It is white because it is running very lean. Worth checking the injector and its pulse.

 

yeah i have to check the injector - but for now i put it in the garage for winter. The oil leaks are getting ver excessive.
It seems to leak everywhere now, or it just leaks very bad at the front and spreads it everywhere and then it drops down everywhere. Surprisingly i have a new leak on the right side at the rear half of the gearbox leaking on the exhaust....

anyway while doing the leak down test i took pictures of all the pistons and bores. they all look pretty mich the same....simular bad maybe.
Although the leak down test was pretty good - do you think the rings are bad, its burning oil and pressing oil out everywhere? It would make sense but i do not notice other signs of oil burning like blue smoke or oily exhaust etc....what do you guys think?

 

Hi Tyler,

It helps the rest of us if you will go to your Use Control Panel and Edit Your Signature to include the year, model and engine details of your Jaguar so we don't have to go back to your first post to be reminded of whatever details you have disclosed. I see that you posted that its an XJ12 H.E. But is it a 5.3L or 6.0L? And what is the model year? Vehicle configurations changed over the years, so knowing the specific details of your car can help others help you.

Cheers,

Don

 

Hy, sorry i cant find the option - maybe i have to log in from a pc and not with my phone.
Its a 1984 Sovereign H.E. 5.3l first delivered in Germany - currently at 100.000km

I still cant decide if i should take the engine out or not. I dont know if the mess in the cylinder comes from bad fueling or bad piston rings. If its from fueling, the new engine wont change anything.

 

I'm thinking I would exhaust a few decoking possibilities before resorting to pulling the motor.

 

yeah thats the way to go if its coal from the fuel and not from oil.
I located a fuel smell around the fuel pump and around that wir bleed/check valve thingy. Also noticed that the pump doesnt sound very good....pretty unconsistant. Its new but maybe it was bad from the beginning....i will replace it and maybe put out the bleed valve for now.

Has anyone ever threw that valve out? I understand the check valve funcion but the air bleed funktion seems not that important to me.


when i sorted that out i will do a hot compreseion test - if thats fine, engine stays in.

 

Ok slowly i am getting worried about my mental health. Today i had the change of the fuel pump, replacing of the bleed valve with a check valve, new fuel filter and new pressure regulator on my list. While doing so i wanted to check if all lines are free and clean to rule out a fueling issue.


So first i removed the pump and blew through the lines with low pressure air. On the one side to reduce spilling on the other side to see if everything works right. Since i think the return valves are closed in power off state i put 12V on the left one and blew through the line. The result was not so great. I had airflow into both tanks and a horrible rattle and grinding noise from the right, unpowered valve. Also i noticed that both tanks built a tiny bit of pressure.
You neet to know that i threw out the Valve in the trunk since it was leaking badly and replaced it with a T-Piece. Both valves click under power, the left one is new.
Also good to know for you: its a euro spec car with open breather near the diff, no canister in the front.

I repeated the test with power to the right valve. There was no noise from the valves but also air flow in both tanks. And both build a tiny amount of pressure again.
Ok, this can be explained by the connected tanks and maybe the valves dont completly close with airflow? i never noticed a noise with the fuel. Anyway, what puzzles me more is the built up pressure.

so i did another test and now its getting really weird. I startet on the left again, removed the breather and applied a small pressure. It vents freely and there is airflow at the tiny hole in the filler cap and from the breathing tube near the diff. That how it should be, all fine

Next i removed the breather from the right tank and applied the pressure. Again it flows free but there is absolutly no airflow at the filler cap or the opening near the diff. The hissing comes from the bottom of the fuel tank. As you can imagine i am really puzzled about that. So i took my leak detecting smoke machine and applied it. No smoke near the diff, no smoke at the filler cap. Lot of smoke from tue bottom of the fuel tank. Unfortunly i have already refitted the fuel tank covers....but how?? there is no line running in the fuel tank casing from the breather. My only idea is that the filler cap breather came off and smoke goes down from the c pillar in the fuel tank housing. But then there should be at least some smoke at the filler cap and at the bottom near the diff...

another idea was that someone connected the filler cap water hose to the breather..but then still should be some smoke at the bottom near the diff.

Anyone has a idea what the hell could cause this? I am super confused.

 

Tyler, are you sure the right and left return valves are different? One should be normally open, the other normally closed.

 

ok, i did some research and you are right. So my test was either both open or both closed. That explains some thing.

But i still cant wrap my head around my breather problem.
I think i have to work my way to the fuel evaporator in the c pillar. There is basicly no information on these things. I found some old shaky pictures. Does anyone know how i get all the covers off? do i have to remove the seats? seatbelts? anyone ever done that?

 

ok, today was a really successful day in the garage.

I threw out the fuel bleed/check valve thingy in the trunk, replaced it with a simple check valve. Put in a new fuel pump and a new fuel filter. I blew through the pipes to the front, wich are clear, replaced the left fuel pressure regulator (remember, the right one was removed). Then checked the return wich is also free and working as supposed.

Then i worked on the breather system. The left breather system works as it should. The right one was the big mystery.

So first i checked the line running down to the diff from the canister in the c pillar. The line was totally blocked. So i opened it up neat the return valve and found out that the metal pipe going down from the trunk into the wheelcase is blocked. I think its CA2477 or CA2478...wich is not available as a spare part anywhere. Not that big of a problem, i will pull it out and bend it by myself from a pipe.

Thats the one think. The other thing is the breathing into the tank area....I thought i will remove the seats and the covers inside....but then i was to lazy. I pulled of the filler neck and looked inside the hole where the breather hose goes. The hose was totally off and that explained that it was breathing in the tank compartment.

Sooo, how do i get a hose inside there without removing everything inside? My dad had a great idea. I used a stiff wire that fits inside the hole beside a endoscope camera and fiddled the wire inside the hole of the breather pipe. Then i put a fuel hole over that wire and pushed it on the pipe. Then i pulled out the wire. That worked almost too good
With the hose in place i put back in the filler neck and now this works the way it should. I used a clear fuel hose from a chainsaw here since the normal fuel hoses you get dont fit in that hole. Hope this works but since it usually only sees fuel gases it should be fine.

Now i have to replace that blocked pipe and then the whole fuel system is testet, new and working as it should.
Cant wait to see if it effects how it runs.

 

Fantastic news Tyler! This has been a long road, please take pics of the vapor line you're replacing and post if you can, to help others in the future. I think that part of the system is the same for 6cyl cars too. I'd also love to know what caused the blockage in the tube if you get that far . One thing for sure, you have the perseverance required to maintain a Jag!!! Good job

 

thank you!

Unfortunly i didnt take a picture with the endoscope camera while my pinhole operation
But i took a picture of the new breather line:


The old one is blocked by rust - completly blocked. Good thing that my car doesnt have a carcoal canister. I think otherwise the damage would be worse. I simply replaced it with a aluminium pipe since i had nothing else by the hand.

Next i will do a warm compression test - and hopefully see a difference from the renewed fuel system while running it warm.

 

Today i found time to do a hot compression test. Hot as possible....it took me about 10min to disamble the engine from stopping to doing the test.

afterwards i also did a leak down test on the still somewhat warm engine. I only did the worst cylinders from the cold leak down test.

Here are the results:


I think the leak down values are very good! The compression values are very consistant and ok. What do you think? too low?

I would say that these values do not indicate a problem with the core engine - i think i will not swap the engine.

What i noticed at the compression test is that at some turns the pressure did not rise, but then again with the next turn. I assume that the valves are kinda diry and thats also the reason for the bad idle.

So my plan is to repair all the oil leaks over winter and then drive it hard and often, just have fun with it. screw the idle.

 

To replace the front crankshaft seal and the o-rings at the filterhead i have a question:

How high is the oil level in the oil pan. Can i remove the seal without draining the oil? I am asking because i want to use a cylinder cleaner in spring. and it is recommendet to burn that stuff out and then do a oil change. I am also thinking about using a cleaning additive in the oil and then change it. So i would like to avoid changing it two times.

 

Yes you can. The oil level in the sump ius much lower.

 

While you have the timing cover off, check the tension pad and the fixed pads for wear.

 

Do i have ro remove the timing cover? I thought it should be possible to get the seal out from the front when you remove the radiator, fans, belts etc.

 

No you do not have to remove the cover. Indeed, the cover is what the oil seal fits into.

 

Dont forget, and I have mentioned both many times.

DO NOT install that new seal any further than flush with the timing cover front seal hole face. There is NO ledge back there to stop the seal going right through, THEN you will be removing the timing cover. Gently, gently, and NO "just a tad more".

DO NOT rotate that engine backwards, however tempting. That "could" snap the $$$ Boomerang Blade and the timing cover will come off again.

 

Thanks for that advice, i will be extra careful on that.

I already read that you have to avoid rotating it backwards. Thats a good question how to loosen the center screw of the belt wheel? I mean there is a good chance to rotate it backwards when using a impact wrench. Any advice how to avoid this?