By SMALL, I mean SMALL, so about 2mm MAX at the locking plate.

The proper timing can be done later when the integrity of that engine is established.

That clamping bolt access is fun to get at, NOT, but is do-able with some care.