Hello all you experienced XJ-S owners out there.
Although new to this forum I've had my 1979 XJ-S V12 for two years, and consider myself slightly above average as far as mechanical issues are conserned.
Two weeks ago, however, my XJ-S refused to start. Found the culprit rather easily, a loose connection from the ignition to the coil. Problem solved. So far so good.
Had the same thing again one week later, same culprit, same happy result.
Now, however, it refuses to start altogether, even if the connection is solid.
Fault-finfingt activities carried out so far:
Checked voltage on battery, seems to be OK
Checked voltage om Coil - only indicates 9,7 V
Checked coil - it seems to give no spark. Tested with another coil (factory new) - same negative result
Checked voltage on the connector on the throttle-link housing (not really sure what that thing is called...). Indicates 9,7 V, as does the once faulty connector a bit further back - all the way against the torpedo wall/firewall.

Visual check of wires on the ingnition - they all seem to be ok.

Any ideas to what i can check further?

Oh, forget to say; The starter runs fine, and before this the car started almost immediately

Thanks in advance, and cheers

Ronnie

 

When you say ok what is the voltage? if it is 12V that is not ok it should be more.

Check the voltage at the battery and at the main + post in the engine bay you should have at least 12.5V with ignition off

cheers WJ

 

Thank you WJ,
I did check the battery again, it showed 11,8 V - definitely a bit low.
Put it on my maintenance charger, and after about 2 hrs the car started easily.
Tomorrow I'll get a new battery, as I suspect the current one is'nt quite up to standard :-)

Thanks again

Ronnie

 

Check the alternator is charging you should have somewhere between 12.8 and 13.2V across the battery when the car is running

chers

 

I don't see where you've actually checked for spark at the spark plugs.


Cheers
DD

 

...and the car starts without a problem.
The Volt-meter in the dashboard still indicating a "charge" of much less than 13 V.
This worries me a bit. I think I must check the alternator; maybe it isn't sufficiently grounded.

Never checked the spark at the plugs, Doug- I may have to do that as well.

What I did do, however, was to adjust the distributor slightly. So now she runs much leaner, and has gotten a far better throttle response - lovely :-)