4.2 XK engine fires, dies, gets hit with tree branch

[alexsnelling]

Hello world,

Before going back to solving the overheating problem, the car at present fires on the ignition, the engine starts and then immediately dies.

I've already bypassed the oil pressure switch and can hear the fuel pumps running - this was a problem last month.

Fuel is showing in the filter and this seems good so an electrical fault is the suspect.

There is an utter buggers muddle of wiring which I've checked the LT elements of.

Any advice welcome...

A

[piman]

Hello Alex,

if the wiring is suspect, when you switch on the ignition, check that there is 12 v at the coil. It sounds as if the ignition is being fed from the starter solenoid feed?

Alec

[J44EAG]

I think this was the scene envisaged by Alex!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc

If all else fails, this may be the way to go!!

Mike

[alec2824]

I had a very similar problem with my 4.2 1976 xj6. The rescue man could not help and lifted me and the caravan home. Using my multimeter, I found the problem to be the ballast resistor. I bought a new one - perfect. When investigating the defective one the cause of the problem was obvious - a wire at one end had corroded through. Sometimes it made contact and the car would run - sometimes no contact no run. As luck would have it I had another ballast resistor - this was also showing signs of corrosion at one end.