Ok, so I got my XJ6 all legal except my horn doesn't work all of a sudden. The fuse looks good but I figure it's a fault at the wheel (aftermarket wood Momo) so I'll trace that. Next on the list is getting the speedo to work. It is dead, except when shutting the car off the needle jumps slightly. Not sure where to start: new speedo, sender, something else? Got the AC working well again and overall the car drives like a dream. Also need to get windshield washer pump to fire up. Thankfully this car is in much better condition than my Triumph or MGB when I bought those.

 

@Mike

Glad to hear you are making progress. My car had a new speedo at 33,xxx miles. Out of the 10 Series III cars I looked at before buying mine, about half had speedos that had been replaced at some point. This suggests they are not the most reliable of things.

Interestingly my washer pump doesn't work either. I think here in CA its so rare to even us it, it's probably seized up from lack of use. My first attempt at fixing it may involve giving it a nice old tap with a hammer to see if I can get it back to life

Any chance of posting a pic of your momo wheel by the way ?

 

This might help

Horn Circuit Checklist





In most cases it's the transducer but there's always the chance of the speedo itself being faulty and/or a wiring issue.

The transducer also feeds the trip computer (to register miles driven) and the cruise control. If either of those are working properly then the transducer is OK.

Cheers
DD

 

Oh cool! I tried to figure the horn out yesterday but no luck. Horns work if you get power to them. But I am going to did into the circuit between the wheel and the inline fuse over the battery. The other mystery is my AC. IT works sometimes great. Other times you turn it on and after a few seconds the air only comes out of the side vents and it's not being cooled. The center vents have no air coming out. Sometimes it works great. Sometimes it starts fine and stops working a few minutes later, and sometimes it won't even start to work.

 

I forgot to mention the cruise control doesn't work, and the trip computer only shows gallons consumed, but that isn't that accurate either. So next up will be looking at the transducer.

 

In most cases this type of problem is caused by a faulty amplifier.

However, check/clean all four system fuses just on general principles. The metal end caps on the fuses often corrode casuing intermittant and weird faults.

One fuse is in the main panle, another in the aux panel, a third behind the RH console cheek panel, and the fourth behind the LH consle cheek panel on the amplifier ground wire

Cheers
DD

 

Yup!

My Jaguar's horn does not toot. Moons ago, I tried 12v to the horns and got a blast. so mine are a circuit issue. But, as I preach "lay off the horn" I am not concerned. Steer, brake or accelerate are much more effective ways of dealing with traffic. I am not sure if my Jeep's horn works. I think it does.

Now, I think it is Union 76 offers an on dash big button for horn addicts to take ut their anger w/o making others angry.

Yeah, nice in a while a toot to remind a car ahead that the light is green would be Ok, but so is just wait, they usually wake up!!

As to the AC flap thing. Mine usually did that when it was DOHC powered. OTH, on the day of it's demise, it was working perfectly. Before that, vacuum seemed to be an issue.

CArl

 

Well here in TX you have to have a horn to pass inspection. And in Austin in particular traffic is so thick most of the time you have nowhere to evade to. But I am slowly bringing this cat to life.

 

In the foot well along the steering shaft is a clock spring shaped thing, it transfers grounding to the relay that provides switched power to the horns.

I think I messed mine up when I extended the wires to allow the relay to be hidden and be closer to the horns. Bad idea. Closer to the power source, the brown wire above the battery would have been better. And, logical as I have a relay banknthere that does a lot of things. Fans, fuel pump, water pump, etc.

Carl

 

So my horn fuses are good, next I'll check the relay. Hopefully that with all the other suggestions will bring it back to life. I will post a pic of the wheel as soon as I take one. Tonight's project is to check the AC amplifier fuses and connections and clean all them.

While I had my car on the lift, I had my GF patchweld some pinholes in the exhaust due to the AC dripping on the pipe. (I know, I'm lucky, a woman into cars who is a multiple SCCA Solo National Champion as a GF.) Does anyone know of 1) Stainless headers or some good headers? that 2) will bolt to a stainless exhaust system? I'm ok for now, but like to plan my attack on restoring this car.

Thanks! Enjoy a pic of my car parked in downtown Austin.

 

Oil changed today, and it was pretty smooth. While rolling along I have about 40psi or a little above. However, at a stop I have about 20psi or a little less. Is this normal? Still chasing the horn gremlin, too. Pretty sure it's the relay, so going to source one that'll work and test it out.

As to my fuel cutover switch/button, any advice on pulling that out? It aeems like it should just pull out, but no luck so far. Thanks!

 

Yup






A generic "Bosch style" accessory relay will work. Look for the terminal designations of 30-85-86-87. Standard stuff. If you get one with 30-85-86-87-87a terminals, that'll work as well. The 87a terminal goes unused.





It pushed out from behind after depressing a littel tab on each side.

If you remove the trip computer you *might* be able to get your hand in there to do it. The trip computer comes straight out the front....just wriggle it out.

If not the wood panel has to come out. If you look up from below you'll see a couple screws holding the panel in. Remove the screws and lift the bottom of the panel outward and downward to disengage the mounting tabs at the top of the panel.

You might have to remove the black panel that surrounds the radio first. My memory is a little foggy on that point, sorry.

If so, then pull the climate control knobs straight off. Remove the two nuts on the climate control shafts. then wriggle the panel out. Be careful with the fibre optic cables and the temp control slide lever. They're a bit delicate.

Cheers
DD

 

Here it is. It's pretty nice but gets very hot when parked in the sun, and has some fine cracks beginning on each side. Still, I like it quite a bit.

 

Ok, well I am pleased to announce that I lent my Jag to a friend's little sis who was in town for a wedding after the rental car company messed up. Car ran without a hitch apparently. I did see my coolant warning light go on for the first time since I bought the car in Jan, and see some moisture up on the front of the engine. The previous owner replaced the water pump about a year ago, so I'm going to check all the hoses, etc and see if that solves the issue. Didn't have to add much coolant, as the light only came on going around some long turns at speed.

One thing I've noticed is the idle is a little weird. It'll be in gear, then kind of twitch. The tach needle with almost spasm up 100 rpm or so intermittently. I have no idea how old the plugs, wires, cap and rotor are so I'm going to replace them this weekend hopefully. Any other things I should look for? I also am wondering if maybe fuel filters are dirty. Again, unknown when they were last changed also. Where exactly should I look for them?

Thanks!

 

Great! Jaguar apparently enjoyed it's outing as a star member of the party!!

The flter is in the rear portion of the spare well in the boot. it is a round cylinder just upstream of the pump. Unless someone has added prepump low pressure filters, it is the only filter in the system. There are socks on the ends of the pickup tubes in the tanks that function as filters.

if you replace it, it would be a good idea to cut the old one open and see what kinda stuff has been finding it's way out of the tanks. If really cruddy, a flush of the pump and the addition of prepump filters can cure or save grief.

I won one today. I fixed my clothes dryer. using jaguar diagnostic techniques, including study on line, I narrowed it to a bad fuse. Fifteen busks and a lot of stoop labor plus computer time and done. Six hundred bucks saved!!

Coco rode over to the aplliance part place in the Jaguar.

Carl

Carl

 

Well have all the bits to swap out and see if the car runs better. I have a definite miss I have always heard at idle, so at lunch I'll swap out the rotor, cap and wires, and do the plugs tomo. It either runs perfect or has a very sporadic idle where the revs drop to almost stalling for a split second. A bit nerve wracking. Put it in neutral and it runs fine.I'm doing a rally this Saturday so I need get it taken care of.

 

Check, clean, tighten and lube the connectors at the + an - posts on the coil and and to the amplifier and thence to the distributor. Puny wires, baked insulation, questionable connectors can do this.

Decades back I solved it in my 85 FORD. jiggling found an issue. Fixed. Issue gone.

CARL

 

Well, at lunch I changed my rotor and cap. Wow. Rotor was worn and burned slightly, cap was worn and had lots of metal dust in it. Started up and had faster idle, and was smoother. We shall see how it runs enroute home (2 miles) and later tonight I'll do the plugs and wires. I'm curious to see if there is any driving improvement with just the cap and rotor. Part of this approach is to see if I can identify a main cause or if it is cumulative.

 

Ok, car ran much better, obviously. More power, smoother sound, still slightly lumpy idle but nowhere near as bad. Today is plug wires at lunchtime. Still had a few stumbles though minor at idle in drive, BUT also was low on that tank of gas, so I'm suspecting the fuel filter, which I have also ready to go in. I just want to see if any one of these items nails it.

 

Another update. I went to TX All British Car Days and won 2nd in my class with my XJ6. It was tied for first but since I am a member of the Triumph club that puts it on, the judges went with me not winning seeing how they are my friends. Or maybe not.... But the car ran almost perfectly on the Saturday rally, even through a supercell with hail and easily 55mph winds, blinding rain, etc.

Last Saturday I did a fun rally/drive of over 100 miles. Again, nearly flawless other than developing an exhaust leak at the joint under the firewall. Time to replace the system, as it still has the BL stamps on mufflers, etc. So I hope to find a set of headers to get twin downpipes and then mate it to the stock style system. Unless any of you have suggestions. I'm ok with a slightly louder exhaust if I get more torque out of it.

Finally, I got around to replacing the plug leads last night. Another improvement in running and idling. Plugs next. I usually do leads, plugs, cap and rotor at once, but was curious to see the incremental improvements if any. They have been noticeable with each step.

Cheers!