AW man! Don't let no stinkin sail boat distract you from the XK. What will we do for our daily vicaries?

 

It's OK, it's what I do. I need some variety to keep things fresh. Sadly I think I'm in for an overdose of 'variety' the next couple weeks. I'll post up some pics of the 'interesting' stuff...

 

Get at it already Have fun, variety is the spice of life, i heard somewhere.

 

So, been a while since I updated this. Car is running very well and is a blast to drive. One thing I noticed yesterday morning when I fired it up to melt the frost off was the exhaust tone was back to obnoxious once we hit the inter state. I assume it's because the speed of sound is different at freezing temps and it was out of the range for the resonators. Weird. I need to rerun the calculations and I might need to make some winter resonators because it was a pretty annoying ride home.

Car is managing a solid 19 mpg as a commuter and no new drama.

 

Well, back again. Old girl did the antifreeze stink this morning on the way home from work this morning. Stopped at a light and got a whiff of coolant out the dash vents. Uh-oh... No steam, no lights. Just that little hint of misery out the vents that says something bad is happening and you don't know what yet.

Got it home a few minutes later and noticed a hint of steam from under the hood as it idled while opening the gate and when I got it parked and popped the hood a good bit was coming out from the throttle body area. Moaned uh-oh even louder and started poking around under the hood. It was 41` so I wasn't too worried about the small amount of steam. Coolant level was down a little and while I was poking around the T/B my son cam down and poked around with his lamp and we noticed the passenger side frame rail was wet under the tank. Wiggle check on the hoses found the lower hose fitting had the slightest pin hole when I pushed on the hose.

No big deal, I have the wrong spare with the single top fitting and I can make it work without too much pain with a simple T fitting this evening before work so off to slumber the daylight hours away. Came out this evening and it's flipping raining small animals...

Oh well, I know what I'm doing tomorrow afternoon when I wake up for my first day of vacation...

 

So, that wasn't too bad. Getting the tank out sucked because it caught on the diagonal brace and wouldn't release from the slot on the bottom. Needed to tweak the brace up while pushing the tank down to get it out. Bottom fitting fell apart and there was a hose clamp down there indicating something happened there before.

I made a quick trip to Harbor Freight and picked up a cheap transfer pump to suck the coolant out of the tank. It worked surprisingly well for $6 or so.


The offending slotted bracket used three bolts to mount it. I was tempted to try and remove it because I figured if I flexed the brace too much, the windshield was at risk from cowl flex.


and one other little bit of misery. The new tank has a float sensor installed. The old high end model doesn't but had the casting protrusion to install one. How flip'n cheap of them. I think the X type used a similar tank and maybe will have the same plug. If so I'm going to wire 'something' up inside after some salvage shopping. Maybe tie it into the washer level warning or some other 'vital' function alarm vs. install a red light somewhere. Dang **** poor design choices.


Finally a close up shot of the deteriorated lower nipple and the metal T fitting I had hoped to use (but it's the wrong size)... I'll figure out something tomorrow.


More to come.

 

Don't know about the 4.2 but the 5.0 MY cars have a low warning light on the dash which is the sensor in the newer model tanks.

 

OK, couple trips for parts but it's done. Ended up getting a 1/2" Sharkbite T fitting at Lowes and a couple worm style hose clamps. The 3/8" spring ones (same size as OEM) wouldn't work, too small.



The new tank came with a 200 kpa cap but I left the 120 kpa one on instead. Figure less pressure on those plastic bits, the better.

 

Back in the saddle again......

 

So here's a dumb question that I haven't seen an answer for, what scanners will read both the chassis and power train codes? I have a persistent air bag code that my cheap scanner won't read.

 

Great thread, nice work on the car! I grew up in Bethesda and lived in Germantown from 1990-2001, not far from you.

I've been thinking about your Helmholtz resonators, have you given any thought to trying adjustable volume cans? I'm thinking of a cylinder (pipe) with plunger that could be adjusted with a threaded rod (or something trickier). This might allow you to fine-tune the volume to precisely cancel your drone frequencies, and adjust for summer and winter ambient temperatures.

 

Get a cheap Chinese clone mangoose $50, install the software and your all set .

 

I have read they can fry your electronics! They are cheap for a reason! :-)

I have a ICarsoft and can get I think all codes from all modules. Foxwell does the same.

 

To read the codes it can't fry anything. I have one and reads everything with no issues. Only if we are talking about writing or changing things in the ECU then it might become risky if it's a lower quality.

 

Nothing to do with reading or writing, they can short because of bad and Cheap interfaces. I was considering buying One but not after I've read about it.
I suppose the chances are small for it happening but to expensive if it should happen!:-)
I'm happy with my Icarsoft!:-)

 

Which one?

 

ICarsoft LR II.
Foxwell NT510 is also a good one but I like the big screen on the ICarsoft! :-)

 

I wish I could get a generic or all purpose one. This will probably be the only Jag in the line up, the rest Fords.

In other news, I've been distracted by my Sportster, doing some 50k mile maintenance and tune up stuff. Found some take off black engine parts and been swapping them over as well and replacing the valve seals in the heads.

XKR just keep lugging along as a great commuter car. I think we are about due for an oil change.

 

I have the iCarsoft LRII also and have very pleased with it. It can also read the standard on other vehicles. I used it on a Chevrolet Traverse this weekend and the little box nailed the problem.

 

So, another update. Car saw some snow, did pretty well pushing dust - 1" on the interstate at 45 mph hugging behind a semi the other night.

Ran into two problems this week. One, the front drivers turn signal went dark. Thought I'd swapped that out during the lamp refinish but nope. Phillips on the left, Sylvania on the right. I changed them both to the new ones.



While swapping the lamp I saw a little bit of orange death. This is a sign of a coolant leak. This one is coming from the T stat housing. Felt around and there's a tiny bit of wet on the bottom of the cap. I guess I should drain it down and deal with it. suspect it's just an O ring that needs some grease. Coolant is down @ 1/4" after two weeks of running.


One other thing that's reared its ugly head is the cabin fan motor is running all the time. I suspect the blower fan control module has crapped out. Torn between hitting the salvage for an OEM one or playing the replacement part lottery. Autozone says it's $142 for a dura-won't-last one. I need the exercise...