Sad. She refuses to start. What do I check next?
 

Yes. I am sad or maybe nuts. :icon_nut:

Read through the Stickies/FAQ. Searched online, Searched the forum.

After replacing the overriders and buttoning down the front bumper cover and reattaching the fog lamps and side markers. She makes a strong turn over. But, does not start.

1. I checked the #7 20amp fuse in the trunk
2. Battery has 12.3 volts and terminals are clean and tight
3. I have almost a full tank of gas
4. No OBDII fault codes
5. No dash warning lights stay on
6. Gas cap removed and replaced with no obvious excess pressure in the tank
7. There is plenty of fuel pressure in the rail (I don't have a gauge) but it does shoot out upon pressing the Schrader valve
8. Moved the auto shift lever from park to reverse back to park
9. The side markers and fog lamps work (so no damage to wires on reinstall)

She cranks strong. But, does not fire.

What do I check next? Really would like to figure this out before I resort to a service center.

got spark?

Hi,
This deserves a compression check. If you had the engine unfired for a while, or only fired for a short time, the cylinders may be washed free of oil, and not enough to hold compression to allow ignition in the cylinder. If this is the case, pull each plug, add oil to each cylinder (15 or so squirts required for mine, someone recently mentioned 50!). Then button everything up, and start her up. Billowing white/blue until all the excess oil is consumed, then everything will be back to normal.
Lesson learned: do not start your engine without allowing it to fully warm up before shut-off.


Hope this helps.


All the best,
Jerry Lippmann

Try starting your car in neutral. It happened to me one time (neutral safety switch was bad). My car would not start in park, but would start in neutral. Good luck.

Your car may have a Nikasil engine and this should help you in finding the problem.

See if this helps

Link JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

Here's my experience with these symptoms.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-my2003-50676/

Good luck!

Oil bath did the trick
 

I just had this same problem with my car. Started it to pull it out of the garage on Saturday. Parked it outside in the cold and rain (Seattle area). Started it back up and drove it into the garage. No problem. Sunday I go to start it up to pull it out of the garage and Blamo! Wouldn't kick over. Tried a couple of times to start, would run very rough for about three seconds then nothing. Wore the battery flat trying to get it started. Charged it overnight, tried it again today, same thing.

So, after reading this post, I pulled all the plugs (replaced them with new ones) and put 10 good squirts of 10w30 in each cylinder. Took it a bit, but it started and BOY did it ever smoke! Took about 20 minutes to run out the oil.

BTW - you can do a spark plug change in 42.5 minutes! including pulling the covers, coils, vacuuming out the spark plug plugs and getting everything back in. I felt like those guys who tear engines down at the drag races!

I'll try that tomorrow. I'll also trip the fuel pump reset button.

Got updated version of cylinders. Will have to look elsewhere for the culprit.

I'll put this on my list. We'll see tomorrow.

Just watched Sam1174's YouTube video on plugs. I'll check them. Third on the list!

Check your inertia switch and reset it.

The car needs 3 things to start fuel, spark and compression and without one of them it will not start. You should check all your fuses and swap like relays and check fuel pressure. If when starting the engine and it spins freely with no compression sound then cylinder washing is present. Check your sun visor and see if the lights come on when you open the mirror if it does not check that fuse in the fuse box at the left door fuse box I think it is a 10a fuse.

So pulling the plugs. NGK R PFR5G IIE. Do these look good or do they need replacement?

to me they look pretty good. Nice brown, dry, a little pooling of oil on threads, gaps are a consistent .040 inches.

Can anyone here recommend AC Delco plugs? Are they good plugs?

Oddly, the plugs I have does not fit my car according to stores on the web! 4.0L 2001

Mine did the same thing after working on figuring out the back windows and dash elect problems, I swapped a couple relays on driver's side engine compartment relay box, started right up. I think I have 2 or 3 bad relays. Still need to figure out seat control modules or relay that feeds them.

Hmmm. I think I'll next swap the relays in the engine compartment (Thanks 55Chevy). So far no joy. Tried the fuel pump reset, tried starting in neutral, ordered new plugs (to arrive on Friday). Then I'll try oil in the cylinders. I seem to remember running it for a few minutes then shutting it down. So maybe that will work.

Hi,


I had a similar with my xk8 - would crank over fine but would not fire. Checked compression (fine), fuel delivery and pressure (fine), relay's (fine), battery (fine). I did notice however that there was no spark (ran a coil with a plug resting against the strut top). I also noticed that when the ignition was switched on, the J gate did not light up showing which gear was selected. Normally when in park the 'P' illuminates and in neutral the 'N' illuminates etc. Eventually I traced the fault to the rotary switch fitted to the gearbox underneath the car. Replaced the rotary switch and after six months of scratching my head and fiddling around, the car started immeadiately! Aparently this is a safety feature of our cars - if the car cannot detect which gear it is in (requires two inputs - the gear selector to match the rotary switch), then it will not energise the coils to start.


I hope the above might be of some use - cheers

She's running again! As a few of you have deduced a lack of oil in the cylinders to created enough compression. Put in 5 squirts of oil in each cylinder and she is running again.

The fact that I did run it for a few minutes and shut it down before all of this happened was the big clue. In any case, I did get new plugs in there.

I have a new battery but that will go on the shelf until I get a chance to replace my old one. It still takes a 14.2vt reading when charging so I think I'm fine.

I need to check the MAF connections and retighten the seals for the intake as I am getting an engine warning light and P0102 and P0112 OBDII readings. These are still there even after clearing the codes and resetting the ECM (battery method).

All in all I am happy just to get her running again. Thanks all.

That's great. This forum has saved me many times, enjoy getting back into your coupe. Where in SoCal?

You may want to read this and check the build date to verify.

Link JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource