Well after working on this thing for a year, Ive been unable to get it to start after having the infamous marelli failure last summer. My dad found a mechanic who worked for jaguar for nearly 40 years and he said he'll be able to tell me what's wrong in about 2 hours, and probably have it running like a champ in a week or so He's coming to pick up my car either tomorrow or friday, and I'm hoping he has better luck getting it running than me! Cant wait to drive it, and be able to focus on the cosmetic stuff for once! Ill keep you guys posted once I get an update from Mr. Jag specialist....

 

Good luck , looks a nice car.

 

Update from the mechanic, it was the rear crank sensor that was bad. Lol, the one part I didn't replace because I couldnt get under the car to get to it.....
brakes were also seized, and I'm having him check on the cooling system too because it was running hot last time it ran and the heater core was plugged.

 

So the next issue my mechanic found was that it starts fine when the engine is cold but if you shut it off after it gets up to operating temperature it won't restart..... it has plenty of fuel pressure and its not the engine temperature sensor because we tried bypassing it and it made no difference. It's really weird because the car runs fine until you shut it off warm and then it has no spark when you try to restart it.

 

Try renewing the engine temp sensor, LH bank thermostat housing.

 

 

Well my mechanic went out for a short test drive in the car (like 2 miles) and when he got back it was only running on 3 cylinders and spewing oil out of every oriface. I now have 2 blown head gaskets which means I'll need an engine rebuild I don't have 12k for an engine rebuild so I'm thinking about just cutting my losses and selling the car. I'm a purist so v8 Chevy conversion is out of the question. Jaguar inline 6 maybe, but still an expensive undertaking......

 

12k ... pulling the heads, inspecting the heads, new set of gaskets, that may be all if the overheat damage wasn't too bad. I have little experience with this engine, so I'm not sure what happens to the heads when running dry, warping, cracking? Valve seat drop is more expensive, but still not 12k.

 

From what my mechanic told me it's not just the head gaskets it's got bad front seals and crank seals too. and literally every gasket on the engine needs to be replaced because it's leaking from everywhere.

 

It is leaking from everywhere because there is abnormal pressure inside of engine with blown head gasket(s). You need a new mechanic.

 

He doesn't have the tools to pull the heads off anyways. He can get the engine out but he needs a special head puller so he doesn't break the studs. The 12k quote was from a jaguar v12 rebuilder in indiana.

 

Up to you. I'd take the engine apart and see what's the damage before resorting to full rebuild. But it's me. I have the time and tools to mess with it. 12k sounds a little expensive, BTW.

 

How about something like this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1989-Jaguar...Fa92Im&vxp=mtr

 

A full engine rebuild is never 12K. I mean, never. The gaskets are plentiful but cheap. The work to replace them is easy. Not really much to go wrong. The head gaskets aren't a hard job. The worst being getting a tool made up for the job.

 

Ps I'm about 8 to 10 hours from you and I have a V12 still in my 89 XJS It does run and I'm asking $800.00 Dollars for the engine and trans. Look at my ad in the Classified section on the Forum. An engine swap is a lot easier to do then a full rebuild.

Jack 870-349-4417