Well, I was looking at a vehicle that was local to me. It was an 89, but was advertised for sale as an 87. it had 73,000 miles on it. The owner said that sometime in its life it was clipped in its front end. So i decided to run a carfax. I found out that it was in an accident, it was totaled, and rebuilt with a salvage title. So I nixed that. Thanks Jamey for your offer to inspect.
So I continued my pursuit and found what appears to be a very well kept beautiful 1990 XJS convertible with 33,000 miles on it. Carfax came up with no problems, and I made an offer. It was accepted. I am very pleased with that except..... I need to get it ... The vehicle is about 1,000 miles from me.
It is my intention to drive it home...
The question is what should I do to insure that I can drive this car home without incident. It no doubt has a marelli ignition system, and after what I have read regarding that system, I become a wee bit concerned. Now I do not want to do any extensive repairs, actually I do not wish to do any until I get it home
Can anyone offer any advise on what I should do and look for to assure a safe return?
First time jag owner
Jim

 

Woo...well, this is all balanced on a big "depends".
It depends on when it was last serviced, if they did a tune up and changed fuel hoses recently.
How long has it been sitting, are the tires dry rotted?

 

Yes, those are good basic concerns... I those are my questions to the owner before I go do there... The servicing part of it. It looks like it has been well maintained and serviced.
I was more concerned about that rotor issue with the marelli ignition parts.
Thanks
Jim

 

Right, it all "depends".

Does the seller have any service invoices to review? If so, perhaps some anxiety can be assuaged.

There might well be a whole slew of services and replacements that are due but they're best tackled in the comfort of your own garage...as you're obviously aware.

Beyond good tires, a visual inspection of hoses and belts, and topped-off fluids I'd remove the distributor cap and look for the infamous Marelli rotor burn out. If it looks good, button things up and hit the road. You can dig deeper when you get home.

Perhaps circumstances will allow you to drive the locally for 100 miles or so....sort of a shakedown cruise...before hitting the highway. If nothing bad happens you can begin your trip with a bit more confidence.

However, as Jamey mentioned, it's important to know if the car has been sitting in storage, unused, for a long period of time. If so, the condition of the fuel system and brake hydraulics always come into question....as those areas often suffer a lot of degradation as a result of long term storage.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks Doug,

I was hoping and intending on digging deeper into things once I am home.. I was also thinking that I would take the distributor off and check to see if anything is happening in there. I really do not want to get involved in any repair at the pick up location... Naturally I will be certain that the fluids are in good order and the hoses and belts... I appreciate all the suggests I do need to make myself a checklist... My real concern is the marelli issue.... so if I take the distributor cap off and look at the rotor what exactly should I be looking for if there is a problem brewing? Do you or anyone have an idea?
I was reading up on it in the book, and I want to be as secure as I can possibly be that i will not have the bank close down issue during my travels.
I am also going to make a list of the Jag dealers between home and the pickup location so I can follow that route.... Maybe I can find a list of the local clubs on the route too. That might provide a safety net for me.
Thanks for the assistance
Jim

 

An about-to-fail Marelli rotor will show beginning signs of burn-through...so you're looking for scorching.

Unfortunately things can go from "OK" to "bad" fairly quickly....there's always that risk....but at least you can inspect for impending doom *before* you hit the road. Bring a tube of silicone sealer with you, remove the rotor, add a small glob inside the rotor, reinstall. You've now added a layer of protection.

And, yes, if you're on the road and feel a sudden drop in power, stop! You've probably just lost a bank of cylinders.

I'll add that it's hard to find a balance between caution and outright paranoia with Marelli ignition. Strive for the former, not the latter

Good idea about a safety net along you're route but don't expect to much from Jag dealers. Very few of them nowadays have anyone on staff who knows about these old XJSs.

I bought my XJS long distance, flew in, and drove 750 miles home....so I know what you're going through. In my case, knock on wood, the car ran like a watch to whole way.....but I was on needles and pins for the first couple hundred miles or so.

Have a great trip!

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks Doug,

So you are fully aware of what I am going through.... hahahahahaha...

Any other things that you can remember regarding your trip and your preparation for the trip please let me know.... It sounds as if I am in the
same situation as you were.

Jim

 

Bring a trailer and worry about the small stuff at home.

 

my .02 is
Plane ticket + gas back is probably more or just a little bit less than getting it shipped to you.
F that lol. Get it home safe and then straighten out

 

That is an option as well.. I have been thinking on that.
Jim

 

If you have access to a car/truck that can tow, then I'm with Jagfixer. Pick up a trailer from UHaul and dive into it when you get it home.
Also, regarding the Marelli thing. I picked up my '94 in the spring of last year, and spent the summer being paranoid about a bank shutting down. This summer I've relaxed and made the transition to "cautious". Maybe it's just something that takes time.

Oh, and by the way. Congratulations! And show us some photos when you can.

 

Where is the car? Maybe a lister can help you look at it. Also, bleed the radiator. I suspect that's why my hose blew off on the middle of the interstate on my inaugural drive home from Tennessee.

If you're not averse to a bit of adventure, fly down and drive it back. Make sure you have AAA and a credit card.

Or, as the other guys have said... have it transported.

 

Aside from all of the technical advice, I like the idea of AAA and a credit card. This should be an exciting, edge-of-your-seat road trip! One that will most likely provide you with stories to tell for many years. Savor the adventure.

 

The fact that you know about the Marelli ignition issues means you are 90% more likely to survive an actual failure without burning the car to the ground.

A lot has been said about the dizzy cap, which is a known failure mode, but when it happened to me it was a coil failure. There are also 2 ignition amps, so in theory, you could lose one of those also.

The bottom line is you can feel it when you lose half the engine, even if it doesn't feel like it's misfiring (because each 6 is balanced on its own), it will be severely down on power. If you have any feeling of loss of power, just stop. Don't try to "work the problem" on the move.

The other precaution I would take on Marelli is do not use the cruise control (even assuming it's working) After I had my coil failure (and fire) I decided not to fix the cruise control which had been on my to do list as I would always be concerned the failure happens and the cruise control tries to maintain speed by opening up the throttles. Scary.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures, and also wish you a "boring" drive home :-)

 

Thanks everyone for the great advice. That is exactly what I am looking for.
Opinions and suggests so I can make a good decision. I do like the travel back, as an adventure as Flint and eieio suggest. I never thought of AAA. That is a good idea no matter what. The car is in Tennessee on the Kentucky border. The car carrier back to Vermont is something I am pondering as suggested by Sidescrollin, BillC and Jagfixer. It probably would be cheaper. Has anyone used a particular one before? I found National Transport on the web. It seems like the one to use, but who knows when you are reading the info on the web.
The technical info from Doug, Jamey, BillC, and Flint has been encouraging to me. I am not a kid anymore, and this whole thing is getting my juices flowing!!
Thanks Everyone... Something else, Is there aa special screw driver to play with the distributor cap and rotor on the marelli?

Thanks much
Jimmy

 

jeeeeezzzzz just get in it and enjoy the drive home.......lol
worry first if or when anything breaks.....

 

I like that idea !!!!!

 

Cinch the old boys, up fly down there, get in it and drive. You bought an adventure don't dodge out of it now. Congratulations on the purchase now get going.

 

DO eeeet! [make sure you have AAA and a healthy credit card balance + a wry sense of humor]

And take pics to post here!!!

$100 Sears Craftsman "mechanic" toolkit was overkill to do my Marelli preventive maintenance per Kirby Palm's book. And I am the farthest thing from a mechanic you could imagine. Total noob here. But having done one, I could do another in half an hour.

 

In fact:


THIS THREAD...