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Stripped Fred - fleet news - S type fixed itself


stripped fred

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So the Jag is now back. Big bill but I was expecting that. The mechanic spent around 16 hours on it, but they charged me 6 as he admitted it was a bit of a training exercise for him and made a pleasant change from the more mundane work. It also had an MOT. It only failed on a washer pump, which was a nice surprise.

The ECU was replaced and coded. He had to delete the egr valve so it didn't show any codes as the valve was removed a while back. There is still an issue with starting. It is quite lumpy and does not like the cold. It clears after a while though and then seems to run fine. The mechanic said he suspected number 4 and 5 injectors. I'm going to leave it for a while as I've just spent over £700 on it and I suspect new injectors and coding will see a similar bill.

I have had some errors including gearbox fault, ABS fault and no stability control since driving it mainly on the way back from the garage. I think this is probably an ABS sensor but it's only an occasional fault. The gearbox fault tends to happen if you try and pull away straight after starting in cold weather, so I let it warm up a bit first.

The gearbox can occasionally be jumpy but overall it feels fine. New fluid would be nice but again I am going to leave it for a bit as there is evidence of a change in the service history.

The Jag is really a long distance car as it takes an age to warm up, has lumpy idling issues and drinks lots of fuel when cold. Probably not good for a diesel engine either. I will use the cmax for local trips, which is mainly what I am doing nowadays.

I like the Jag but I haven't fully bonded with it yet. It makes me drive to slow, which is strange as it's the most powerful car I've owned with 200+ odd bhp. I will see how it goes when I have driven it more. I have an issue with selling cars. It always takes some soul searching. I can't flip vehicles like some on this site! I also like the feel of it, very refined and lots of toys, most of which work, temperamental parking sensors aside...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quick update on the fleet...

Jaguar S type

I decided to buy some miller's injection cleaner for this. Added to half a tank of diesel. Probably not true but it ran better straight away, or appeared to. I took it for a half hour blast as it's not been used much and only for short journeys, which it does not like and doesn't allow it to warm up. All good now, apart from a low coolant light.

I bought some red coolant and topped it up, only to see it leaking out between the front o/s wheel and the engine. I will get it on the ramps and remove the undertray, to hopefully find a nice easy fix. This is testing me at the moment....

Micra

My son and I spent a couple of hours on this. We got the headlights and bumper back on. I had an MOT booked today but had to cancel until next week as there are still a couple of jobs to do. One is to fix bottom radiator supports as the old ones were rusted. I called Nissan and they will be here within the week. £36 but she's worth it.... Took it for a little blast on private land and it reminded me how much fun it is to drive. I let the lad have a go too.

C max

This had a flat battery as parked up for a few days and I left the dashcam plugged in. Quick jump off the Micra and all good.

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I went to start the Jag and it rewarded me with 'abs fault', 'gearbox fault', 'low coolant' and 'parking brake fault'. This is testing my patience at the moment.

It also wouldn't start initially. Much churning of the starter finally managed to get it running, but the smoke from the exhaust was a bit concerning.

The garage who changed the ECU said that injectors 4 and 5 may be faulty. Would this tie up with that?

I am assuming the parking brake fault may be due to the cold weather, although moving it a metre forwards with the brakes locked may not have helped. I am hoping this issue resolves itself.

I am going to book it in to an independent jaguar specialist to have the injectors looked at, the abs sensor changed, which will hopefully resolve the gearbox issue that flashes up when I first use it, fixed by re-starting, and also to look at the low coolant issue. You can see it running out the bottom when topping it up.  I noticed that the header tank had a bolt missing when it came back to me following the ECU swap so I am hoping they left something loose, although I can't work out why they would have removed the header tank to swap the ECU?

Any comments on any of the above would be welcome, before I drive this thing into the local canal...

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Just a thought... Range Rovers of this vintage often have their steering angle sensor getting confused if the battery has been replaced or allowed to drop voltage... this has a knock-on effect on the ABS and DSC and throws error messages on the dashboard. The usual way to resolve this is to reset the steering angle sensor, by switching on the engine, staying in Park or Neutral, turning the steering wheel full lock to the right and then full lock to the left, then returning it to centre. Switch off and switch on and all should be well.

A quick internet wander suggests that Jaguar X and S types operate in a similar way, which would appear to be backed up by the 'DSC Not Available' and ABS warnings you are experiencing. These would suggest the steering angle sensor in confused. Have a go at the RR reset procedure described above but repeat the lock-to-lock process before switch off, so left-right-left-right before centring and switch off.

See if that has the desired effect.

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2 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Just a thought... Range Rovers of this vintage often have their steering angle sensor getting confused if the battery has been replaced or allowed to drop voltage... this has a knock-on effect on the ABS and DSC and throws error messages on the dashboard. The usual way to resolve this is to reset the steering angle sensor, by switching on the engine, staying in Park or Neutral, turning the steering wheel full lock to the right and then full lock to the left, then returning it to centre. Switch off and switch on and all should be well.

A quick internet wander suggests that Jaguar X and S types operate in a similar way, which would appear to be backed up by the 'DSC Not Available' and ABS warnings you are experiencing. These would suggest the steering angle sensor in confused. Have a go at the RR reset procedure described above but repeat the lock-to-lock process before switch off, so left-right-left-right before centring and switch off.

See if that has the desired effect.

Thanks Mrs6c. I will certainly give it a try. From what I can find online it seems to suggest an abs sensor could also be the cause of the 'gearbox fault' alert when first pulling away but I don't really have a clue. I have a simple code reader, and I've also used the torque app, but neither show any faults, even though I'm playing dashboard bingo!

My main issue is with the lumpy running. It sounds terrible, particularly in cold weather, lumpy and won't rev, and I think the excessive smoke and diesel smell must indicate the injectors. I know they're not cheap to replace and I will have to use a garage as beyond my skills, particularly as they need coding.

This car is going to empty my wallet but I'm in now and I don't want to give up on it. A recipe for disaster! I just think these S types are not too reliable, similar to an old land rover product in some ways. I just like the way it looks mainly but I also feel like giving it a kick. Sorry for the ramble...

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I booked the Jag back in at the garage, a specialist this time, in 2 weeks time. List of issues:

Hard to start

Running terribly with lots of smoke

ABS/DCS/GEARBOX lights on intermittently

Coolant leak

park brake not releasing

I am not too happy with the likely cost but I have neither the time nor the mechanical know-how to attempt myself, other than the parking brake which I will need to sort out so I can drive it to the garage. I've seen a few YouTube videos on applying 12v to a plug in the boot which will hopefully work.....

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55 minutes ago, rickvw72 said:

Deffo recommend Accords. Six months back I bought the roughest, cheapest facelift estate.

its had a sidelight bulb.

I have been following your updates and I think you may have given me the idea, although I have always liked that model of Accord in touring form.

I suppose it's just about finding a good one now. I don't really need a diesel but that would be the one I would go for as I know it's a decent engine 👍

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1 hour ago, rickvw72 said:

Hmm, you may have picked up your warning bongs from battery getting low when it took ages to start.

Have you had the fuel return from the injectors checked, leak off or leak back test? 

I did think this actually as I was churning it over for a long time. It still bongs though, in normal use, especially ABS/DCS/GEARBOX when first moving off. I think I will take the battery out and give it a charge.

My usual garage tested the injectors and the mechanic said he thought no's 4 and 5 may be faulty. It does say leak off test on the invoice.  They're not a specialist though and they had it for 3 months so I am not 100% confident in their opinion. It does look likely though.

The thing is it was running a bit lumpy but now it appears to hardly be able to keep itself going. I don't why it has worsened, unless it is the cold weather / low battery? 

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10 hours ago, Crispian_J_Hotson said:

Have you realised that you are a member of the lumpy running cold engine club yet?

I have! It seems to be a common complaint on that forum. I think it's my injectors. A low battery may also not be helping.

I shouldn't really have a diesel Jag as it only gets used for occasional short journeys, especially at the moment, which it doesn't seem to like very much 😐

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The Micra is in for it's MOT as we speak 😦. New crossmember was fitted, and welded (not by me), but it took longer than expected.

I pumped the tyres up as three were flat, and nipped it into the car wash to remove some of the green algae that had accumulated. There's nothing obviously wrong with the car and it ran like a Swiss watch on the way here. I'm thinking of using this as the daily and parking the Jag up somewhere and forgetting about it.

P422 LOA for any MOT watchers amongst you....

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4 minutes ago, stripped fred said:

The Micra is in for it's MOT as we speak 😦. New crossmember was fitted, and welded, but it took longer than expected.

I pumped the tyres up as three were flat, and nipped it into the car wash to remove some of the green algae that had accumulated. There's nothing obviously wrong with the car and it ran like a Swiss watch on the way here. I'm thinking of using this as the daily and parking the Jag up somewhere and forgetting about it.

P422 LOA for any MOT watchers amongst you....

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Good daily option- the 1L engine should be just right for it.

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  • stripped fred changed the title to Stripped Fred - fleet news - Jag drives*

I spent an hour on this today. I connected up the fully charged battery that I took off it when I suspected it was faulty. It was not.

Car will start after a bit of churning. Still lumpy and smoky. However, I noticed that the smoke only comes from the offside exhaust pipe when it's warmed up and it does improve after a while, although the lumpiness remains. Can anyone tell me if this points to injectors? Specifically no's 4 and 5?

I disconnected the plug for the parking brake, as I have seen on the internet, and connected a 12v supply. I got a few sparks but nothing more. I changed the polarity and got a machine gun type sound. Well the brake is no longer stuck on as it doesn't work at all now! At least I could drive the car so I took it around the block. The car did not like this at all, as you can see in my video. At least I can now drive it to it's appointment with the garage next week.

I am going to ignore the coolant leak for now...

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Could be injectors, or jammed egr, or fuel pressure, timing, or, or, or...

You need a leak off test doing, you could possibly test them yourself, maybe worth a google.

Really needs some accurate diagnosis as there’s so many things. 
 

If you have injectors returning different amounts of fuel, it suggests the fuel is leaking through into the cylinders, leaking injectors can make it slow to build fuel pressure, so you need some accurate diagnostics to rule things in or out. DJS in Earl Shilton should be able to diagnose it I’d have thought. 

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17 hours ago, rickvw72 said:

Could be injectors, or jammed egr, or fuel pressure, timing, or, or, or...

You need a leak off test doing, you could possibly test them yourself, maybe worth a google.

Really needs some accurate diagnosis as there’s so many things. 
 

If you have injectors returning different amounts of fuel, it suggests the fuel is leaking through into the cylinders, leaking injectors can make it slow to build fuel pressure, so you need some accurate diagnostics to rule things in or out. DJS in Earl Shilton should be able to diagnose it I’d have thought. 

It had a leak off test, although it was completed by my local garage and the mechanic, although very helpful, admitted it was something he was not an expert in. He said that no 4 and 5 injectors may be faulty. This is why I was wondering if these two cylinders are in the driver's side as that exhaust is more smokey.

The EGR valve has been blanked off and mapped out.

It certainly doesn't run right, won't start easily, is smokey and smells of unburnt diesel, and it has hardly any power. I think it is the injectors. I'll know in just over a week's time, as long as I'm able to drive it the 4 miles to the garage.

The problem I have is that I'm not able to compete a lot of jobs myself, so costs could rise quickly and it may be uneconomic to fix the injectors, parking brake, coolant leak and it also needs a gearbox oils service. I think I will just get the minimum done for now and see how it goes.

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2 hours ago, barefoot said:

I had an XJ-8 for three years. It frightened the living shit out of me every time I went to fire it up, but by Christ it was spectacularly nice.

I will never have another.

I actually hold you slightly responsible for me having a Jag now as you showed me your car at a Shitefest a few years ago...

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Out of interest... Does it start up ok once it's warm? 

At least it's mobile, it's a very common car and systems, also with very common faults occurring. Once she's hooked up to life support by someone who knows what they are looking at, the enigma will be decoded. The problem with the issues the car has is that they can have a thousand answers.

Things like battery checks are simple checks that are easy to perform at home, common causes of problems and in the case of these cars, can cause mystifying issues if they are acting up, I've had it myself, a reoccurring abs fault last year because the battery was about 1v down simply where the car wasn't being used- they're so needy. It pays to check these basics before carting the car off to a repairer, and you've done that. Even when I was a tech and even with the most up to date diagnostic machine, we still got lead up the wrong path more often than not, and it was quicker to raid the parts department and play parts darts than to completely destroy our allocated book time for that job which ultimately impacted on our overall productivity score. That in mind, Joe Normal fixing at the kerbside hasn't got a chance. 

Good to see it's off to be looked at, let them have the headache, that's what you're paying them for, but it's good to get a basic understanding on any issues raised so that your not blinded with science when the diagnostic results are in, and that's where the appropriate forums can be useful.

Personally I'd be prepared for a set of injectors which could make or break it, parking brake gearbox rebuild, header tank (unless you know where it's coming from) and a speed sensor of some sort. Best of luck with it, fingers crossed that its all down to just a blown bulb though!

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