Hello Steve,
Thank you for all of the information that you are making me aware of. I have put your email in a permanet folder to refer back to. Lot of good ideas!
There is another item that has popped up as a result of the spark plug incident. Maybe you can help me with it.
Scott Watts (AKA ThunderCat) did come over on Saturday and replaced the sparkplug. Neither the insulator nor the electrode was damaged, or cracked. It had simply separated brom the base, leaving a port for the exhaust and fuel to exit.
After the plug was installed, the engine sounded fine (At idle), So Scott and his son took the Kitty for a short test drive. After plenty of time had expired for them to return, I took off looking for them... About 2 miles from home I saw him pulled off the road with the hood up!!
The car had experienced a minor catalytic converter fire and Scott very quickly had pulled over and managed to dowse the fire by throwing sand (From a very active FIRE ANT bed) on it. Scott feels as if the O2 sensor might have to be replaced but, at that point, there seemed to be no major damage The fire and the separated plug were on the same side but, Scott feels that the two incidents were unrelated.
Scott remarked that the car did not seem to have the power that it should...
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, creating a overfueling problem, and that was what had caused the fire.
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, so I proceeded to start the engine. NO Change?? A total lack of power.
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 (Like Zip Cord) in order to make the splice.
Can you 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 going to the back of
the V. As you know, it is very tight in there.
I know some of this is not clear. so please ask me questions as
needed.
Thank you,
Bill Giardina 1989 XJS Conv. Raymond, MS
In a message dated 4/13/2003 9:05:11 PM Central Standard Time, jcna.forums
jcna.com writes:
From : Steve Weinstein
Date : 2003-04-13 22:05:01
Bill,
Glad to hear that it was not a dropped valve seat. You don\'t even want to imagine what that would have meant. Don\'t be put off by the comparative difficulty of working in the valley on the XJS. Be patient and you\'ll be able to do it.
Bill Giardina 89XJS
Submitted by daddina@aol.com on Sat, 04/19/2003 - 21:54
Well..... A lot has happened in a short while. Because of your input, We have looked at a lot of potential issues and possible solutions to my problems.
After listening to your thoughts, I went back to the basic again. Do you remember the mentioning of "jiggling" wires at the time of the converter fire? I said that the RPM's increased momentarily as I jiggled the wires... I started over today and jiggled the wires and, lo and behold, it did it again.... Was kind of confused at first, ( I sometimes confuse easily) as the RPM's did increase at times, as I moved the wires around. Then... I realized that the wires that I was "jiggleing" went to the B bank coil... As I moved the wires around, it would seem to run correctly.... The problem with "lack of power" was that the connector to the B coil was damaged... A little break on one end of the connnector was allowing one of the wires to loose contact, at times, with the coil.
Actually, I was running only on the A bank!! Having read Kirby's remarks on the Marelli system, I realized that it could have been a castrophe !! running only on one bank. That explains the converter fire, mentioned earlier.
The wire that I was concerened about, invloved only the temp gauge and, of course, the electric fan. Not to minimize their importance, but they did not affect the running of the engine directly. Still needs to be corrected....
All of that being said, there is a definite miss somewhere on the B bank??? Now, to find the reason for the miss??????
Please try to understand where I am coming from... I did mention that the V-12 intimidated me... I am 68 years old and since the advent of the four barreled carb etc., my only involement in an engine (a lot of us have felt this way) was to check fluid levels etc. With the acquirement of the XJS, my attitude has had to change! I can not afford to run to the dealer everytime an issue shows up. You have been so patient with myself, and others, and we are grateful! Believe me... There are others that feel the same way that I do......
Enough rambling... Thank you for being here for us and helping us thu these exciting times with our Kittys. Some of us grew up with the romantics of the automobile and this is the first time, in a long time, to get excited about an automobile again.
You really had to grow up in the fifties and sixtys to appreciate the love and romance with a car.. :) It was fun then and it is exciting again!
Hey.... Love ya'll,
Bill...
Bill Giardina, 1989 XJS Conv. Marrelli, Raymond, Ms
Bill Giardina 89XJS