[xj-s] Cat Fire, Lack of Power, Was Spark Plug Insultor Blown Out

Scott Watts replied to the ‘‘Spark Plug’’ subject.

This is my car that Scott was refering to. He had come to my home
to help me with the spark plug installation. After the plug was
installed, the engine seemed to run fine. (At idle) Scott had gone
for test run and driven only 2 miles when the fire occured. After a
while, I went looking for him. He made the comment that the car did
not seem to have the power that it should! Shortly afterwards, the
fire started, as described below.

We started the car again and looked around for problems and did
not ‘‘see’’ anything at that point. I jiggled some wires just under
the air rail on the left side. The idle increased markedly for a
second or two. Scott immediately felt as if the temp sensor had
kicked in and that there was a short, or broken, connection to the
coolant sensor making the engine run rich.

I drove the car home and the power just was not there. I told Scott
that the temp gauge was was not working.

Monday, I decided to replace the wires, hoping that would clear the
problem. There were two wires invloved (Like Zip Cord) and one ran
to the temp sensor and the other split and ran to the compressor
and ???. Thought I had replaced the 2 wires and started the
engine. NO Change??

Looked further and discovered that the wires has gotten hot & very
brittle, had broken into between engine and the firewall, about 5
inches down.

Would be very hard to reach with butt connector and crimping tool.
not sure if I can split the wire in order to slice.(Like Zip Cord)

Can someone tell me how I may trace the wires to a point that I can
splice new wires. I can only feel and see the wire to the back of
the V.

I know some of this is not clear. so please ask me questions as
needed.

Thank you,

Bill Giardina 1989 XJS Conv. Raymond, MS–
Bill…
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

// please trim quoted text to context only

In reply to a message from Bill… sent Thu 17 Apr 2003:

Scott Watts replied to the ‘‘Spark Plug’’ subject.

This is my car that Scott was refering to. He had come to my home
to help me with the spark plug installation. After the plug was
installed, the engine seemed to run fine. (At idle) Scott had gone
for test run and driven only 2 miles when the fire occured. After a
while, I went looking for him. He made the comment that the car did
not seem to have the power that it should! Shortly afterwards, the
fire started, as described below.

We started the car again and looked around for problems and did
not ‘‘see’’ anything at that point. I jiggled some wires just under
the air rail on the left side. The idle increased markedly for a
second or two. Scott immediately felt as if the temp sensor had
kicked in and that there was a short, or broken, connection to the
coolant sensor making the engine run rich.

I drove the car home and the power just was not there. I told Scott
that the temp gauge was was not working.

Monday, I decided to replace the wires, hoping that would clear the
problem. There were two wires invloved (Like Zip Cord) and one ran
to the temp sensor and the other split and ran to the compressor
and ???. Thought I had replaced the 2 wires and started the
engine. NO Change??

Looked further and discovered that the wires has gotten hot & very
brittle, had broken into between engine and the firewall, about 5
inches down.

Would be very hard to reach with butt connector and crimping tool.
not sure if I can split the wire in order to slice.(Like Zip Cord)

Can someone tell me how I may trace the wires to a point that I can
splice new wires. I can only feel and see the wire to the back of
the V.

I know some of this is not clear. so please ask me questions as
needed.

Thank you,

Bill Giardina 1989 XJS Conv. Raymond, MS–
Bill…
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–

// please trim quoted text to context only