The most expensive car I've ever owned.

In reply to stafford1500 :

Yeah, that diagnostic is not going anywhere any time soon either.... lol.

Sometimes I need to slow down.

UPDATE

Put the plugs back in.

Installed the expansion tank.

Cleared the codes.

Runs great in the driveway.... smooth (and cool), but does have a cyl 8 misfire, but Ill have to take the ecm's word because it idles SMOOOOTHH.

Supercharger sounds like a box of rocks, but that should be a $90 fix with new snout bearings.

The plug wells on the DS like to fill up with oil, so it's going to get a set of Valve Cover Gaskets, which will allow me to check the tensioners.

A pulley on the front chirps till it warms up.... going to find out which one.

Leaks PS fluid EVERYWHERE.

I think this is how it ran before the overheating and the expansion tank explosion.

I think it overheated when a 2" 5/16 coolant line got a pin hole in it.

Next it will be time to tag it and put some miles on it.

See how many more codes pop up.

No evidence of "Restricted Performance"

So suddenly, rebuilding the driver's seat is the next goal.... that's a good thing.

And, uh oh yeah... got COVID-19. Tested positive this AM. IT  SUCKS. I do not recommend....

In reply to a_florida_man :

Take care of yourself and also burn out video?

In reply to Stampie :

Thank you sir!

Will do... have to admit it was a shock to see the "two lines" on the test kit this AM. Weirdest "cold" I've ever had. Symptoms shot up quickly, and then began to ebb and flow almost rhythmically.  The headache, so far, is the worst.

Now, as to videos... whats the easiest way to link those?

In reply to a_florida_man :

Put them on YouTube then hit share.  Copy link.  Come back here.  Hit what I call the Plus Calendar to the right of the Picture icon and paste link.

And hoping that you're mild like I was.  I lost taste then 24 hours later all good. I do kinda remember a headache.

In reply to a_florida_man :

Sounds like you need a front snout rebuild. 

And the restricted performance might be the MAF. Do you have a CEL with the restricted performance? 

yupididit said:

In reply to a_florida_man :

Sounds like you need a front snout rebuild. 

And the restricted performance might be the MAF. Do you have a CEL with the restricted performance? 

 

Thanks for the comment.

Yes SC needs bearings, and no, there is NO restricted performance or CEL. Yet.

In reply to a_florida_man :

Also, do you still have the Mercedes software? I remember you having an slk once upon a time. 

Seems like a great buy! I'm in Gainesville, so let me know if I can help in any way.

In reply to yupididit :

Yes, I do.

dyintorace said:

Seems like a great buy! I'm in Gainesville, so let me know if I can help in any way.

Thanks, you are welcome to come out anytime.... after I get over this COVID thing... so far day two is just as bad.

In reply to a_florida_man :

I sent you a message about the bosch 010 ic pump

That's such a beautiful car and I've admired these since new. Thanks for taking us along on this journey.

A little budget documentation reminder for myself.

These parts were included with the car:

Ive seen a few new o2 sensors under the hood, so I'm guessing that these are probably not needed. I'm guessing FMV will come out at about $200 for the pair. 
 

Going to go take another COVID nap....

Ignition coil pigtails

Amazon $17.98

not a jag man myself but will be following

Ok, so now that i've spent some time with this car making a few observations and sort of forensically working with the PO's timeline, I think I have the story.

Since I'm about to tear into the engine, I might as well make my call now.

Monday morning QB'ing is no fun, so I'm pointing to the stands before the 3/2 pitch.

Here it goes.

PO said that it ran fine, but smoke was occasionally rising up through the hood vents.

He took it to a "mechanic" (very loose use of the term), and he told him it needed VC gaskets. 

From there the story gets long and tortuous. From the get go there were delays, broken parts, multiple trips over the fact that the smoke was still an issue, etc...

I will be fair and say that the car MAY have needed VC gaskets. Its possible. However you cannot get around how poorly the job was done. Obviously the shop got VC gaskets, but no bolt or spark plug tube seals. Hardware was lost. The wrong hardware was used, there was so much RTV in the tubes on the PS that the coils were smeared with it. Poor work for sure.

I think that the smoke was actually steam. I think that the reason that they could not fix the issue with the VC gaskets, is that the VC gaskets were not the main issue.

The main issue was the small coolant line that I mentioned a few posts back. It sprayed directly on the exhaust occasionally and was directly under the DS hood vent.

At the shop, idling, there was no smoke or steam. It was not until the car was driven on the road that the coolant would get hot enough to generate the pressure needed to leak.

As the coolant level got progressively lower, the steam occurred less and less.

The x100 cooling system is a LOW volume system. There is almost no reserve.

I think that the final straw was when the coolant got so low that the car overheated, over pressured (the leak was a pin hole) and blew the 22 year old plastic pressurized coolant fill tank.

That was catastrophic. It resulted in immediate major overheating of the engine.

The PO drove a short distance to his parking lot, and had it towed from there. He never drove it again.

After the overheat and subsequent hot soak, one of the #8  valve seats dropped a little. Most likely on the exhaust side. This is made even more likely by the fact that the end cylinders seem to do this the most in my experience.

That is where the compression loss is coming from, causing the misfire.

With this theory in hand, I went back to listen and while I was close to the VC I could hear a faint valve tap ONLY @ #8.

I think the seat is in place, just crooked.

So. There. This should be fun.

Not only did I call a homerun to the center field upper deck, ill go so far as to say that the ball will land in section 22, row jj, seat 19. 

Thoughts?

Before enlightenment, you must chop wood, and carry water.

After enlightenment, you must chop wood and carry water.

In my case I have a very dilapidated driver's seat to repair, before I can check to see if my engine diagnosis is truly enlightened.

First step should be easy. Compress the foam and reset the upholstery lip into the seat back.

Fix some wiring, and re-wrap.

Weld the front mounts and logic box bracket back on.

Bend the bits that didn't break.

Replace the seat base foam support.

Note that this was "fixed" before. 

But only from the bottom with the seat assembled.

Possibly IN THE CAR.... hahaha...

I'm hoping that welding BOTH sides will be a little more effective.

a_florida_man said:

I think the engine is berked so let me fix the drivers seat first.

Feeling better?

This is great, and x100 to whoever said this car found the right owner. Eager to see what your solution is for the low compression on #8

Stampie said:

a_florida_man said:

I think the engine is berked so let me fix the drivers seat first.

Feeling better?

Pretty good.

Equal parts not WANTING to be sick anymore.

Started loosing taste and smell today. 

Hope they come back one day. 

That would be cool.

In reply to a_florida_man :

This too shall pass!   But please take it easy.  

Best wishes for a quick recovery!

I had first been pondering whether there's any commonality between Jag V8s and Ford modular motors; that would be a swap you don't see too often! But hopefully you'll be able to get the existing engine revived instead.

It's funny seeing the inflation adjusted difference between these luxury cars and what we actually pay for them. My Sonderklasse was $119,000 adjusted and we paid $720 for it.

Here's to a quick covid recovery. I was only positive for 7 days but my sense of smell took 2 weeks to even start coming back.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I know a lot of hardware that fit the external parts of this engine are Ford part numbers and interchange with modular v8's.