I have a 1986 XJ6 with a little over a 118k miles. The other day I went to work and the car was running fine, up until themoment when I had to go homethat’s when she gave me trouble starting. She would start for a second and immediatelyshut off. When the towing service came, the driver touched the big relay under the hood located in the center portion of the firewall (underneath the upper strut tower bars) and the car fired up right away, but when he move his hand away the car died.

I checked the spark plugs, gas in the tank - even if the engine got flooded, and everything seems to be fine.

The engine is turning, but doesn't start....could it be that the relayis the cause of all this?

Thanks in advance

doca

 

Well, have someone push it again and try and start it. If that works, it sounds like it's loose or maybe not getting good contact!

 

this thing weights a lot ....lol I would need an army to push it. It does really feels like its electrical.

really ...where would that switch be? Thanks

what is the name of the big relay the sits next to Diode unit, Cold start relay and Fuel pump relay, and what it does? I'm guessing that it might be it....

 

bump

 

fixed the car,thank you guys. Runs smooth now.
Quick question. Can anybodytell me where I can get the Air Flow Meter for XJ6 for cheap.

Thank you .

 

sorry we couldn't be of more help bud! I'll move this to the XJ6 section so that they may help you better!

 

thanx

 

motorcarsltd.com one of our sponsors, sells them I believe. I have no idea what an Air flow meter is, never heard of it..but they do sell them

 

Air Flow Meters or AFMs are a "squarish" aluminum"box" with a "serial" plug-connector going toa top-mounted circuit box which comes sealed with silicone from the factory.It has a front and a rear round opening of about 2 inches in diameter.They are a very expensive unit, located and connected with bellows hoses after the air filter box, in a straight line towards the air intake. These were used in the Series 3 XJ-6 (1979½ to 1987). They control the flow of air into the engine by opening or closing a "door" or "gate".

They are repairable and/oradjustable if they go out of calibration, don't see why he needs another, and usually a used one will be worse than the one he has.

I understand the fix is as simple as replacing a small resistor which can be bought at RadioShack.

thereare articles written by experts at www.jag-lovers.org regarding this component and possible fixes and testing to see if indeed it is bad.

 

here's a link to the starting problem and a checklist to diagnose the problem:

http://www.jag-lovers.org/newbies/se...not_start.html

 

here's how to diagnose the Fuel Pump circuit:

http://www.jag-lovers.org/newbies/se...s_iii_xj6.html

 

It's weird.....I've changed distributor cap, rotor, Sparkplugs, AFM, fuel filter, battery terminals......the carnow starts and runs(with backfire) - it never did this before. After 45minutes of running the cargives signs like it will shut off. It doesn't give hasitation when gas is given - which is a good sign.
But if Ishut it down it can't start back up, then I need to wait until the engine gets cooled off to start it back on.

 

it still sounds like an ignition malfunction to me.

 

Thank you Jose ....

 

are you sure that you connected the distributor/spark plug wires correcty?
(easy to confuse them and the result is usually backfiring).