And they came out easily when it arrived here.
I put antisieze on everything which isn’t Loctited…
You notice the antiseize on them thar bolts?
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OK, so first drive with the heat shield fitted and without question it reduces upward heat radiation dramatically.
That said, for the first ever such issue with this car (presumably coincidentally?) I repeatedly progressively lost power every couple of minutes. Once or twice a quick rev in neutral brought it back but the other times it died and I had to pull over. All gauges where they need to be, no apparent connection to anything being overheated by the newly deflected heat now incinerating something previously unchallenged in such a way - which was first thought due to the coincidence. No smoking guns there, right? (not literally, thankfully).
Once dead it wouldn’t restart without pulling the choke out. To the uninitiated it felt like a fuel starvation issue, so that points me to the fuel filter/pump, right?
Only potential loose end, as it were, is that the dipstick isn’t sitting correctly in its hole as it’s rotated perhaps 30 degrees counterclockwise in order to get out of the way of the heat shield. I may cut a slot in the heat shield to allow it to sit back where it should, since now you actually have to remove the heat shield to check the oil as it won’t withdraw in its new orientation - happily removing it is quite literally 5 bolts and 2 minutes.
The loose dipstick couldn’t be causing a vacuum issue could it…?
It does seem coincidental…
It doesn’t seem likely, but if the heat shield can be removed that easily I’d pull it off and go for a drive. That could either confirm or deny that the heat shield is the problem.
Do you know when the last time the points in the fuel pump were changed or filed. that might be
an intermittent problem with fuel starvation.
Yep, will take the heat shield off, refit the dipstick and take it out again. The local AAA Flatbed drivers tend to wait for me around the corner anyway. Haven’t done it yet only because my earlier drive was between meetings, now tied to my desk again, looking forlornly out the window at the car.
Still seems coincidental, never a hint of a similar issue before.
Also it seemed less an intermittent problem than an “every minute or two issue”, as if something were building up, or dropping away (vacuum?) until it died, then once settled would restart only to do the same cycle again.
I agree with John. If it’s that easy to remove the heat shield, just do so and see if the problem remains. I’d also check everything around the area of your new heat shield that you might have disturbed when you installed it - for example, all the vacuum hoses that go to the brake cylinders. Suddenly needing choke to start a hot engine can be a symptom of a large vacuum leak.
This has to be completely coincidental.
Does it have a condensor? Bad condensors can mimic fuel issues.
Rob
Instead, just slightly bend your dipstick. It is just, after all, a steel rod. You’re not going to hurt it. A minor bend above the block stop will get it out of the way of the heat shield.
Robert
Looks good. Where did you get the shield? And what are those 5 bolts on the top bolted too? Is there a bracket underneath and if so, what is that bolted to?
Got the heat shield on ebay. There are none listed right now but I will happily ask the guy if he has any more, he was very pleasant and made sure it would fit the car.
Some better views of it on this thread:
To close this thread out on 2 fronts:
- The manifold – I went the easy way and bought some new ones from XK’s, pre-ceramic coated. Didn’t want to risk breaking a stud getting the old ones off and then having a broken car sitting there for 3 weeks while I sent it away to be coated.
- The coincident progressive stalling at speed. This got as far as actually dying at the side of the road and a flatbed (the local ones are getting to know me…). Happily, as suggested, it was simply the fuel pump.