Hi there - I am new to this community but have a feeling I’m going to be spending a lot of time here! Just received a 1990 XJS V12 (bought for my father, who has always dreamed of this car but would
never have bought it for himself) and promptly upon delivery and letting the vehicle run for 10-20 minutes, a greenish liquid started flowing out from under the front of the car at a rapid cadence, and the engine started billowing white smoke. It eventually stopped but now the vehicle won’t turn on despite a charged battery. This is my first classic car, so I am new to this and apologize if this is an obvious fix.




Any thoughts or feedback would be much appreciated as to what I should do next!

 

I suspect a major radiator leak or one of the cooling hoses at the front of the engine burst open.

Was the billowing smoke (steam, most likely) coming from the exhaust pipes or from the engine bay?

It is very common that these cars need major attention to the cooling system.

What exactly happens when you turn the key to "start"? Do you hear anything happening? A click? A grunt?

Did you trying starting the engine after letting it fully cool down?

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks so much, Doug! I had a mobile mechanic come by and they confirmed the source of the issue was indeed a broken radiator. It sounds like the radiator will need to be replaced. The engine was hot a couple hours after turning off, so your cooling system comment makes sense. I was quoted approx. $2k for parts and labor - does this sound accurate?

Does anybody in the community have a good repair shop they recommend in the Greater Miami area?

 

BTW - I added a gallon of gas (I figured the gauge was broken, but the car may just have been empty) and the engine turned back on. In light of the radiator problem and overheating risk, I only kept it on for ~30 seconds.

 

Welcome. Before you do anything, you should read the following document:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...-maintaing.pdf

Your car will most certainly need more than just the radiator attended to, and unless the person working on it has specific experience with the XJS and the V12, they WILL screw it up.

If you are at all mechanically inclined, I would recommend learning as much as you can here and doing as much or all the work yourself. You will save thousands of $, and have the satisfaction of knowing the work was done correctly. The car seems scary as hell to work on, but as the author of the above document always assures us, 'simple cars really', and you'll be surprised what you might accomplish.

Good Luck

 

Hi Miami

When I bought my First XJS I only kept her for about a Year, up until I had to replace the Rotors which involved the removal of the rear IRS but as this was a job that I had somehow manage to convince myself that I couldn't do and would be too expensive for a Shop to fix I Sold the Car

That with the benefit of hindsight was a Big Mistake, as being quite an early Car, it would have almost certainly have been more valuable now

Although sometime after that I bought a 1990 XJS the same as yours, where once again I faced a lot of problems, where with almost zero in the way of mechanical experience, I didn't even own a Socket Set

I was very determined that whatever went wrong with this Car was never going to beat me, which was really just as well as everything seemed to go wrong, including the Rad that I had to replace and that cost me around £300 from what I can remember

Labor cost me nothing as I did it all myself, even though it seemed to be an horrendous job but not nearly so difficult once you get 'Stuck In' that as it turned out was one of the easiest jobs that I've done on this Car

And so unless you've got money to burn, then why not have a go at fixing her yourself, as this was one of the first jobs recorded in my XJS Thread

Replacing the Radiator on my 1990 XJS V12