Thought I'd post about my latest XJ-S adventures as I've had an eventful couple of days!
You may have seen the Lord Taverner's Classic Car and Cricket advertised in the club events subforum. We're fans of both things so booked tickets. This was going to be quite an adventure because since I've had the car it's not done a journey of more than about 30 miles, so relying on it for 155 miles across the country from Cambridge to Cheltenham with the three of us onboard in rush hour the night before, was a big step.
I spent Tuesday cleaning the car and making it look as good as possible. The newly refurbished wheels made such a difference to the external appearance and my decision to have it ceramic coated made cleaning all the dust off it an absolute breeze. I had also found my late '80's car sticker and affixed it to the rear window, in the absence of a dealer sticker:
With a quick check of fluid levels and tyre pressures, we strapped the three year old into her car seat in the back of the XJ-S and left Cambridge at 6pm. Our B&B (Clematis House in Cheltenham - I'd highly recommend it if you're in the area) shut their doors at 9pm so a brisk drive was required - exactly what the XJ-S was designed for! The Sat Nav chose A14 - M6 - M42 - M5 and miraculously, there were no delays. We arrived at 8:50pm after a very relaxing drive on the speed limit the whole way, and the car returned 30.5 mpg. Result.
The weather forecast wasn't promising for the following day with rain likely for most of it - and when we woke up, the Jag was soaked. It was in good company though:
Sadly, the cricket match had to be cancelled due to the weather, but the classic car show went ahead with about half of the participants present. There were cars from the 1930's to the 2000's, and plenty of Jaguars to feast the eye on:
Cars were being judged by none other than Derek Matthewson of Bangers and Cash - nice to meet a TV celebrity and I quite like the guy, but he's by no means a fan of the XJ-S so even though I had a good chat with him and showed him around the car, I knew he'd never choose an XJ-S for a prize when there were so many other options:
And so it was - in the 1970 - 1989 category, all the awards went to the Aston Martins - they were indeed beautiful cars. We left just after 4 pm and chose a cross-country route home, taking in the Cotswolds and ending up on the A45 and A14, back to Cambridge. It was a lovely winding drive home, but I began to notice a slight lack of power from the car's engine. It was difficult to put my finger on it, but I seemed to need to change down for relatively small inclines, and it just wasn't accelerating as it should. Without anything concrete to go on, I pressed on, only eventually stopping in Cambridge to buy some supplies for the following day. On returning to the car, it started up fine and then cut out almost immediately, and refused to re-start. A few checks left me scratching my head. I emptied the boot and disconnected the fuel line at the filter. It was clearly still under pressure so I ruled out the fuel pump, and I could also feel it running when cranking the engine. I removed a spark plug and could see a strong spark - hmm. A call to the RAC ensued and within an hour a Patrolman arrived in his van - great service. He was really good and we went through a series of checks - only to find out that there was no fuel pressure in the engine bay. A more thorough investigation of the pump revealed that although it was appearing to work, it was in fact jammed.
The solution was to fit a new pump - I had a spare so he gave me a lift home, but try as I might I couldn't find it! D'oh! In the end, we cobbled together an MG Maestro EFi fuel pump that I had in my spares collection:
Fuel pressure was restored, and the car once again ran like a dream, albeit the pump was leaking slightly. The advice I was given by the RAC man was to get it back home as quickly as legally possible and then fit the proper Jaguar pump ASAP. Challenge accepted! The car's performance was restored and once out of the City limits on onto the A14, I put my foot down and the Jag roared home in a very pleasing way. I eventually got it back in my garage at about midnight.
Quite the adventure!
The story finishes today as I found my spare XJ-S pump and fitted it, only to find that it leaks like a sieve! I'll have to buy another one and hopefully get the car ready to attend the Barrington classic car meet tomorrow evening. The joys of classic car ownership...
Nope - I don't think anything's been done to the swirlpot during the car's lifetime, what's needed?!