since changing the secondary cam chain tensioners the car has run very quietly and smoothly. This week I changed the water pump, hoses, thermostat etc and added new coolant. Today the car ran fine for about 6 miles and then the engine became "lumpy". It feels like its not firing on all cylinders, and the exhaust sounds a bit burbly. It ran rough with low power and got me home, but when going up hills I got a restricted performance message and amber light which went away when back on level road.

I,ve checked all the connectors that may have got wet when doing the coolant work, installed new spark plugs, cleaned injector connectors etc and can't find anything obvious. I will see if I can get any codes read next week at a jag shop but has anyone got any ideas. The timing was spot on when I did the tensioners and I guess the chances of that having slipped is very slim. It feels like no injectors or spark on a couple of cylinders. How can I test that, can I use my multi meter on the injectors ? Is it ok to remove and test coil and plugs one by one to see if they spark ?

The weird thing Is one minute it was running very smooth, and the next very rough indeed. I am happy to carry out ignition and injector tests but have not done that on these engines before. Any guidance will be gratefully recieved.

 

Read dem pesky OBD codes.
You can get a bluetooth OBD dongle off EBay and use 'Torque' on an android. Total cost <$15.

 

+1

Codes are the key to troubleshooting. Guesswork = many $$ spent in throwing parts at a problem.

Graham

 

I have the same symptoms after spilling anti freeze from the holding tank on the back of the motor left side (while sitting in drivers seat). It shows codes P0302, P0304, P0308, P1314, P1316. I have not resolved it yet but suspect that I soaked wires that are now arcing. My garage says to drive it for a few days while it dries out but if wires are indeed arcing I suspect more wire splicing to come. I only say this because I have had three instances of wires in the engine compartment of my 2000 xkr where the sheathing is cracked or missing altogether. Good luck and please post your fix as I am in the same boat as you.

 

You're best to stick with your original thread and just monitor this one - it gets mighty confusing if you ask the same question in two threads.

 

Fixed. I was right with my gut feeling, not firing on all cylinders. Two of the coil packs were wet and dirty up inside their "tube" so the spark must have been shorting out to the engine block. Cleaned and dried them and now all is well. I am going to look at making seals to stop any liquid getting down the spark plug wells, should be an easy mod if I can find the right rubber parts. Keep the oil and coolant out seems to be the key.

Years of oil and grime with some added coolant spillage was the issue.

 

Good job, now you've got time to order that OBD reader!

 

I purchased an innova ODB reader a few weeks ago based on reviews from this forum. I have not been able to make it work so far, when I plug it in the xk8 dash display scrolls through every warning message and the innova shows no codes at all. I will have a play with it again to see what I am doing wrong.

 

Doesn't sound good. Does it auto detect protocol or do you have to set it?

 

I have been fighting with a lot of spark coil problems on my 95 XJ6. I have purchased new aftermarket coils and bought several used off of eBay. Failure after failure after failure with lots of misses and catalytic converter codes. Only one of the coil compresses the spring against the plug when I screw it down. Others have burned through the rubber bootee and many measure open secondary coils. Anybody been through this problem before? Is there a part to extend the tip of the pin inside the rubber bootee??