I've gotten a free XJS

Hi all. This is my first post, as I have recently acquired a “free” 1989 XJS convertible from upstate New York. The car had sat warm and dry in a garage for 13 years. The woman that owned it was retiring, moving, and cleaning out her unwanted items. Her comment was, “I just want someone who wants it to have it”. My brother-in-law and I showed up to pick the car up, and the owner came with title in hand. She signed it and said it’s all yours. The car appears in good shape with only a few rust spots, fairly new tires and a little over 80k miles. A four hour trip towing the car home on the b.i.l.'s truck and trailer, and then the work began.

Changed the plugs (incredibly complicated). Removed the fuel rail and cleaned all the injectors. Drained all the 13 year old fuel, changed the fuel filter and flushed all the lines. Changed the oil and filter. Put everything together try to start her up. Nothing. No fuel delivery. After trying a few more things, I gave up and towed it to a shop that understands electronics better than I. They put in a different ignition amplifier and it fired right up.

All in all, I’ve spent about $1000 on my free car (not too bad really). I have tried to title and register the car. Another project. Registry says I need a bill of sale even though no money was transferred. Difficult to track down the “seller” with her moving and retiring. looks like we now have all the paperwork to get registered. I look forward to sharing future work on the car.

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I think the only response worthwhile here is that quintessential Aussie
response - "You lucky b*****d!

(Currently, Oz, these are selling for more than early XK8 or even an XKR!)

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Free was just the down payment! Agreed, you are a lucky one! Enjoy! Harry Price

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Tom,

Congratulations. The XJ-S convertibles are beautiful cars. I bought a 1990 Signal Red Classic Collection convertible for my wife 12 years ago and we have put over 60 miles on it since then, it now has 124K miles on it. For the past few years I have been doing a “rolling restoration” on it getting it repainted, put a new convertible top on, restored the trunk with all new fuel lines and some replacement carpeting, and most recently I tidied up the engine bay quite a bit. I am currently restoring the interior repairing/replacing some of the carpeting, redying the leather, and recovering the seats with new leather that I had professionally made to match the original doeskin leather with red piping.

There are many on this list that will be able to help you out when you have questions or issues. I recommend that you download Kirby Palm’s book from the Jag-Lovers site (it’s free) and it has a wealth of information to help you work on your XJ-S. In addition, I am a strong believer in having copies of the Jaguar Repair Operations Manual (ROM), the S57 Electrical Guide and the Jaguar Parts Catalogue as well as the owner’s manual. Armed with these documents you should be able to tackle most challenges that you will face. I have had great luck finding lots of bits and pieces that I need for my Jaguars because I can look up the part numbers and then shop around.

BTW, if the shop replaced the ignition amplifier your problem was ignition and not fuel delivery. I suppose that it could also have had a fuel delivery problem, but swapping out the ignition amplifier would have no effect on fuel delivery.

Regards,

Paul M. Novak

1990 Series III V12 Vanden Plas

1990 XJ-S Classic Collection convertible

1987 XJ6 Vanden Plas

1984 XJ6 Vanden Plas

1969 E-Type FHC

1957 MK VIII Saloon

Ramona, CA USA

Tom:

  1. More than one “Blll of Sale” has been “created” to please the paper loving folks at DMV’s.

  2. But, some more reasonable clerks will accept a Statement of History" depicting the fact of the sale and that you no longer have a way to reach the seller".

  3. What a deal!!!

Carl

Paul. Thanks for the feedback. I will definitely be looking into manuals and will take a look at Kirby Palm’s book. From what I have learned, the ignition amplifier has a connection to the fuel injection controller that lets it know that the ignition is cycling. Without this signal, the injection system will not operate. I’m sure the ignition system was also not working properly with the bad unit, so replacement fixed both.

Carl. Looks like bill of sale is on its way now by return mail. If this doesn’t work, “creation” may be the next option.

From what I have
learned, the ignition amplifier has a connection to the fuel injection
controller that lets it know that the ignition is cycling. Without
this signal, the injection system will not operate.

True enough, but if the ign amp is working at all it’s generating the required
signal. If this is a Lucas CEI car, the only way replacing the ign amp would
fix a fuelling issue is if the 2-cent resistor inside the amp had failed. Fix
would take a half hour and cost 2 cents.

It’s more likely it’s the ign amp that had failed, which in turn caused the lack
of fuel and that’s what you were told was the problem before they found the
primary fault and corrected it.

A new GM HEI amp should have cost something less than $40. I’m betting
they replaced the entire Lucas AB 14 amp and charged you considerably
more than that.

– Kirbert

i had a 1975 XJC coupe V12 given to me ,i’m in Texas , well state has to be some from of monetary exchange.

i gave owner $1.00 dollar, he gave me a signed title. done.

Here in 'weird" CA. A game was regularly played in private party sales. DMV charges a “Sales Tax” at the time of registration. Hence, many Bills of Sale understated the amount of money that actually changed hands. As I understand, the DMV finaly caught on and ignores that. Merely, look in KBB and charge accordingly.

Carl

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Here in Ontario, the MTO (DMV equivalent) charges tax based on the higher of stated sale price or KBB value. So you never quite know what the total tax is going to be until you’re standing at the counter.

Tom,
Congrats on the ‘free’ XJS! I’m relatively new here as well, having a few months back acquired my 2nd XJS.

Paul
1989 XJS Coupe, 5.3 V12 w/ Lucas ignition 81k (km)

You haven’t mentioned if the fuel pump is running. Do you hear it? IIRC, you have an in line fuel pump. You should hear it if the boot is open. It will run only for a few seconds (I think 10) if the engine isn’t running. You can try jumping the fuel pump relay and see if that starts the pump.

Tom
Bill of sale"creation" was the way out for some in Oz, however to outsmart a bogus “bill of sale” some states now require a vendors phone number on the bill of sale for checking.
Trev