Hi Everyone,

Recently, a new symptom presented itself on me.

Not only had my idle become very lumpy and prone to stalling in heavy stop start traffic, but I noticed that if I hadn't driven the car for a couple of days, these problems were exacerbated somewhat after taking even longer to fire up after said rest.

Worst case scenario seemed to point towards water ingress into a cylinder or two, so I started to investigate.

Around the same time, my Mk2 started to run roughly but not backfire or misfire.

(On the old girl) I checked points, coil, Dissy, HT leads to no avail and then finally pulled the spark plugs to see what a mess they were.

New spark plugs later, a whole different situation.

So....that got me thinking...

I pulled the spark plugs on the XJ6 and although they didn't look too bad, it is 18 months since I have changed them and they have cycled through some ignition changes that I have made trying to diagnose and iron out some common faults with these engines.

Well, $30 AUD, half an hour and one skinned knuckle later I seem to have smoothed out the idle, it hasn't tried to stall in traffic and as I fitted the spark plugs on the weekend and only just fired her up...instant ignition.

I'm pretty happy until the next saga.

As an aside, I fitted NGK BP5ES as I always have to both cars. For s**ts and giggles, I checked the factory gap and it was 28 thou' , as opposed to the Jaguar factory recommendation of 25 thou'.

Bigger gap, stronger spark and from what I can gather, more accommodating of modern day fuels without lead.

Also, if you read this and act, don't forget to smear some anti seize on each spark plug before you screw them in not over tightly!

Cheers,

Nigel

 

do Jags in AU have the same smog equipment as in the USA? (02 Sensor, etc.)

 

Hi Jose,

Smog pumps are as far as we went.

O2 Sensors thankfully weren't part of our package.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

thanks Nigel, lucky you guys that don't have to deal with the US regulations which lead to nada.

 

Nigel,

Just my 2cents thrown in.

Good find by the way.

When you next do the plugs, get the BP5EY, which is the "newer" version of the ES. It has a split centre electrode, and was developed to "better fire the unleaded fuel", which is straight from NGK, way back when we had a training session from them.

 

Nigel, I recall you recommending BP5EY to me for better starting...over ES...they worked fine!

 

I haven't run EY to compare, but I've had no problems with ES on starting and performance generally. Would the difference be really significant? Just curious...

 

Most say there's no difference , but there was in mine...maybe because of carbies ??

 

Fair point Jim.

 

Hi Guys,

I did fit EY's chasing a particular ignition problem, but it turned out to be something else further up the chain causing the problem.

The only reason I went back to ES's is that they are always stocked by Repco and I needed to change the then newly fitted EY's because...... I broke one and couldn't easily replace it. (Long story and my silliness involved)

In my experience, EY's were a case of if they were on the shelf, otherwise a special order and too much hassle at the end of the day.

I probably should get a set next time and see if there are any changes, but that is at least 12 months off for now until my finger heals.

Cheers,

Nigel