Hello all!

First, a thank you as the forums have already proven a big help and I haven't received my 2000 XKR yet. The transport driver called, wondering if I had a forklift to take it off the trailer as it's stuck in park. (dead battery from months of storage waiting for it's auction date, and highly likely the key was in the ON position). Of course you know where i'm going with the many posts on the manual interlock override. So my first "experience" with my new wheels will be simply getting it unlocked from park and off the trailer. I'm expecting that to happen tonight.... Of course, the driver also lost a wheel on his trailer, so his arrival has been delayed 6 or so hours. Ahh.. the book I might be able to write by the time this beauty is back on the road. I also spent time on the forums looking up battery replacements (going Interstate), location (trunk), how to open a trunk when you have a dead battery. (hope that key hole isn't frozen!!, and I hope they ship the black key!) and what battery tender to pick up.

Then I (we?) get to figure out how to make it run.

I'm excited for the journey and will do my best to post my progress and share my joy (and not to much of my frustration, I hope) with you all!

Now where is that damn transport driver????!?!?!?!

 

Best of luck, sounds like fun. Likely less trouble than you fear, but more than you hope.

If you plan on keeping the car, look into an AGM battery instead of conventional acid/lead. Some folks seem to swear by the Bosch units (check Pep Boys on line for a coupon).

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

I hope they didn't put it on with a fork lift.

 

+1 Norri that wouldn't be pretty. Welcome to the new world of Jaguar. There are a lot of great folks who have had generations of experience and are always willing to lend a helping hand.

 

Jared, do you know that there is a hot battery terminal under the hood? It uses a 50amp fuse so you can't energize the starter, but you can charge the battery, or even provide enough juice to use button to open trunk.

John

 

Are we there yet.

Wayne

 

So,. Fun was had last night. Driver finally showed up at 10 pm, with the roads icing over. Car was in the middle position of the trailer. Front down, loaded with a forklift, couldn't tell from what direction.<br />J-gate interlock override worked perfectly and yours truly wss looking down the ramp, rear wheels 6 feel off the ground and staring down a metal 25 degree incline in a car with no power.... Thankfully the brakes did their job and we had a controlled decent until I opted to use the last 10 feet to create momentum to get it up next to the garage.<br />so 11 pm, dark and cold still gotta check the girl out right?<br /><br />Key opened the trunk, battery had the negative terminal disconnect. I put the battery charger on it, left a vent gap on the trunk lid and continued. Interior is really clean, impressive even. Passenger door is missing the speaker and speaker cover. Haven't looked around much, back seat had the soft top closed cover.<br />Water present in the headlights and the last 3/4 inch of the dipstick is milky. No other obvious water signs, no smell inside at all, no mold anywhere. It was too dark to look for water signs through the oil fill so that will be later today (I'm 2 hours away from the car at one of my daughters events). I'll drain the oil, replace the filter and figure the car will see a number of oil changes in the next 500 miles (once it's running). For the gas, I'll see if I can pull the fuel line and check for water or compromised fuel. Likely drain the tank, flush with premium gas/sea foam and check the other fluids as well. Also on the checklist is a pulling every fuse to look for any signs of corrosion, blown fuses.<br />But. She's pretty and she's home. Smile on my face is ear to ear.

 

I would re-think the Seafoam treatment. Not really appropriate for these engines....

 

Wonderful, wish I were there to help you. Well, go ahead and have all the fun.
If the engine is toast, LT1? 6? I know where there is a Jag V12 out of a '76 XJ12C, on the stand, rebuilt. Just saying. LOL
Have fun.

Wayne

 

You mention water a lot, was this a flood car? Good luck and have some fun while you work through the issues.

 

To Jandreu: I mentioned it in my first timers post, but yes, this was/is a car that was part of the Texas floods. In short, a 23k actual mile 2000 XKR soft top that the auction pictures showed a super clean car with no visible water damage and a well detailed/maintained engine bay, (listed not running).

We got back from the Daughters speech contest and finally got some sunlight driven 47 degree weather to look my baby over. We knew the rear triangle windows were down, we expected that was to air it out. It also arrived with those windows in the lowered position. The battery was on a 2 amp 12v charge (neg post off) for about 14 hours when we got home and reconnected the negative lead.
Boot lights (ok the trunk for us Yanks!) immediately came on :-) Next stop was the drivers seat as it's a bit forward, and a struggle for a "average" middle aged male. I can hear the relays fire from every switch, (same with passenger seat) but no movement. main windows both sides go up and down. Instrument cluster comes to life with an "on" key with a variety of messages displayed cleanly. Heating control LCD came on. Radio LCD back light came on when power/volume knob was pushed but no display.

Wife noticed a drip coming from the roof cab lights and indeed they are filled with water and the three black button. (garage door controls I assume) are weeping/dripping. The covering on the Front pillars is loose. As I have no history on the car, but with NO signs of flood water on/in the dash/interior I have to assume this is water getting in from the top. Might have been from the flood rains, might have been a long standing issue. And like my neighbor said.. you have no idea what was/wasn't working before it was part of the "flood".

Pushing the soft top button down, you can hear the relays in the small rear triangle windows click, but nothing else. Pushing the button up created no sound or movement. As there does not seem to be a separate rear window button, I am unsure how those windows move unless connected to the power roof. (time to do some more forum reading!! )

Blinkers, (front and rear), brake lights, headlights and wipers functioned. (didn't try the side mirrors, horn or locks) J gate can be moved with the brake pedal depressed.

Steering wheel moves in and out (telescoping) but only clicks going up and down. (there is a reoccurring reality here.) And a 20 amp fuse was found in the front cup holder. Also, the passenger door speaker cover panel was in the car, but no speaker. Bonus!

Engine bay. As I mentioned, both headlights have water. moving up, we pulled the air cleaner, which is clean and no water signs present in the air box. No water rings, pooling, debris of any kind. Fluids all seem clean, coolant is low. No discoloration seen through the oil fill. Qtip swap into valve's area came back clean oil. (and now, i'm already praying the milky dipstick isn't a blown head gasket... hmm water in the oil, low coolant, but clean valves. All in time Jared, all in time - breath!). ECM/electronic/fuse bays both sides are spotless. Fuse bays on both sides of the dash show no corrosion, lead for a laser radar detector was removed.

Body, the front cowling and hood took a small hit. (known from the auction pictures). and something punched through the guppy mouth, through the screen and impacted the front crash bar (painted scraped off, no dent). Cowling is depressed 1/2 inch left and right of dead center where it meets the hood, about the size of a softball. Hood lip edge is curled under (about 60 degree curl in the center, then tapering) about 12" left and right of center. The rest of the body is spotless, The driveway is snow/slush so I while I glanced at the undercarriage, I wasn't about to lay down in that mess for any extended period of time. (nothing super obvious though)

My neighbor stopped by, he runs a used car lot and his son-in law restores VW's in their driveway. He offered to buy me a new battery at cost (he can get Interstates) and had some fun with us exploring the new ride. Its not even on the road yet and it's turning heads!!

I need to start my "to do list, I'm expecting it will be like my honey-do-list and never actually get fully completed.

Also, a bit of a bummer, the owners manuals were not in the car... ebay time!

Buy/install a new battery, change the oil, obtain owners manuals, get it inside the heated garage (by end of day Sunday) open up the overhead lights to drain/inspect. Ok, that's enough additions to the list for now!.

Till the next update! Peace!

 

Hi.

I'm impressed.

The owners manual is available in the "stickies" at the top of this section.

Also available for download JTIS (Jaguar Technical Information Service) and JEPC (Jaguar Electronic Parts Catalog). Both a must for fixing your car.

SNG Barrat also have a part catalog available.

Take a look at Gus' page. (JagRepair.com) A goldmine of information.

Best of luck.

 

Jared, check the search for rear window relays. You can jump and get the windows up. So far so good I would say. Meaning when you turned the key on, no smoke. Big plus.

Wayne

 

looking forward to following your journey! As oyster mentioned - between the stickies/JTIS and Gus's web site and the forum members - you need look no further for resources

 

Best of luck with the project, you are indeed a brave soul to take on a wet cat. My 03 XK8 runs perfect but if I even think about getting the engine wet everything goes bonkers.

Will be watching for your up dates..

By the way, yes the rear side windows are controlled by the roof switch, first thing down and last thing up when operating the roof.

 

Congrats on the new project. I second your bravery, or is it something else :-)

I would not have the backbone to take on a flood car, and my dry x100 was a money pit restoration.

Truly, best of luck and have fun b

 

DsD - Jandreu yea...brave would be putting the positive spin on things!!! I'll leave it at that too. annnnnnddd if i'm honest I am prepared for the idea that I might have chosen wrong with a flood car. Was hard to pass this one up with nothing in the pictures showing water damage.. (of course auction houses take really good pictures too, highly detailed and show you everything you'd ever want to see right?)

Cost comes into play. (along with my auction addiction and trying to find a "deal') Were this ready-running-perfect then it was either my new garage, or the car. Now... the wise men I read (wonder where I might have found them?) would likely point out that it is possible that I will have more into this set of wheels then had I simply went to the "for sale" forums and made a deal. wouldn't be the first time I've been upside down on a project, but, I'm SURE i'm the only one that has ever happened too. (of course, I never expected I could acquire a R with a nearly perfect body/interior for what I paid for this beauty either.... I tried for 7 other cars of the past few months, came close a few times, but always over my threshold).

And that brings up the last major point. Project. I like the challenge, building my own homes, Model railroading, buying auction cars for kids/wife/myself/friends/for sale. Keeps my mind and hands busy, I learn along the way and I can't put a real value on the satisfaction/joy of doing it "by self". I've never bought new, snowmobiles, boats, carts, etc.. like many of you, i'm just wired that way.

So, once again thanks to you all and the forums. I found the "rear window" jumper instructions, and even a youtube video. made a quick double spade jumper, pulled the two relays. (light white corrosion on some of the end points, electrical contact cleaner dabbed into the Female ends and the male spades were cleaned before re-inserting. ) but the windows are up!..

Also just to clarify on my electrical test post. in no way did we attempt to turn over the engine.. (not with the crud sitting in the oil pan) we simply put the key into position 1 and 2 to check contacts and switches. This morning I finished the paint job on the previous project and after some cure time, i'll roll the jag into the heated garage and get alot more serious about starting the fuse checks and oil change. Once the new battery comes. (I suspect from a lot of the posts that my clicking relays without movement could be low amperage/voltage driven, even though the posts were reading 12.49v) and the oil is changed we'll find out if the engine is free and what the compression is.

thanks for reading along and all the advice/encouragement. (and a bit of OMG he didn't buy a flood car did he? shaking of the head.)

 

Well said. There is a portion of the Jaguar owning population that is not concerned about the economics, but just enjoys working on, fixing and improving these beauties.
Good luck as you move forward with yours.

 

The dripping from the overhead console may not be water but hydraulic fluid leaking from either the hoses or ram. This would also explain the top not functioning and is a well known issue with the X100.

Good luck with your new project car, you'll love it when it's up and running, and you can put the top down. It's why I'm restoring mine even though it makes no economic sense.

 

Tberg, I do believe your right, that is oil, not water in the overhead. guess that gets added to the list. Top was locked. it popped with an allen wrench and re locked after the top didn't move with a gentle push to the rear. Might as well leave the top up for now, it's not my highest priority.

The interior got a quick wipe down with simple green. Quite a lot of Texas Dust covering the interior. I was looking for the top pump, but more reading required before I tackle that idea. Since the car had been in the heated garage for 6ish hours I figured it was time to drain the oil and see what I really might be up against.

Putting the car on 8" jack stands provided enough clearance get get the drain pain and enough of my body under the front end.
Then the fun started. (wry sarcasm, in cause you missed it)

coming out of the oil pan first. .and with much force, was somewhere around 1/2 GALLON of water. totally clear, almost looked like you could drink it. Then the expected milky mix, and then clear oil. I let that drain until I could get my hand on the filter without getting to messy. German filter was nothing but pure, clean oil.

Continuing the mixed bag of what did I buy....I opened the fuse box on the driver front fender. Totally dry, no sign of water. So next, I figured I'd get into the driver coil pack and see what a plug looked like. I determined somewhere around the third time I dropped the 7mm socket that Professional Jaguar service people must have small hands, strong fingers and undying patience.

Unfortunately, the coil packs were themselves packed in water. I pulled number one off the plug, cleaned the coil pack and the housing leading to the plug was wicked until dry (I might need to buy stock in Bounty considering the tube was full.) The plug was removed and retrieved and no real sign of rust or water could be seen on the end. I discounted the moisture on the threads due to the wet environment it was retrieved from. I rolled a paper towel as tight as I could and twisted it into the cylinder until it stopped. Nothing really to note. No real moisture, perhaps a bit of oily residue. I repeated this procedure with cylinder 2 and obtained similar results. Both cylinders were fogged with a solid shot of WD 40 and I packed the plug tube with paper towels.

So, mixed feelings so far. I sure didn't like seeing all that water in the system, but there are no signs the oil pump was ever engaged once it got wet. I'm also very very confused on how parts, (fuses, air filter, air box etc) can be totally dry yet the coil packs are in a bath. the interior looks perfect, discounting the oil in the overhead, and the A pillar covers being loose. No real sign of water in the interior. Fog lights are half full. (hadn't seen them until I got down to change the oil). I noticed a intake (square tube) behind the oil filter. I have no idea what it is, but is it possible water was forced into the engine that way? (not sure how that explains the coil pack area, but it's a thought that would explain how all the electronic areas, and interior are dry.)

I won't really know what direction I'll take until I can finish the coil pack cleaning and find out if the engine is free or not. Assuming it is, then add fresh oil and do a compression test. If not.... well i'm not going down that path tonight... thinking positive and the engine is no longer full of water.. right?!?!

Peace