Xj6 engine noise please help

Thanks Paul that picture certainly does the trick. Looking at the timing marks since mine moves around on its own they probably are all out of alignment. This is where it’s broken from

make sure the 4 x 1/2" bolts that hold the pulleys to to the damper are still in place

otherwise the inner has separated from the outer

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Just looked to make sure. The bolts are in place they don’t look loose. tho I’m not sure I haven’t touched them

What do you guys think about using the breaker bar and starter trick to undo the crank pulley bolt

Jabraan,
In my experience while removing several XK engine rankshaft dampers using the starter trick isn’t necessary and is overkill. Unless of course you are looking for some excitement. :wink:

Remove the bolts holding the large bolt locking tab in place, remove the access panel under the flex plate and put a set off vise grips on the flexplate from below to prevent the engine from rotating, put a suitable sized socket with a breaker bar on the large crankshaft bolt (I use a 33mm one) and then rotate the breaker bar counterclockwise remove the large bolt. I just did this yesterday to remove the crankshaft damper that I sent you pictures of. Now the engine that I removed it from was out of the car and on a cart, so it was easy for me to access everything. I have never removed the crankshaft damper from an XK engine (but I did on a 5.3L V12) while it was still in a car but it shouldn’t be that much different except for access issues.

Paul

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agreed, it does work, I left a spanner hanging on accidentally one time, and started the engine, but if something goes wrong a casting or worse could be damaged

I have found that the Damper bolt can usually be undone from above without any wedging of the engine, with a breaker bar, and short pipe

fan, Coupler and shroud, should be removed.

here is a tip if forward space seems to low, use puller first half inch, remove puller tool,
knock pulley rest of way off with hammers or leverage

purchase b4 a longer bolt with same thread

use it to get the new pulley started, then re-apply tool

a lot of time is saved if you dont have to pull radiator, A/C condensor, grille, bumper, bonnet etc etc

it actually took me more time to clean the front of my engine to absolutely spotless, using among other things a toothbrush. This helped me pinpoint ( no leaks). Not a Jag

I am sure Paul will agree the front of your engine should be spotless :grinning:

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I was just trying to get started. Took the top 2 bolts for fan shroud off and now I’m trying to take the fan off but the bolts seam very tight with my little 13mm socket

fan bolts are meant to be tight for obvious reasons

is it metric?, not 1/2" ?

on the earlier XJ the fan & VC bolts, there is 8, all tight and a bit hard to get at

take precautions to avoid slicing your hands on this job

The fan nuts should be 1/2".

Paul

Yes they are 1/2 I believe but that’s 12.7mm and all I have is a 13 rn. How do I get leverage on the bolts without breaking a fin on the fan

Havent done a S3 with plastic fan, but with the metal fans, I just hold them with my leather gloved hand, place a long ring spanner over the bolt or nut, and tap the spanner with a hammer, like an impact wrench, hold it near the hub

Can you wedge the Coupler nuts with a straight screwdriver ?

btw, there are way too many tight 1/2" fasteners on an XJ to use 13mm, you should be ok with fan bolts, but eventually you will round stuff

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Haha no wonder my little 6in 13mm socket didn’t work. :joy: gonna see what I can do. It’s not very pleasant having a 35yo jag as ur only car lol

Jabraan,
There are very few metric fasteners on your XJ6, most are SAE. The metric fasteners seem to be used on the sunroof and the fuel injection systems. So to work on this car you will need both SAE and metric tools, but mostly SAE.

Paul

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I’ve done this a couple of times, the bolts are 1/2 fine thread, so you’ll be wrenching for a bit. I’d recommend them loosening the bolts all at the same time. The water pump may not relinquish the fan straight away. There’s a nipple (locator pin - what ever you want to call it) on the end of the water pump that fits into the fan & fan clutch which over time creates a semi-permanent bond. If memory serves me, You’ll have to hit it with a bit of penetrating oil, and wiggle a whole lot; Wiggle the fan - not you. The fan will eventually come loose. It will have to be loose in order to get the bolts out. I’m pretty sure the fan and the bolts all come off as one. Essentially the bolts are too long to be removed independently of the fan.

I haven’t read the whole post (I’m lazy); but the noise definitely sounds like something external to the engine. I noticed folks were gravitating to the crankshaft damper; Have you checked all of the bolts holding the accessories on? On My XJS the air pump monting bolt would work itself loose (regularly), and the bolt would rub on the back of the pully; which sounds, pretty much the same as what I heard in your video.

It’s a quick check, and a hell of a lot easier to deal with than pulling the vibration damper off. As far as the fasteners are concerned, The fasteners are a combination of SAE, Metric, and Whitworth. The crank shaft bolt in the center is Whitworth. I couldn’t find a metric or SAE socket that fit sungly - only to discover that it’s Whitworth; which fit perfectly. You’ll find this to be more the case when working on the engine over other parts of the car. It’s been my experience that, SAE and Whitworth are very close to size in most cases; but the center crank bolt - I had to order a Whitworth socket.

I did a post on this a year or so back. search the archives for Whitworth.

Keep us posted,
Mark

Hey mark thanks that’s for the tips it will definitely help. The noise turned out to be coming from a split crankshaft pulley/damper

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even though I have the correct Whitworth, 1-5/16" is tight enough, but typically a 3/4" drive

3/4W = 33.02mm, so that a nice tight fit, and should be available at the local Auto Parts in 1/2" drive

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**
The forward pulley is bolted to the centre of the damper, Jabraan - leaving the pulley/damper with timing mark free to rotate when the bonding rubber perishes. All are fixed on the crankshaft by Woodruff keys, and held by the centre bolt.

It wont disturb the actual ignition timing, and the car is sort of driveable as is.

You may unbolt the inner and outer pulleys, removing the outer separately to give more working room?

As the outer part of the damper is loose, the puller must be attached to the centre piece. Make sure to not the position of various pieces falling off - particularly the Woodruff keys…:slight_smile:

Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe UK/NZ)
**

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Bringing the thread back from idle for a couple questions. So I got around to start working on my jaguar again and I need help as to what to do next. I’m in the process of replacing the crankshaft pulley/dampener to cure that nasty noise that came with it. I got the fan, clutch and shroud out of the way and I’m wondering what’s my next step. I do have a Haynes manual but I’m trying to get some real world tips

Not trying to be a smart ^&* but I would suspect getting the crankshaft nut un-done?
This can be achieved by placing a socket and breaker bar on the nut and giving the starter motor a jolt, remove the king lead from the coil first though!!!

Robin,
In my opinion using the starter to remove that bolt is overkill. I have removed several crankshaft dampers and once you secure the engine from turning and remove the lock ring from that large bolt, a breaker bar with the correct socket is all that was ever needed. This also avoids the problems that might occur with putting the breaker bar on the wrong side.

Paul