I have a 22,000 mile 89 XJS Rouge edition, sat for the last 11 years and I bought it as a non running car. The previous owner had bought a new battery, new injectors, new cap/rotor,leads.
I am not new to cars, just new tow these.
I have two issues with the car, obviously the non start issue and the hand brake is stuck (using the English term!)
Now I have confirmed that I have spark (did notice they had put Bosch R5DP Platinum plugs in which dont appear on any website as bieng for this car, I think they have actually been discontinued) The car cranks very slowly, and I have replaced the starter and it tuns over alittle quicker, but not as fast as I would have expected. I have taken the plugs out and put in a little ATF, try and see if that free's it up a little more. The only strange thing I see is that the car has not run, since all the new parts installed, but some of the plugs have a black soot on them (like it was running rich) and some plugs are perfectly clean (and no sign of gas..i.e. they arent wet)
The other issue is the hand brake. Put the car in neutral and it wont roll (it did at first, they put it on the flatbed, but when they put it in my driveway it wouldnt budge. The handle flops around like a limp wristed handshake.

Any tips on fixing, or investigating either issue would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
Nick

 

I might be able to help with the brake. The XJS hand brake works like this:

1.To apply the brake you just pull up on the handle.
2.Without pressing the release button lower the handle all the way down. This allows you to apply the brake while still sitting in the car.


1.To remove the brake you will push the button in and pull the handle all the way up untill you feel resistance and then lower the handle.
That should take off the brake. If that doesn't fix it the you will have to crawl under your car and see where its hanging up.

Good luck!

 

Replacing the starter is a real treat, huh ? :-)






Battery, cables, and ground points all in good shape?

That said, the somewhat unusual sound of these starters can give the impression of slow cranking speed


Any reason to believe there is/was water in the cylinders?




The most common cause of injectors not operating (or, for that matter, staying open rather than pulsing) is the injector harness itself. Brittle from heat the insulation breaks off, causing shorts. You can buy a new harness but most owners make their own. Not hard....actually sort of fun.

There are other possibilities but I'd first suspect the harness.

If you determine there isn't any actual internal engine problem (rusted cylinders, for example) you might wanna consider "doing the Vee". That is, remove everythng from the center on the engine so as to clean the area, repair various wiring/connector faults, repair/replace vacuum hoses, install a new injector harness, replace dist cap and rotor, replace plug wires and plugs, repair cruise control servo, adjust throttles, replace throttle bushings, and replace the fuel hoses. Do it all, do it once, get it over and done with. Repeat in 20 years. Sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but it's easier than tackling the problems ala carte ....and if your XJS *doesn't* need attention in all this areas it would be a rare exception.

Replacing the fuel hoses is *very* important on these engines

Also, an '89 could be "Lucas" or "Marelli" ignition. It's important to know which. Each has certain things you really need to know about. One (of several) easy ways to identify which is have is to look at the panel above the radiator. If there are two square-ish electronic modules mounted to the panel, you have Marelli ignition.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks Doug, I actually have the "v" clear right now...I was looking at the two factory fuel lines (hardline into rubber), I took a quick look on ebay and they where over $200 each!!
I will check on the ignition type.
I have dropped the oil and there was no water in it.
My thoughts are that with only 22,000 mile and sat for 11 years, it may be alittle tight.
I will work out a way to disable the ignition and fuel pump so I carnk the motor over with no plugs in, do a compression test and see if it frees up with the ATF..
One other thing I see that is broken, on the fuel rail on the drivers side is a fitting (metal with a plastic top piece that has two barb fittings for vacuum hose (I think vacuum) that seems to go into a blind hole on the rail. Whats the official name for that piece??

I have been restoring/building Corvette and race cars for years...have to say changing that starter motor was not pleasant..and the fact that there's two different types of bolt heads doesn thelp....good job I read that here first before I went in there with a 6 point and rounded it off!!


thanks
Nick

 

Keep me posted if you decide to give up on her...

 

Just cut the hose off the pipes and press new hose on. You can buy the heat little ferrules/caps for the ends of the hoses to give it a finished look





Fuel pump relay is in the trunk, above and to the right of the battery, behind a little plastic panel. he pump relay is recognizable by having an orange wire



Fuel temperature switch. When the fuel reaches xxx temperature (about 150ºF I think) vacuum to the regulator is dumped, allowing max fuel pressure to clear the fuel rail of any vapor lock

The real world necessity of this switch has long been debated. Many guys toss it in the bin and never suffer any issues. Others, not so much.


That 12 point bolt was one of Jaguar's nasty little tricks :-)

I've had opportunity to work on some (older) Corvettes lately. Generally much easier than our Jags. I might need to pick your brain at some time, though :-)

Cheers
DD

 

Sorry for the delay in getting back, but my sons spring break (he's 5!)kind of ate into my Jag time.
Anyway, I got the emergency brake fixed (well released) it was the button on the handle.
I also have the engine running, sought off..it feels and sounds like it is only firing on the drivers side bank. I have replaced coil, wires, plugs fuel filter and fuel lines.
The drivers side gets hot, but the passenger side barely gets warm to the touch. I am guessing the injectors aren't firing as when I pulled the plugs, they where dry.To confirm I have the Marelli ignition. Where should I be looking for this issue?
Also I am trying to fix some of the wires in the engine bay that are broken. There are two wires, one black, one white, on the passenger side right by the throttle cable/TPS. I'm trying to find where they go to.

I appreciate everyones help!
Cheers
Nick

 

Some easy Marelli identifiers:

- Two coil wires going to the center of the dist cap

- Two square-ish control modules above the radiator

- Twp coils mounted directly in front of the throttle pedestal

- No vacuum advance cannister on the distributor

- Last six of the vin later than 156xxx (sorry I can't remember the exact breakpoint. 156116? Something like that. But of your last six are 157xxx you certainly have Marelli and if 155xxx you shouldn't)


Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for all of the assistance so far all. I am working with Nick on this lovely project. I have added four pictures regarding this mess.

Ignition
This car has a dual Marelli ignition system, both are working fine, as we tested them successfully.

Fuel Injection

Bank B - Orange/gray and orange/green feed, pink/black ground giving 1.0 @ 200mv when the key is turned to ignition.

Bank A - Orange/white and orange/blue is not getting any power at all when ignition is turned on.

I tested the plug on the front passenger fender when it was unplugged and couldn't get the same values.

Broken wires near firewall
I have a white/black with 3.5v when key is on ignition. There ls also a vacuum sensor that I had to rewire due to massive corrosion on the old wires.

Thanks in advance for the help

Camo

 

This car currently has had the following done.

All new fuel injectors
All new "correct" spark plugs
All new plug wires
New cap and rotor
New starter (yes, it was a talent party)
New battery

The car will start and run for short periods of time as bank B is the only side getting power to the injectors.

There are vacuum lines that aren't connected and help with a hose diagram would be appreciated. Please let me know if vacuum lines would disable power to bank A as this is getting frustrating now. I would love to just tap the correct injectors from A into the B feed to get it running but I don't know the car/ecu system well enough. Please advise.

 

Bump - Help

 

First, these diagrams may be of some use. Scroll down to "EFI Emissions".
http://www.captainjaguarscathouse.co...ec%20Guide.pdf

As for injector wiring specifically you'll see in the diagrams that all injectors share a common 12v supply voltage from the pink/black wires. If there's a wiring problem here the dead branches of the harness can be abandoned and all the injectors run off a single pink/black wire. Again, this if for supply voltage.

The ECU grounds the injectors. These are the orange/xxxx wires. You'll see in the diagram how the injectors are batched in four groups of three each. You wouldn't want to change this arrangment but if you have a wiring fault within a batch you can "tap into" a known good wire from another injector within the batch.

Problems with injector wiring are common-ish. Most of use replace the harness, usually with one we've made up on our own.

Hope this helps a litte.

Cheers
DD

 

Not ringing any bells with me. You might be able to identify if from the diagrams in the link I gave in the earlier post





Looks like the vacuum operated "full load" switch.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks Doug. This helps a lot!

 

Saga continues..we have determined we have no ground on the passenger side bank of the injectors (and therefore no 12v) we have tested all the way back to the ECU.
So the question is..is this a bad ECU?...or is there somethng that tells the ECU to fire that is dedicated left and right bank?

thanks
Nick

 

I get no ground @ the ECU (key on ignition) on Orange/Blue and Orange/White but I do get ground on Orange/Slate and Orange/Green.

When I disconnect the Orange/Blue and Orange/White at the injectors, I tie them into ground and get 12v now but the car doesn't fire.

We can get the car to run like crap using bank B injector wiring on either side of the motor. Since bank A is out we are still at a loss here.

Thanks again for the help...