Hi, I’ll start with my biggest worry. This summer my shift cable
locked up and when I tried to force it it bent. Now on it’s maiden
voyage after some repairs the cable has jammed again. Anyone know
what could be causing this. It is dark so I havn’t pulled the slope
panel yet.
Right now my wipers are not working, all the fuses are good? Any
ideas?
The blower motor does not work, again all the fuses are good., the
temp knob seams to be working. ?
Also the horn will either sound at random on it’s own, or not work
at all. Any common shorts for this?
My engine seems to be putting out power, but I have hardly any
pickup? The shift from first to second almost knocks me in the back
seat there is so much power, but it takes forever to get there. A
transmission problem?
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.–
Thirdfinal
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In reply to a message from Thirdfinal sent Thu 15 Nov 2007:
It’s only in the best intentions that I strongly suggest
you avail yourself of an incredible wealth of potentially
helpful info for our XJS, ‘the book’, XJS Help by Kirby
Palm, which is freely offered for you to download: http://www.jag-lovers.org/xj-s/book/
All those items and about everything else one may imagine
are covered in it with insights, tips, experiences etc.
It’s invaluable. If there were books like this for my old
Dodge I’d probably still have it around! Fittingly it’s
only for our fine and beautiful but quirky beasts.
Also if you’re unaware, note that if you intend to do any
repairs, you can actually buy the Jaguar shop manuals on a
CDROM for roughly ~$30, a great thing to have around! When
you combine ‘the Book’, the CDROM shop manuals, optionally
a Haynes repair book for extra coverage in case it might
help (just ~$20), and this forum, you have incredibly good
resources.
All that said, some things to look for first:
Signs of heat damage to the shift cable. This can be
caused by a failure of the grounding (engine straps, say
due to bad contact like corrosion, or somebody messing them
up, reinstalling them wrong, leaving them out etc). The
starter current could travel through the cable if the
ground is messed up. Obviously this can get serious so
unless you know its another cause please check the ground’s
ok to rule that out.
The XJS is one hefty beast and with its grand touring
concept and 2.88 final drive, more geared to cruising -
more ‘‘upper end’’ than ‘‘take off.’’ Many folks seem to think
it ought to burn tires like a 2mm stogie (wow a V12?!) but
it’s not about that, there are gazillions of rubber burners
out there. It’s about the unique style, the feel. It’s
smoooooth. That said, if it really seems a bit too sluggish
for the obvious power it does have, and even if it doesn’t:
Check the distributor’s centrifugal advance!
Check the distributor’s centrifugal advance!
By the way the distributor’s centrifugal advance is
prone to becoming seized. Mechanics everywhere all seem to
be in a state of denial. You can take the distributor cap
off and try turning the rotor a bit; you can find it’s
seized up so bad there’s no play at all. You can clearly
tell it is in fact seized and the mechanics will still
pretend it’s fine or that they’ve never known that to
happen. Why, who knows! They all do it in time. Mine was,
yours is or was if it’s been done. Understand this is a
great distributor but the factory lube obviously didn’t
work. So you take it out and clean it, then use a bit of
synthetic motor oil, reassemble, fire 'er up, discover it
has more oomph and runs more stable temp wise, shake your
head and enjoy the heck out it indefinitely. It will run
forever and won’t resieze if you do that, and maybe let a
fresh drop wick in once in a while like Jag told everyone
to do and nobody ever did.
In reply to a message from Thirdfinal sent Thu 15 Nov 2007:
back…
Oh the distributor’s… vacuum advance. Yes it needs both
mechanical (that seized advance in the distributor) and
vacuum, because of the wide timing range a V12 needed to
run so smooth before the era of full computerized engine
control. It’s rubber. It’s sitting in the valley of the
engine. You bet it gets toasted pretty quick. Both advance
methods were gone on mine despite getting a passing grade
from the mechanics - it’s incredible it could run as well
as it did in that condition. Much better now…
Blower motor, wiper motor. Common thread: water damage.
How’s everything under the grill under the wipers? Big
bucks if so. Unless you read ‘the book’…
Horn. Wire in the column? The second area to look for the
wiper problem too, so peek in there I guess. Again covered
in ‘the book’.
Hope you work things out soon and get back to enjoying your
cat :-)–
Chris - 1988 XJ-S V12 Cobalt Blue <> 1994 XJ6 VDP Jade Green
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In reply to a message from Thirdfinal sent Thu 15 Nov 2007:
Just getting a chance to get back to this now.
I have taken off the slope panel and disconnected the end of my
shift cable. The cable will move about 2 mm or so, letting me know
that it’s not seized. But the trans is not shifting out of park. It
is clear the cable will bend before it will shift. I have rocked
the car a little. but I am not on a hill and the trans should not
be locked up for that reason. Nothing odd had happened, went for a
drive parked the car and now it won’t shift.
I know the car isn’t supposed to be a tire burner, but hopefully it
will have mor pickup than my old ford escort. I’ll take a look at
the distributor, hopefully that will change things–
Thirdfinal
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In reply to a message from Thirdfinal sent Sun 18 Nov 2007:
Just replied to your recent topic and wanted to add here
regards performance. There was a point where for several
years in a row, around 1983 iirc, that the XJS V12 was the
fastest production car with an automatic tranny in stock
form that could be had. Not the quickest, probably, but
rather the fastest overall. True to the ‘‘Grand Touring with
a sporty angle’’ concept, despite having an old 3-speed GM
TH400 tranny with no overdrive, they’ll still be cruising
with absolute composure and amazing ease at 80mph, where in
many other cars of its time you’ll be feeling that’s about
as fast as you want to be going. Without the loads of
smogging (cats, precats, etc) they’d do even better.
They’re particularly strong in torque on hills (’‘what
hill?’’, sometimes hehe) while cruising, because of their
remarkably smooth powerband in both torque and hp. They’re
developing their best torque as you’re at fast freeway
speeds. It should feel very smooth, an almost turbine-like
feel with a subtle hum when digging into the pedal as some
describe it. It’s the feel that attracts me more than speed
or power, but they shouldn’t be comperable to a stock
Escort. I hope all that blather helps to lend a sense of
what you should be getting when restored to proper
operation.–
Chris - 1988 XJ-S V12 Cobalt Blue <> 1994 XJ6 VDP Jade Green
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the distributor’s centrifugal advance is