o1xjr's Fireball strikes again. Chasing ideas of common problems associated with wiring behind the center console gauge, radio, heater area. When cranking the XJ6 SERIES 1 this morning it was slow to crank indicating a poor connection or weak battery followed by smoke from behind console. Battery has been disconnected and i'll have a look this arvo but wondering if there might be a common fault that causes this or do we just pull some covers and start hunting wiring looms. Cheers in advance for any input in this matter.

 

Phil, Sent Clarke an SMS.

The engine earth strap has lost its b&lls, and the system has found the most obvious earth. The shift cable.

Throttle cable may also have taken a whack.

The smoke will be the nylon liner of said cable melting. Quite common on heaps of cars, not just Jags.

 

Thanks for that Grant. earth strap was going to be my first point to check. just wasn't sure if Mr Jag had hidden any nasties behind dash that I needed to look for. Earth lead to motor would be an obvious one to look at seeing as we recently had the motor out. will keep you posted on findings.

 

One of the first things done to Nix when she came to live with us was a proper ground between the engine and body.

Husband took a length of battery cable, put ring connectors on both ends, then he put a longer bolt in place of the original shorty.


Then he strung the new fabricated cable from the alternator frame over to this factory grounding point.


It looks a little hokey and she'll never win at concourse like that but I don't have any grounding problems like above either. Eventually I might figure a new path for that cable, but not today.
(';')

 

Yup, been there on other critters more than a few times.


Latest: 83 Jaguar/94 Cadillac LT1. Jaguar ground strap, lower
right and under. From a handy transmission bolt to chassis. Cleaned, lubed and reused, tight clean bolts.


It also has a bank or relays on the firewall. Where the Jag tin can
starter relay and another were mounted.


I made a ground buss. All black leads, except the one for starter interrupt go there. In turn the buss ground goes to the wing wall where the battery ground goes.


Made it easy for Sir Lucas to find his way home. Not, as Grant opines, throttle cable or shifter cable...


In my imaginatory perfect auto electric world all loads woud be insulated Each with two wires, + and -. Direct from battery + to battery -. Chassis not a part of the circuit, anywhere..


Two key words, perfect and imagination!!!


Carl

 

Thanks for the SMS today Grant, right on the money.

Don't you just love it when your car decides to let the smoke out and fill the cabin at 5am! Then arrive home from work at 7pm to find it fixed.(and beer gone from your fridge)
Big thank you to Dr Phill. The only job left for me is reassemble the console and put away the tools.

Ready to roll again for work tomorrow.
Why do things these always happen a few days before a forum meet?

 

Well done.

What did Phil use to refill the smoke????

Beer gone from the fridge, how bizzare, but a cheap fix all the same.

 

Not sure what he used to refill the smoke, but whatever he used worked. Might be in the 24v earth lead that came off a bus.

Not only did he find the beer fridge, he managed to let himself in with the hidden key and get to work.
I guess when you've been mates for over 40 years you feel at home when no one is there to let you in.

The cost of a couple of beers is a cheap fix!

 

It's So good to have a friend in the know!
I'm glad it's all fixed, Clarke.
(';')

 

You all don't know how hard it is to put smoke back into a wiring loom. Tricks of the trade. One day i'll show you Clarke. It's getting harder and harder to find a local supplier of electrical smoke in a can. Lucky I had some left from a previous job. LOL.
:icon _beerchug:

 

Glad you guys got onto this and avoided more serious damage. Sounds like we need a "show us yer earths!" thread :-)

 

How cool is this. Found it under the console when I was putting it back together.
I remember my grandfather having valve cores in a tin. There is even a core in there although the o-ring is probably shot by now.

 

That will go with the old tools quite nicely, and that little rattle in the console will be gone now :-)

 

Yep, just the cold start engine rattle to sort now.

 

These are the sort of comments I like to hear. Grant, you will love it.

 

She already knows, trust me.

 

I believe you are right.
Why else would you come over and fix one while the owner is at work, she knows he has the bug!

 

Two comments:


1. A TV commercial for a Soccer mom SUV. Features view to the rear camera. Two kids in back seat. One opines "Mom does have eyes in the back f her head".




2. I recall those little tins. Yes, we "hoarders" saved stuff. When an inner tube on a bicycle or car finely got too many patches, the core was removed and saved. Two kinds. Early long and spindly. Later shorter.


The rubber served in reuses. One included rubber guns by kids and sling shots.


I made cushions for my early radiators by cutting out chunks of inner tube. Doubled or quadrupled and a hole and presto, a mount pad.


Too bad a great source of raw material, gone.....


Carl

 

I have a vague recollection of spitting on those Schraders before installing them. Why escapes me.


When teen pal Billy and I took one of our T's to Ruidoso, New Mexico
there was no room for a spare, even if we had them, which we did not, we did have room for patching gear and even a spare tube.


Carl

 

Today I was preparing Miss Fireball for the All British Day this weekend, popped it in reverse to move it back a bit to clean grill etc and the dreaded smell of Lucas smoke wafted through the cabin.
Only smoke I saw was in the passenger foot well and the smell of burning insulation. First thought was air con since it is under the glove box on that side of the car. Nothing wrong there and air con working well and no more smoke.

So I started investigating what wasn't working, turned out dash lights had gone out and no reverse lights. Quick look at the wiring diagram and they are both on the same fuse. fuse was ok so deeper inspections.

First place to look was the reverse light switch, broken wire was touching the the shifter bracket so new wire and reverse lights were working but still no dash lights.

Turned out there was another fuse holder for the dash lights behind the instrument panel, not easy to find a short 3A fuse at short notice so fitted a bigger holder for a 30mm length fuse. Still no lights and smoke in the tacho.

Removed the tacho to find one on the lights in it had melted the plastic retainer for the bulb, so got out the spare tacho and cut and tucked the lights from it into the one in the car.

All good now, can carry on with my detailing.