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Old 9th October 2019, 01:20   #376
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My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W...

Still working on my Jaguar. The big time. I have done this job at least four times since I bought the car in Kansas City in 2009.

On top of the dashboard are several plastic Louvres for ventilation. The central one also houses the solar sensor for the AC. These plastic Louvres are supposed to click into place. Sort of lugs into which they fit. However some of these lugs have cracked. It is very difficult to get at. Right underneath the sloping front window. I have been gluing them. Different glued with different results. Last one did pretty good, must have held a good many years.

But this afternoon during the test drive I noticed this very familiar rattle.

So tonight I took my very special, hugely expensive super duper glue to it. A little difficult to see, what with all the glare and the very position. Here I have removed the centre piece.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-imageuploadedbyteambhp1570563967.407790.jpg

Here I have managed to get a couple of dollups of super glue on the broken lugs. Use one of these special plastic interior removal tools as a wedge to keep it all together as the glue dries out.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-imageuploadedbyteambhp1570564069.018079.jpg

Same from above and from the outside looking down

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-imageuploadedbyteambhp1570564114.524367.jpg

Tomorrow I will know if the operation was successful.

I am just spending some more time prepping the car for Saturday drive. I like to have a really clean front wind screen. So spend some quality time with special window polish, window degreaser, window spray and ani rain and at least half a different dozen of various cloth, wiping, polishing, cleaning

Looks good!

Jeroen
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My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-imageuploadedbyteambhp1570563900.434709.jpg  

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-imageuploadedbyteambhp1570563950.290048.jpg  

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Old 10th October 2019, 21:34   #377
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Just picked up a few parts for the carburator of the W123. I am still on the ultimate quest to solve a very slight judder. All ignition and fuel parts, settings etc check out. When talking to a couple of specialist carburator overhaul shop they mentioned checking, replacing the needle before doing a full overhaul.

So that's the plan!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-imageuploadedbyteambhp1570723471.997779.jpg

Jeroen
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Old 14th October 2019, 12:43   #378
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

I am not very lucky with the Jaguar these last few weeks.

I wrote about the door almost being ripped off by an idiot with a very wide trailer. That was fixed only about a week ago.

Last Saturday I had a photography workshop at the Opal Coast in France. I took the Jaguar, almost all Motorway, so really nice drive. about 325 km to get there.

The opal coast has huge tides, about 6-7 meters. So it makes for very interesting photography, especially when using filters, slow shutter speeds etc.

Here is what happened. It was very poor weather, lots of rain. And that means you need to keep the rain of your lenses and in particular filters. So lots of wiping. I had all my pockets of my trousers and coat stuffed with polishing cloth and bits of tissue. But I also keep my car keys in my coat pocket. At one point, as I pulled out some paper to wipe my filters for the umpteenth time, the keys dropped out. Luckily I noticed it and I could fish them out between two rocks.

So I decided to put them in my camera bag. A few hours later we took a break for lunch and coffee. We gathered up around the cars, and I put my camera bag, tripod and other stuff in the boot. Then we walked over to a nearby café. I had closed the boot and the doors were still locked too. Only when we had finished our coffee did I realise what I had done! Locked my keys in the trunk.

There is no way, that you can get into the trunk of my Jaguar without tools. As it turned out, even with tools it is impossible. The boot is unlocked by means of a switch on the dashboard. Or by pushing a button on the key fob.

So we tried getting help from various local garages, but were unsuccessful. So I phoned the emergency number of my insurance. Sure enough, within 15 minutes a huge flatback truck appears. The mechanic was very good. Within minutes he had managed to open my door.

He used a plastic screwdriver on the corner of the window frame. Pries the door away from the chassis and then slide two very small airbags in. He then carefully pumps up these little airbag to the extend he can get a small pole with a lasso on it inside the door. Catches the little door knob and pulls it open.Bob's your uncle, or so we thaught.

Obviously, he set off the alarm. We were expecting that. What I had not expected that with the alarm the boots gets locked down! We tried everything, his boss arrived with a very fancy Bosch Electronic diagnostic kit. But we could not get the boot open. Ideally I would asked my son to pick up my keys and drive to France. But I knew he had a big party that evening, his best friend wedding party. So I decided to call him and arrange for him to pick me up the next day.

So in the end I decided to catch a ride back with one of the other participants back home. One of the participants, an elderly lady (74!) wanted to head home reasonable on time. She did not like driving in the dark. She was very happy to give me a lift. In fact she asked me to drive, little Renault Twingo. Very enjoyable drive back home chatting to her.

The next day, Sunday, my eldest son Luc came around, with his Golf GTI. Clutching my set of spare Jaguar keys we barreled down to France once more. Luc has a similar driving style as I do, so the 325 km were done in just over three hours. Opened up the Jaguar and set off with two cars and headed back home again.

Things were looking good until we passed the toll booth for the tunnel underneath the river Schelde near Antwerpen. I was through first and I was coasting along at only 60 km/h so Luc could catch up. I was keeping a watch in my rear view mirror. But then, all of a sudden, when I looked ahead there was this big thing on the road, right in front of me. Could not avoid and drove straight over it. Whatever it was it got caught underneath the car and it made a huge scraping sound. So I pulled over, hazards on.

Got my flashlight out and had a look. This thing was properly stuck. It was dark, I was parked right on the edge of the motorway in front of the entrance to the tunnel. So I thought I better get some help. The tunnel operators must have spotted me on their cameras, because they quickly red crossed the right lane and reduced the maximum speed in the left lane to 50 km/h. By the way, I was appalled on how many cars simply ignored or did not spot the red cross overhead!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1674.jpg

It took almost an hour before a tow truck and a flatbed truck appeared. They wanted to put my car on the flatbed right away. I managed to persuade them to have a look underneath first. So they got a big Jack out and we pulled this thing from underneath.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1681.jpg

It was a plastic cover for a fire extinguisher from a truck!! We had a good look, but I could not see any damage to the car. Other than a small hall in the plastic frame underneath the grill. But that is not problem.

So five minutes later, and Euro 211, lighter (their charge!), I was back on the road again. So in the end I only managed a few hours of photography done, drove back and forth home twice, so clocked almost 1300 km in the space of a day in a half, in three different cars.

I have never had so many mishaps with one single car in such a short time period.

I have not had time yet to get underneath the Jaguar here at home. I arrived well after 2200 pm last night. We need to set off for the airport in 15 minutes. Another trip to Delhi, my wife coming along this time. So next weekend I will jack it up once more and do a proper inspection, but at least it ran perfectly all the way home from the tunnel.

Fingers crossed!

Jeroen

Last edited by Jeroen : 14th October 2019 at 12:51.
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Old 14th October 2019, 13:35   #379
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

What a (mis)adventure!

Hope all is well underneath the Jag
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Old 18th October 2019, 11:03   #380
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

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Originally Posted by Jeroen View Post
Got my flashlight out and had a look. This thing was properly stuck. It was dark, I was parked right on the edge of the motorway in front of the entrance to the tunnel. So I thought I better get some help. The tunnel operators must have spotted me on their cameras, because they quickly red crossed the right lane and reduced the maximum speed in the left lane to 50 km/h. By the way, I was appalled on how many cars simply ignored or did not spot the red cross overhead!
Ah the good things about nice access controlled roads. Back here in India we don't have such problems of people ignoring lane activity indicators, because we don't have such signage yet . Indeed surprising to note that it got ignored in the western part of the EU though. Have to give credit to the tunnel operators for being ever so vigilant & judiciously carrying out their duties. Their actions were surely for your as well as others' safety. Excellent.

That really is quite a lot of misfortunes on the car in a small duration. Thankfully you & the car are well & car should be fine in no time. Such large objects are quite a risk. Good that all it did was waste your time & blow a hole in the wallet. Will wait for your Jag's updates after you open the garage again. Always a pleasure to read your thread. Tons of knowledge and pictures from the low countries for some nostalgia moments.

Wish you & the lady a wonderful & safe travel to India & back. Weather getting better here now . You are visiting around the festival of Diwali. Hope you get to enjoy it a bit. Greetings.
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Old 18th October 2019, 11:52   #381
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

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A. Indeed surprising to note that it got ignored in the western part of the EU though. Have to give credit to the tunnel operators for being ever so vigilant & judiciously carrying out their duties. Their actions were surely for your as well as others' safety. Excellent.
Yes, it was a surprise. But in all honesty, I know police, roadworkers and such have been complaining bitterly about this for the last years. And it is getting worse and worse. I have experienced this before whilst driving and I would see people ignoring the red cross. As you are part of the traffic, you only experience it for a short while.

Standing there on the side of the road for well over an hour, gives you a very different perspective. The authorities have started multiple public campaigns to highlight and appeal to drivers to adhere to these (safety) measures. Fines for any traffic violations on roads with road construction work going on have been more than doubled.

We have seen several very deadly accidents due to people ignoring the crossed off road sections and or speed limits.

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You are visiting around the festival of Diwali. Hope you get to enjoy it a bit. Greetings.
We will leave India by the end ofthis weekend. Whilst my wife has had plenty of time to shop, meet up with our Indian friends, I have been bogged down by work from early morning till late evening every single day.

I am hopeful I will have a few hours with my wife this weekend to enjoy India once again. Looking forward to it.

Jeroen
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Old 21st October 2019, 16:40   #382
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

I picked up a small Indian sigh last week whilst in Delhi. Well, actually it is a fridge magnet. Still, at long last I have something from India in my garage!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1741.jpg

This week I hope to do a bit of work on the Mercedes. I might take the carburator apart. However, I just thought of one last thing I also want to check before resorting to that: Check the pre-ignition. I do not think I have done this. I was talking to another guy on one of the W123 forums. He appeared to have the exact same problems as I do, slight juttering. His pre-ignition was off by about 5 degrees.

So I better check that out, before I rip the carburator apart

Jeroen
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Old 24th October 2019, 13:40   #383
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

The various repairs on my Spider are progressing steadily. I had hoped to take some photographs of the various stages. Unfortunately, I have had, and still have, a very busy travel schedule. For the last year I have been travelling abroad for about 3 out of every 4 weeks. So whilst I am amassing an incredible amount of air miles and loyalty points and have risen to platinum status with two carriers, it does mean I have less time for my hobbies. Certainly during the week.

So Goof has been keeping me informed on what has been happening with the Spider and he has takes some photographs.

The engine removed. This image is taken from underneath the Spider, which is sitting on a lift. The camera sits where the left side of the engine would be, looking towards the firewall.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-photo20191023133231.jpg

Engine out on a proper engine stand getting cleaned

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-photo20191023133235.jpg

As you will recall, not too long ago I had all three cars engine bay cleaned by means of dry ice blasting. But it is difficult to get into all the nooks and crannies. Lots and lots of muck, due to various oil leaks all around the engine.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-photo20191023133236.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-photo20191023133237.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-photo20191023133238.jpg

Yesterday, whilst in the UK on yet another business trip, I got a call from Goof. They are about to start putting everything back together again. Luckily, I arrived back home, late last night. So early this morning I popped round to have a look, discuss the progress and take some more photographs.

My engine on the engine stand in the workshop.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240011.jpg

The gearbox, all ready to be installed. They stripped it completely. Clutch and throw bearing are still in very good condition. Remarkably one of the bearings was completely shot! I never heard a thing?!! Neither did Goof or his mechanics and they have had the Spider out on test drives this year as well.

There are three rubber boots that go over the gear lever. It ensures no oil finds itself into the car interior, but it also dampens the sounds. All three were torn. I had replaced these boots many years ago. One of the very first jobs I did on the Spider. You can get at them from inside the interior, removing the console. NO need to take the gearbox out, if that is all you need to replace.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240008.jpg

Here the bearing and a breather. The breather was a bit knocked about, so we replaced that as well. The bearing when spinning it made a lot of grinding noises and you could feel it getting stuck in places. Remarkable we never heard a thing!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240006.jpg

The complete sump. Nothing very special about it as such. Except two things. It was new to Goos and his Mechanics and I had never heard about it either. An they have been working on Spider for 35 years!.

My Spider is an American Spider. It was built specifically for the USA and it was exported from the factory straight into the USA.

For some reason my Spider sump is slightly larger than the European version! Which suggest it might hold more oil as well. So I will be checking the European and US manuals. I have asked Goof to carefully measure the amount of oil it will take.

This sump cover has another speciality that nobody had seen before either. There is a special threaded hole, which holds part of the AC compressor.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240001.jpg

Detail of the sump; notice the two little magnets on top of the sump drain plug.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240002.jpg

And here the reason why the engine had to come out. This is the rear crankshaft seal. A new one has been fitted. Underneath you see two little holes, with barely visible black tubing into it. These tubings are to seal the two halves of the bearing end piece. This is where the engine was leaking oil badly.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240004.jpg

On the left what they pulled out, not a proper rubber tube, but somebody has just filled the little hole with some sort of kit. Admittedly it lasted for almost twenty years.

On the right, the proper original Alfa Romeo parts

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240003.jpg

These little rubber parts cost less than Euro 2 a piece, but it is an engine out job to replace them!

Everything else on the engine was inspected as well, and I am happy to report everything else is well.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa240005.jpg

With a bit of luck Goof will have my Spider ready sometime next week. I am looking forward to it. Also, a bit apprehensive. Because these big jobs sometimes lead to new problems on these old cars. I am concerned in particular about all the wiring. It is almost 40 years old. Everything is brittle. Potential problems. We will see, first everything needs to bolster together.

I hope to do some work on the W123 this weekend; check pre-ignition and if that turns out to be ok, I will start taking the carburator apart.

Also, this Sunday: A massive British Car Part event, just round the corner from us. My friend Bernd is picking me up in his Mini early Sunday morning. Should be fun.

Jeroen

Last edited by Jeroen : 24th October 2019 at 13:51.
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Old 24th October 2019, 14:06   #384
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Incredible level of details in this post and the thread. Thank you for sharing with us and well done on achieving the platinum status that too on two carriers 😀.

If possible , please post some pics from the Sunday's event . Hope you enjoy it.
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Old 24th October 2019, 15:17   #385
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

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Incredible level of details in this post and the thread. Thank you for sharing with us and well done on achieving the platinum status that too on two carriers 😀.

If possible , please post some pics from the Sunday's event . Hope you enjoy it.
Thank you and my pleasure.
yes, I will take some pictures on Sunday. As I have mentioned before, going to these sort of car events is all part of fiddling with cars!

Jeroen
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Old 26th October 2019, 21:31   #386
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

Yesterday afternoon I decided to have a proper look underneath my Jaguar. When the little mishap with the plastic cover happened in Belgium I did have a peek underneath the car. I did not see any obvious damages or anything leaking and it drove fine.

But better safe than sorry. So the Jaguar up on two jacks:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1750.jpg

Nothing I could see, just a bit of paint scraped of underneath. I can not be bothered so we are good to go!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1752.jpg

Earlier this week I was in Reading, UK, on business. On my daily walk from the hotel to our office I pass a Warhammer shop. My son Thomas is heavily into Warhammer and I have occasionally bought him some stuff here. But this time I needed model paint for my model Jaguar. Now I have finished the spraying it is time to get the other details painted as well. The Jaguar has plenty of chrome bits, so I bought the lightest silver paint I could find.

Last night our son Thomas came around. His model painting is truly outstanding so I had him paint the very thin chrome details on my freshly sprayed Jaguar model.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa250002.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa250003.jpg

Very pleased with how it looks. Next I should be putting all of the other bits back together again.

But first I did a bit more research on my W123 ignition. I have quite a few manuals, Dutch, German, English, American. And they are all a bit different and they all show the same stuff in slightly different ways.

So I ended up printing the relevances sections as usual to take with me into the garage

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa250001.jpg

This morning I got my various tools ready!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260004.jpg

W123 all ready for some measurements

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260005.jpg

I was determined to figure out this transistor ignition system once and for all. It all starts against the battery reference voltage, so better check that first:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260008.jpg

This model has a test socket. Sort of very early diagnostics. I do not have the real diagnostics equipment, but between my various manuals I found lots of measurement that I could take / verify with a multimeter.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260006.jpg

Every voltage and resistance was checking out. That was until I got to the very last measurement. I had to undo this tiny screw at the side of the distributor, that holds a connector. Bit fiddly to get at. Here you see the connector loosed up already.

The connector holds the cable that connect the distributor with the transistor box. It is known as the green control lead.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260009.jpg

To get the little screw undone, I was glad to have some special tooling:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260010.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260011.jpg

The resistance between the input control terminal on the distributor against mass should be around 200K Ohms. I was measuring infinite! So looks like we might have a problem here!

As I had all my measuring equipment out I decided to check once more the ignition coil. On some cars the coil is encased in one of these little plastic cover. Mostly to prevent water ingress. When working on the ignition system be very cautious about what you are doing. Some test require the ignition to be powered on, some you need to shut everything down and disconnect the battery. And coils can give you a big shock !

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260022.jpg

Take the cover off:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260021.jpg

Undo the wires:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260013.jpg

This coil has a so called plug. It sits on top right above the main ignition lead connection. If that pops up, you have to replace the coil. Mine had not so:

Measuring the primary coil; Should be between 0.5 - 0.9 Ohms

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260014.jpg

Measuring the secondary coil: should be between 6 - 16 K Ohms

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260015.jpg

Happy boy, fiddling with his cars!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260020.jpg

I took the W123 for a quick drive to warm up the engine. Next I check the pre-ignition which should be around 15 degrees for this particular engine, at idle, with the vacuum connection disconnect. Tried it a various other RPMs as well, all looks good!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260024.jpg

So it looks like I might have a problem with the built in electronics in the distributor. But I am not yet convinced, also the engine does not idle as smoothly as it should. So I have made an appointment with a guy I know. He specialises in old Mercedes and he has all the original MB/Bosch Diagnostics. So we can do a proper analysis. I am taking my car round to him this coming Tuesday.

Also, I had noticed that the car pulls to the right ever so slightly. I decided that as a minimum I would rotate the tyres. Here is a tip, check your tires if they have these arrows on them:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260025.jpg

If they do, it means they can only be mounted in one particular orientation or in practice only one side of your car. So you can swap back to front, but not left right!

So back to front it is:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa260026.jpg

Easy job in my garage, what with my pneumatic impact wrench. Always use a proper torque tool to tighten each wheel bolt to the correct value. And adjust pressure in the tires.

Very important to tighten the bolts properly. The Americans call them lug nuts:

This is what happens when you do not tighten them properly



Tomorrow: British car parts event!

Jeroen

Last edited by Jeroen : 26th October 2019 at 21:35.
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Old 27th October 2019, 23:46   #387
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

Wintertime has started here in the Netherlands. Which should mean you should sleep in for an extra hour this Sunday. But in my case, I just wake up at my usual, early time, which is then an extra hour early. So I made coffee and headed for my garage to fiddle a bit.

Decided to do some more work on the model XJR.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270001.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270002.jpg

At 10.30 my friend Bernd arrived in his classic Mini. We drove the 3 kilometers to the event hall in Gorinchem, just south of us. The road leading to the venue and parking place was packed, bumper to bumper traffic! We, being the local boys, knew a short cut and bypassed everybody. Look at the Mini. Bernd is always promoting his car model museum. This big posters on his rear window was new to me.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270003.jpg

This was the very first time ever for this particular event. Many classic car clubs organise so called spare parts days. Earlier on in my thread I visited one for the Mercedes clubs. This year all the British car clubs rallied together and rather than have individual club events, pulled all together to have one BIG British car part event. Just about all British car clubs were present and a huge host of various part and accessoires vendors.

A few cars as well. This was the very first car we saw when we entered the venue. Not sure if anybody recognises this car. It is actually pretty rare.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270007.jpg

This event is all about car parts. So in terms of fiddling with cars it does not get any better. Endless rows of market stalls to sift through. Endless number of people to talk to. For the clubs, it is very much about socialising with their members. Good fun!

This is one of the very first stalls we found ourselves at. Look at the diagnostic kit! I have been on the lookout for one of these for a long time. 20-30 years ago every car dealer, every car work shop would have at least one of these. It is the vintage equivalent of what a OBD scanner is today. These days you will find them on E-auctions and they will be fetching prices of Euro 300 - 750, even when in poor condition and not working.

We chatted for quite a while with the owner. It was obvious he was intimately familiar with this one and had used it extensively. Finally I asked him how much he wanted for it, he said Euro 100. Bernd and I looked at each other and jointly replied: SOLD! So we both paid Euro 50. Bernd is perfectly happy to have it sit in my garage. He will be coming round with some of his classics.

To put Euro 100 in some perspective: When I fill up the Jaguar I typically end up paying about Euro 100 for 55-60 liter of fuel.

So we paid the owner and told him we would pick it up later.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270009.jpg

The Jensen club was out in force. This is probably the last model ever made, I am not sure I had seen it before. Not the best Jensen in my opinion, but hey, still a Jensen.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270010.jpg

Any parts, as long as it is British

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270013.jpg

This gentleman specialised in car clocks! I never thought much about car clocks, but listening to him, I was wrong. You can actually talk about car clocks for hours!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270014.jpg

All sort of car parts, car mobilia etc

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270015.jpg

I always like to listen into these discussion between buyers and sellers. Sometimes you can pick up quite some interesting ideas.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270017.jpg

So this is all about British parts. For Classic British cars. So not a single metric nut, bolt or spanner in sight, obviously. I am lucky my Jaguar is all metric! William Lyons is probably spinning in his grave at the mere thought of a metric Jaguar

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270018.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270019.jpg

And of course endless number of model cars. Bernd can scan a complete market stall in 2.5 seconds. He will pick out anything unusual. Well, I guess if you own a museum that houses more than 7000 model cars, you develop a special eye for it. It comes in very handy. I tell him what models I am interested in and he tells me in 2.5 seconds flat whether we can move on or not!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270025.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270020.jpg

Obviously, one needs to dress the part when ones owns a Healy.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270022.jpg

This is a bit of special item. This is an original tool set of a Jaguar X308. I.e. the one I have. More importantly, mine is missing the tool set. It is the only thing missing. Very annoying. But they are asking Euro 120 fo this tool set. Which is just plain ridiculous. I really do not mind spending some money on my cars, but this is just too much. I will pass.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270024.jpg

Quite the special car, quite the special model, Euro 85. Not bad!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270026.jpg

The number of manuals and technical literature on sale was phenomenal! I am still on the lookout for a comprehensive detailed manual on my Jaguar. I have the original JTIS (Jaguar Technical Information System) which is very very good. But I know there is more detail technical information. A few years ago I visited the then Jaguar Spare Parts day and found a very interesting manual. The guy was asking Euro 300 for it. I would have happily paid up, were it not for the fact that the manual did not cover the manufacturing year of my car. He claimed it was all the same, but I am not so sure. At that sort of money it needs to be spot on.

Not shown here, but next to this market stall was the Frog eye club. The simplest of Healey’s as some see it. Bernd owned one and he sold it some 25 years ago. When he mentioned it to one of the club guy he also mentioned his old registration number. In the Netherlands, the registration stays with the car. The guy was perplexed: He said that is my Frog Eye, my uncle bought of a guy in Asperen some 25 years ago and gave it to me a few years ago. That guy in Asperen was Bernd! Small world!!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270027.jpg

More parts, they might have some Jaguars bits I believe!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270028.jpg

Of course, if you own a British Classic car you need to have a picnic kit to go with it. Fear not, here they are!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270029.jpg

This was an interesting stand. This gentlemen overhauled SU fuel pumps. He brought his test rig too. Bernd bought some of the contact points for these old pumps. They wear out and you have to replace them. So that is what we will be doing soon.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270030.jpg

All in all a very successful event. Really well put together and organised. We spend some two hours roaming around the various market stalls, looking at parts , books, tools, chatting to various people we knew and more people we have never met.

This venue is well equipped to handle these sort of events. They offer some simple but adequate catering too. Also, a live band provides some nice music.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270032.jpg

But we still had to pick up our measuring kit. This thing is not small and it would certainly not fit into Bernds Mini. So we quickly drove back to my home. Bernd had to go home to as his museum needed to open. I took our Focus back to the venue. Loaded up our treasure and brought it home.

Here it is, in all its splendour, in my garage!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1755.jpg

Tonight I decided to power it up. What the heck, the guy told us it worked. Looks like the main screens have a fluorescent tube that light them. The little red lights lit up, depending on the settings of the various switches.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270035.jpg

It even comes with a Dutch manual!

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270038.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa270039.jpg

I am very pleased with it! I will take it apart to clean and inspect everything properly in the days to come.

Jeroen

Last edited by Jeroen : 28th October 2019 at 00:03.
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Old 29th October 2019, 17:17   #388
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

I took my W123 to a proper Mercedes Classic Car specialist.

https://www.degruyterdejong.nl You will notice they are official Bosch specialist as well

They have helped me before and they are about a 40 minutes drive from where we live.

First thing hook the W123 up to a proper MB diagnostics machine

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1762.jpg

Poke around a bit

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1763.jpg

Here are some of the readings we got:

This shows the car engine idling at 850 RPM, which is spot on. It also shows a pre-ignition of 15,4o whereas according to this machine it should be 10o. Remarkably that 10o did not show up in any of my technical documentation.

But here is where real experience comes in, they know from long experience these engines run best at around 12-13o. So we put it at 12,5o.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1764.jpg

Next we checked primary and secondary voltages in the ignition circuit. Again, experience here is key; The secondary voltage is what is measured in the petrol/air mixture as it ignites. These were relatively high. Also, there were some noticeable differences between the different cylinders.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1765.jpg

Next suspect: CO

So we hook it up to a proper exhaust gas monitor. Sure enough CO was way too low, only 0.2%

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1770.jpg

It really needs to be in the 1-1,2% range. After a bit of fiddling, (when you increase CO the idle rpm comes up too and needs to be adjusted) we got it right

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1771.jpg

We hooked it up to the diagnostic kit, showed lower and much more regular voltage. (more fuel, better resistance)

Took the car for a long test drive. It idles very nicely now, accelerates better and smoother. The juttering is almost gone.

They were not impressed with my brand new spark plug cables, recently installed. Check out earlier posts. One of them was damaged and I decided to replace the whole set, including the high voltage coil one. They suggested if I still had the old set, they can repair it. I bought a new set, because in order to repair the original MB ones, you need a special crimping tool and the original MB parts are hugely expensive. So I will check this when I get home. Hopefully I did not throw it away.

After the test drive they put it on the lift, just to do a quick inspection. I also mentioned the slightly pulling to the right. Nothing obviously we could see, but according to them many W123 have a tendency to pull right ever so slightly.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1772.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1774.jpg

Last time I was here they adjusted the middle engine mount. It is not a traditional mount. It really ensures the engine can not be lifted up if by accident you hit a curb or so. As the engine mounts age, the engine sits a bit lower and this thing starts to make a bit of a noise.

We found the rubber had completely perished.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1773.jpg

So they ordered a new one and I will need to go back and they will install it for me. So much easier on their lift than at home with the W123 on a jack and axle stands.

All done in just under one hour. Very pleasant, very professional. They always take time to explain everything to me, and answer all my questions.

I might want to see if I can get my hands on one of these CO meters. I know there are simple ones about. The test rig I bought a few days ago does not have a CO measurement. I have been doing some digging around the Internet for documentation and I learned that was an option on this instrument. It is also shown on the simple manual I have. Original Cheap skate garage owner, or maybe they had a separate CO meter already.

I have spoken to my old neighbour and fellow W123 driver, owner and enthusiast Toon. We used to spanner together. He is interested in helping me to figure out my new test rig, so we will plan an afternoon together hooking it up to a W123. It has 12 different tests it should be able to do.

But very happy with my progress on this long lasting irritating problem on the W123.

Jeroen

Last edited by Jeroen : 29th October 2019 at 17:18.
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Old 30th October 2019, 00:21   #389
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

I did a bit of work on my new test rig. I wanted to clean it up a bit and just have a peek inside as well.

So here goes:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290001.jpg


I inspected all the cable. Some have been taped, but more or less ok-ish.

The battery hook up

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290002.jpg

The scope light, with a little dial wheel. I have used one of these in the past. You dial the wheel until you get a steady image in the strobe scope light and then check the RPM

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290003.jpg

I took the main cover off:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290004.jpg

Very dusty, I did a bit of cleaning, in particular the fluorescent tube. You need to be careful dusting these old instruments. Sometime you do more damage than you’re bargaining for.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290005.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290006.jpg

Cleaned the outside and the frame with some degreaser. Which made quite a bit of difference. This thing was very greasy.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290007.jpg

The arm that holds the main testing wires was sagging a bit and would not switch over the main body any more. So I cut a piece of pipe and popped it in between.

Simple and effective

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290009.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290010.jpg

I found some stickers under all the dust and grime. One from a company called TBA in Amsterdam. I assume that was the dealer. I did a quick google search, but the first TBA in Amsterdam showing up is a night club. They do use stroboscopes, but it is not the same

Anyway, it looks a lot neater, cables sorted. I have not decided yet, where I will keep it in my garage. First I need to get my Spider back. Hopefully later this week.

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-pa290011.jpg

Jeroen
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Old 31st October 2019, 23:07   #390
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Re: My Car Hobby: A lot of fiddling, and some driving too! Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123 & Alfa Romeo Sp

Many women might complain about their husband endless postponing doing little jobs around the house. I am not saying my wife does not complain about me. But whenever something breaks in our house, it will get fixed almost immediately and she will never ever have to prompt me.

Earlier this week we had a leak in one of the guest bed rooms. I gathered up my tools from my garage, got stuck in, saw through pipes, dug out a few botch jobs from the previous owner, went to the DIY centre to get new parts and two hours later everything was fixed.

Today our leave blower broke down. We have a sizeable garden. We have a large number of trees and so do our neighbours. So when autumn comes, it means raking leaves almost daily! Our little village even puts up huge leave baskets, for you to dump your leaves in.

I am not much of a gardener and that is putting it mildly. My wife is brilliant at it.Which was quite a surprise to me. She was never that interested in our previous homes, but she loves our current garden and has done amazing things with it in the (almost) two years since we moved here. I do help out, because I do like being outdoors and I love doing some physical work. So all the heavy lifting, mowing of grass and leave raking and collecting is down to me.

When we first moved here my neighbour Robert helped me on the first autumn day. Robert is a local boy and he has any garden power tools you can imagen. And they are all petrol driven. They all make a huge racket and you can smell the petrol miles away. But as he claims; if it does not make a lot of noise, it will not be doing a good job. I think he is spot on. But my wife insist on electrical garden tools, which are pathetic at best.

Anyway, last year I bought this leave blower. It can blow and suck up leaves. Which is really handy because it sort of grinds them into pulp. Makes a huge difference in volume. I went to one of my favourite DIY shops about 20 km from here. Great selection of all tools, including garden tools, but also knowledgeable staff.

So I talked to a lady who knew everything and anything about leave blowers. She spend some 30 minutes talking to me, showing the different model. And she advised me to buy the cheapest one available. She claimed it was really good, she used it herself and they used it in the shop as well! She actually showed me.

So I bought it. And I must admit, for Euro 24,99 this thing worked brilliantly last autumn. I have been using it for the last couple of days and somehow it does not blow or suck very well. So time to open it up, obviously:

Here we have it sitting on my work bench. I will open up anything around the house; Fridges, hoovers, cookers, washing machines, central heating system, food processors, mixers, hair dryers, electric tooth brush. You name it and I will open it up. Unfortunately, many of these devices are not designed to be opened up. You might find yourself with a bunch of part and no way to put them back together again.

So here goes nothing:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1775.jpg

Again, very lucky to have a very large tool selection and endless variety of screw driver bits that will fit anything. Here I needed a very thin one, as the screws were deeply recessed into the housing. Undid them easily enough and this whole thing splits into two:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1776.jpg

There is one obvious problem, somehow leaves and twig got stuck behind the valve that controls such/blow:

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1778.jpg

I do not know what the little compressor wheel is supposed to look like, but it seemed to me, it had worn down

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1777.jpg

My Car Hobby: Jaguar XJR, Mercedes W123, Alfa Romeo Spider, Jeep Cherokee & Mini One-img_1780.jpg

Cleaned everything and bolted everything back together again. At least it blows and sucks again!

But I was not happy entirely. So I googled for parts for this contraption. Could not find anything other than a replacement leave bag. So I called my trusted DIY store. They checked and said: you have a two year warranty, bring it around and most likely we will just give you a new one! It is just not worth servicing these cheap appliances. Pretty good service!

Honestly, for Euro 25 I was not expecting too much. The next model up was well over Euro 100. But as my wife says: If it lasts only one season they should have damn well put that on the sticker!

So most likely I will end up with a new leave blower every season. Talk about a throw away society.

Jeroen
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