Hello to all,
I have v12 he xjs, which I purchased not running,big,big mistake I had the engine going after a couple of hours, I thought I would clean up the motor and other bits removed dist cap for clearing dropped the cap on cement and broke.that,s when the misery started,waiting for cap to arrive checked the distributor for wear the bearings fell out not a good sign rebuilt the dissy popped it back in,the cap arrived next day, fitted it on tried to start nothing motor turned removed the cap turned motor again rotor not moving removed the dissy again looked in the valley cover no teeth on the jackshaft refitted a used shaft put every thing back together no start a big back fire got my attention you bet,started looking for the problem found that valve timing was out, removed the timing case, borrowed a gauge from a mate he was working on a MK7 off with covers reset cam timing replaced timing cover refilled radiator left until the next day.
Checked oil full of water ,I had some how I court the head gasket bugger !,went through it all again this time.very careful,set timing as the engine was already on tdc,tried to start again nothing small backfire on inlet manifold, turned 180 still nothing back to square one,there is better brains that mine,out there help would be well received, thank you in advance
Regards Kanga
Since it backfired, then you presumably had petrol but not a correctly timed spark.
If you are at TDC for piston 1a, then either the first or seventh cylinder is about to fire. Check that you are at 1a TDC on the compression stroke and then that should mean cylinder 1a is about to fire.
Since you had the distributor out, be aware that it has a helical gear to the jackshaft so you may have put it back one cylinder out as it rotated into place.
The plug leads go anticlockwise and 1a is marked on the cap. Obviously that tells you where you are expecting to see the rotor.
If the teeth on the jackshaft which mesh with the distributor were missing, that metal went somewhere.
Thank you for email ,yes I did check the valve timing after removing the timing cover twice, until I received a workshop manual and found you needed a timing gauge, luck would have it a mate had a mk7 and the gauge, should read manual first I caused myself misery, as they say.
Cheers kanga
Des
Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
5
Thank you for email ,yes I did check the valve
timing after removing the timing cover twice...
Considering the issues you’ve had, you probably should also check the front
crank damper. They fail in the rubber, allowing the outer ring to slip relative
to the inner ring. Since the timing marks are on the outer ring, from then on
the timing marks are incorrect – and if you set up either the ignition timing or
the camshaft timing based on them, you will be only compounding the
problems.
Thanks for the reply ,I checked the timing via the sparkplug on tdc 1A and then the damper it was spot on, as I cannot check compression on 1A because of stuck exhaust valve.
Marik said it can be done by using number 7 cylinder almost ready to fire, but will try that when the weather is litter better Cheers
Des bownds Kanga
Thank you for email ,yes I did check the valve
timing after removing the timing cover twice...
Considering the issues you’ve had, you probably should also check the front
crank damper. They fail in the rubber, allowing the outer ring to slip relative
to the inner ring. Since the timing marks are on the outer ring, from then on
the timing marks are incorrect – and if you set up either the ignition timing or
the camshaft timing based on them, you will be only compounding the
problems.
