Is the red relay the fuelpump one? If so it is clicking when ignition is turned on. I've had a good hunt around the enginebay and a few things seem to have been modified or left off. Being a pre-75 engine is it possible it does not have the switch? I can see what appears to be the earth wire from the red relay bodged to the engine in a similar way to what you described to bypass the switch.

 

Just been through all the wiring, looks like there is power to and from the switch, so time to pull the pumps out over the weekend.

 

Time for new pumps and senders. Just stripped both from the left tank, sender float was full of fuel and sender wire broken, rubber joint between fuelpump and seal plate had fallen apart and motor is dead. Where is a good place for affordable replacements?

 

Have a read of thread below before pulling oil pump.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...re-xj6-129789/

Try Doug Findlay at Jagdaim...http://www.jagdaim.com.au/index.asp

Or Gary Ayre at Jag1....http://jag1.com.au/

Both very knowledgeable and very helpful.

 

Those carby intank pumps are the same as the Commodore EFI "lift pumps" on the early stuff, such as VK.

Any supplier in your locale with a Fuel Miser sign, or a Goss sign will have, or be able to get, very easily.

If all else fails, talk to Doug at JagDaim, in Ringwood somewhere.

The fuel sender is puely JagDaim.

 

Here ya go.

GE151 is the IN tank pump for S2 XJ6.

That is a GOSS number for those that do not know how we operate down here.

 

A fresh fuel pump and sender and I have a Jag which runs again. Tank has a little internal rust but better than most I have seen. Flushed out as much as I could when draining the tank.

I've taken a quick video of the car running as it does now. It was smoother a couple of weeks ago I believe. You can see how much it vibrates at idle (about 900rpm) and hear the high pitch rattle that I need to locate and attend to. Hopefully it is timing chain tensioner as someone on here suggested, but if anyone on here has suggestions based on the sound I would greatly appreciate them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfX8...ature=youtu.be

 

A stethoscope would be very helpful.
Listening to the video, it sounds like the valve guides have drifted out and are hitting the cams.
A worn timing chain tensioner has a clunkier sound, that somewhat goes away with acceleration.
That's how mine sounded, before the engine was totally rebuilt.

 

I had the time to do a little more investigating today:

Took the cam covers off to have a sticky-beak. Everything looked good under there from what I could tell, all the tappets had about the right clearance, no visible wear anywhere aside from 2 things - some light marks near the edge of the #2 exhaust side tappet, possibly from someone tapping it to release it? Some scrapes on the cam shaft on either side of a couple of lobes. No obvious wear to lobes or tappets that I could see, The chain looked in good condition, didn't seem loose by hand. I popped the covers back on and pulled the sparkplugs, all 6 were black, possibly to do with tuning or the additional electric pump that was in the system for a while.

I replaced the plugs with new ones and popped the dizzy cap and found something interesting - it appears that the rotor button had been hitting the cap. unless it is just a very old and worn cap there was signs of metal transfer between the cap and button. No sign of play in the shaft. I will get a new cap and button shortly.

Putting it all back together the idle is now a little smoother but still have the rattle. Thoughts?

 

New dizzy cap and rotor made no difference. It turns out engine wash didn't do the carbies any favours it turns out, but a squirt with WD40 this afternoon and I had a car that would idle again after running terribly since the high pressure engine wash yesterday.

After reading how I popped the breather off and attempted a timing chain adjustment. No tools so I modified an angle grinder tool and adjusted the gear a couple of degrees until it felt like it was loading up, then re-assembled. Fired up the car and NO MORE LOUD RATTLE! Still not perfectly quiet but the concerning rattle is gone. Fresh oil and filter after removing the old sludge and I have near 50psi oil pressure at idle when cold, dropping to 30psi when warm and at low idle. Idle at about 850rpm when cold then about 750rpm when warm. After lubing the carbies I now have fairly smooth revving throughout the rev range. Will have to wait and see how low the oil pressure gets after a long run, but very happy with the results from today, looks like the old motor ma survive a little longer!

 

Good sort out on that top chain tension. Too tight and they "whir", too loose and they "rattle. A fine line between the 2.

Dont get too carried away with the idle oil pressure, as it is of NO signifcance at all. The spec calls for 30+psi at 3000RPM, HOT. Outside that the reading is window dressing. These XK engines do idle at really low oil pressure, and I have never seen a bottom end fail, as long as oil is in the sump.

They run just fine on 20W50 all year round, and my experience is that if a heavier oil is used, oil consumption goes UP.

The cam covers are FULL of oil when the engine is running (remove the cap and note the level with it running, rag on hand please), so the valve gear is quite flooded at all times.