Hi all,
After a prolonged absence i am back. My '87 XJS V12 car was in storage for a long time. When I returned I discovered a mouse house in the 'Valley' in front of the distributor and under the cruise control bellows. After I got that mess all cleaned out and disinfected I discovered they had ate thru the pickup wires coming out of the distributor. Amy at Welsh Jag Parts hooked me right up with a new one as always.

Installed new pickup in the distributor yesterday and put the cap back on. After double checking the wiring order I went to re-attach them today. Should have been no problem since they were on correctly and are all labeled. Started with A1 on the post with a #1 by it and worked my way around based on the website diagram. Problem occurred when I got to B3 at the rear. It wasn't near long enough. I know it wasn't like that when it was on before.

Question: Are there different firing orders or wiring orders for different year models? Thanks

 

Well I think I just solved my problem. I was not using a correct diagram. The one I was using said the firing order is: 1A 1B 5A 5B 3A 3B 6A6B 2A 2B 4A 4B

I now believe the correct firing order is:1A 6B 5A 2B 3A 4B 6A 1B 2A 5B 4A 3B

Fingers crossed it starts tomorrow.

PS...Last weekend I bought an '86 Hess and Eisnehart XJS parts car. Its all there except the steering column although it is in rough shape. Still it should prove interesting.

 

Yep the 1A, 6B ,,,,,,,,is the one you need.

Faith mate, it will run.

 

Thanks...I'm sure I'll have other issues moving forward but step one is to get it running again. I'll let you know later today how it went.

Next will be putting the dashboard back together.

 

Victory this afternoon. She started with hardly a whimper. A little starting fluid into each intake nozzle and by the 3rd or 4th try she turned over and began to catch. After two more tries with stall outs she was running on her own. Thank gawd I recognized that something didn't feel right on the distributor wires before I tried to start it.

There was new noise coming from the backside of the engine that has me a bit concerned. Hoping it was just a flashlight I found later I left on the engine that was vibrating somehow. The noise was rhythmic almost like associated with a pulley. I wasn't valves, that I am sure of. Doubt it has anything to do with it but you may recall that I did remove the air rail and pump. I have not removed the 'T' yet though. That will have to wait until a top of the motor tear down this winter.

 

Okay, the car is starting easily and idling fine. No surging or hesitation.

But..................I have a rhymical tapping noise coming from the rear of the motor. It sounds like either 6A or 6B but I can't tell if it's the A or B bank. The car sat for quite awhile. Could it be a stuck valve or lifter? I have not run up the rpm's or let it idle for very long so as not to damage anything but something is clearly not right. I am proceeding slowly at this point. Thoughts or ideas? Thanks,

 

OOPS.

Thoughts on coffee #2.

If its running SWEET, and STEADY, then its doubtfull anything sinister.

The V12 has NO hydraulic lifters, so forget that.

The sitting would have drained the oil from the top, and it does take a few good seconds to replenish that in the camshaft area.

Noisy tappet, of course, RARE, but could be, and a shiiiit load of scary work to sort out.

Loose spark plug, seen that heaps of times, and the noise there is as scary as hell.

Loose valve seat, happens, but the engine is off beat and that noise is clearly herd down the street from the car. More of a CLATTER than anything else.

I will keep thinking.

 

flywheel related maybe. Rythemic but what frequency?

 

I'll start it tonite and get a count.

 

UPDATE: Good News Story!!

I mentioned that last year I removed the emissions air rail injection pump and piping. I installed an idler pulley I got from England along with factory replacement 'plugs' that sealed the air pipe holes.

My rhythmic tapping noise was coming from the A6 region but I couldn't pinpoint it. As mentioned the car does not have hydraulic lifters even though it kind of sounded like the problem. With the help of a friend and a flashlight we started exploring this afternoon. After about 10 minutes or so he felt a piece moving. Turns out the A6 air injection port plug that I replaced was not torqued down quite all the way. A couple of twists with a 9/16th socket and wrench and no more tapping noise.

I am one happy camper. Now onto re-installing the instrument cluster.

The good girl will see glory again and soon. And both cruise control and A/C will work this time.

 

Well done.

I maintain, "these are simple cars".