Cowbell
in the Back Seat
Do you have a cowbell in the back seat? If you don't know what I
am talking about, you don't have one. There is an air flow flap
behind the back seat somewhere that should have some rubber on it to
make its operation silent. If this rubber falls off from age it will
sound like a cow is following you home. The labor to repair this is
much more than it is worth. I have never even tried after the shop
told me what the labor cost would be. Actually they didn't tell me
what it would be, they just told me I didn't really want to know. I
can take a hint.
Some day when I have more time than I can use I will investigate
this further, but for now, know that it is not lethal nor will it
cause the car to suddenly stop moving.
Fuel
Tanks
Behind the rear seat in the trunk (boot) is where the fuel tanks
reside. One of the big problems with the XJ6 is leaking fuel tanks.
This is because of water getting into the tanks and sitting in the
bottom until it rusts through. Water in fuel is not uncommon and if
you do not keep your tanks topped up water laden air will fill the
empty space. In the evening when the air cools the water condenses on
the sides of the tank and runs down the side. Since the water is
heavier than the fuel it sinks to the bottom so that even if the air
heats up in the morning it does not pick the moisture back up. It is
a one way pumping system that deposits water on the bottom of the
tank. This is why pilots, who just can't afford a dead engine, ALWAYS top up their tanks before putting the bird to
bed.
There are products that will dissolve the water into the fuel.
Usually they are just a mixture of perfume and alcohol. The alcohol
will combine with the water and will then mix with the fuel. It
works, but I worry about pushing water, a non compressible liquid,
through the injectors. I know raw water will hurt them and I am
concerned that water and alcohol may also be detrimental to the
injectors small orifice.
Repairing Leaking Fuel
Tanks
Once you have a leaking tank there are products that will repair
it if it has not gone too far. Most of the good products are epoxy
mixes that come in two parts and are mixed ant then sloshed in the
tank to coat the entire inside with a plastic coating that is
impervious to gasoline.
The trick to making them work well is a through cleaning of the
fuel tank first. After removing the tank the scale and rust must be
removed. You can take the tank to someone with pressure steam
cleaning equipment or possibly to a radiator shop to have it dipped.
DO NOT try to use a wire brush, either a
hand brush or one on a flexible cable on a hand drill. There will be
gas fumes in the tank and a spark from two pieces of iron being
rubbed together or from the motor brushes on the drill could ignite
the fumes. I have also heard of people trying to get rid of the fumes
using an electric blower. Again, a spark from the blower motor could
ignite the fumes and it would blow you to kingdom come. DON'T DO IT.
If you decide to weld or braze the holes there is only one safe
way to do it. You must fill the tank with water (completely full, no
air pockets) and weld or braze while the water is in the tank. Its a
tricky process and probably is not worth the trouble if you are not a
professional welder.
I would suggest that if you cannot afford a professional welder or
a new tank and the holes are too big to seal with a sloshing seal you
might try a fiberglass patch made with a fuel resistant epoxy resin.
It won't look pretty. Regular fiberglass like you buy for body work
is not fuel resistant to submersion in fuel though it will take
having fuel splashed on it. Don't use a resin that you cannot be sure
will resist fuel or you may get a trunk full of fuel when the patch
gives way.
Fuel
Return Valves
Sometimes the problem is not a leaking but an overflowing
fuel tank. Nick Johannessen offers this advice:
Sounds like the return valve is shot. A way to check this is to
start the car up, go back to the fuel filler cap and using, say, a
ball-point pen (no-name brand works fine) poker the flap open and see
if fuel is returning to the correct tank. You should be able to see
the returning fuel quite clearly. Try this for both tanks.
When this happened to me I had only had the car a couple of
weeks, and immediately took the car to a Jaguar-specialist to have it
looked at. After buying the service manual I found that changing this
valve is a trivial job. Those valves aren't the cheapest of parts
though.
I just started thinking though.... was it the change-over valve
or the return-valve that needed replacing? Looking back at the bill
for the job it was the change-over valve. Looking at the procedure
for changing it the job is trivial, clamp and swap.
Trunk
(Boot) Interior Light
Here at the back of the trunk (boot) we come to the trunk (boot)
interior light. I slammed the lid down once. (You don't have to slam
the lid, just push it down and if it is properly adjusted it will
latch!) When I did it was against something and it broke the interior
light.
I priced a new lens and was shocked at the price. Then I
discovered that the interior lamp for the VW beetle is almost the
same light (US$2.95). A little fiddling around with a file and I was
able to make it fit. It even has an on/off switch incorporated into
the lens which is handy if you need to keep the lid open because
there is something under it that is too big. By switching off the
lamp it will prevent your draining the battery as I also did ONCE. Be careful to properly insulate the
connections so they don't touch the metal inside of the lid.
Tail
Lights
The tail/brake/turn/backup lights are at the end of the line.
Today I opened both of them up because the little "one of your lights
is out" indicator on the speedometer was lit. All the lights were
working, but the left tail light looked brighter. No wonder, the PO
had a 12 watt lamp on one side and a 5 watt lamp on the other.
Imbalance corrected the lamp on the dash went out.
The Rear
Bumper
View the latest posts from our Forums via an RSS Feed!
