Jaguar E type 3.8 hot start problem

[dormrod]

I remember reading in 2010 that a member with a 3.8 E type had exactly the same problem I can start
the car from cold no problem take her out for a run after a few miles when engine is warm I stop her
she will not re start no matter how long I try if I then leave for a couple of hours to cool she starts the problem was posted by logiedurno and I would be grateful to know if he found a cure ?

[EXKAY120]

Take it for a decent service, thats what i would do, or put it on a rolling road, that'll sought it, it did my 3.8 E Type.

[rovermorris999]

Is it still on points? If so it could be as simple as a dodgy condensor. They fail when they warm up and work again when they cool. Most modern ones seem to be rubbish. Or perhaps fuel vapourisation?

[EXKAY120]

I ended up putting a Bosch 123 ignition system on my XK and E Type, now different cars completely, a great improvement.

[jith]

EXKAY120 said:

Take it for a decent service, thats what i would do, or put it on a rolling road, that'll sought it, it did my 3.8 E Type.

EXKAY, I'm afraid that's nonsense: rolling roads don't "sort" anything, they simply give you a power output at the wheels and nothing else. A hot start problem as bad as this is almost certainly ignition breakdown. Many ignition items can go conductive with high temperatures if they are faulty, but will operate fine when cold.

J

[EXKAY120]

Slap on the wrist for me then….the the rolling road was crap, and he did.nt tune it and adjust the carbs and make it run superb whilst it was on there !!

[sunbeam alpine]

OP - It's not clear to me from your post whether the car tries to start (i.e. the starter turns the engine over, but it doesn't fire), or whether nothing happens when you turn the key.

If you could clarify it may help in troubleshooting.

[jith]

EXKAY120 said:

Slap on the wrist for me then….the the rolling road was crap, and he did.nt tune it and adjust the carbs and make it run superb whilst it was on there !!

The car ran superbly because he tuned the carbs, not because it was on the rolling road. The rolling road simply synthesises a road test and gives you a power output reading. It is really a luxury on old engine technology, and not a requirement to get your car to run properly.

J

[dormrod]

Just to make things a bit more clear. The engine is turning over ok when attempting to start hot it is fitted triple SU carbs
And standard ignition I have tried changing coil to no avail it seems like petrol starvation as plugs are dry after start attempt
As I first mentioned back in 2010 exactly same situation was posted here

[vanquish spirit]

Ok, well there is nothing specific to the E Type about your problem. It is a straightforward automotive mechanical issue and could be a number of things. its certainly not going to be cured by putting the car on a rolling road. It could be fuel vaporisation caused by modern fuels turning to vapour and locking in the fuel line.(Open the bonnet to cool down faster) or it will be ignition . Crap rotor arms or distributor caps track to earth when hot. You need someone who knows his stuff to eliminate one thing after another. Rolling road??

[9xxNick]

I think you need to diagnose whether the problem stems from something that happens when the car is running and gets hot (that is, the car will stop running after a period of being driven) or if the problem only manifests itself after the car's been run for a while and then stopped.

The answer to the above will give you an idea of where to start looking. If the former then it feels like something breaking down in the ignition or fuel delivery systems. If the latter, it's perhaps more likely to be that the fuel is being prevented from being delivered due to heat soak, though this is not a foregone conclusion.

All that said though, any competent mechanic should be able to diagnose this very easily using basic diagnostic technique. That is, checking for the presence of a spark when it fails to start, then the presence or otherwise of fuel and so on.

[Mound Dawg]

9xxNick said:

All that said though, any competent mechanic should be able to diagnose this very easily using basic diagnostic technique. That is, checking for the presence of a spark when it fails to start, then the presence or otherwise of fuel and so on.

Although...

I took a call from someone with an Alfa Giulietta who'd taken his car to several "specialists" to sort out a problem with his car stopping after about five miles. He let it cool down and it was fine for a few miles then it stopped again.

He'd had the entire fuel system and ignition system overhauled/replaced except for...

"Your coil's overheating" I told him. "Borrow another coil and see how you go".

Two weeks later he rang back. "You were right, it was the coil, I borrowed one from a friend and it worked fine. I wish I'd called you first"

So you want me to send you a new coil then.

"No thanks I bought one locally but thanks for your help".

Haven't heard from him since.

Edited by Mound Dawg on Wednesday 4th March 22:26

[swindler]

+1 try a new coil had exactly the same issue on 3.8. Ugrade to the sport one, a new sport one was still less than £20

[Elderly]

Mound Dawg said:

"Your coil's overheating" I told him. "Borrow another coil and see how you go".

Two weeks later he rang back. "You were right, it was the coil, I borrowed one from a friend and it worked fine. I wish I'd called you first"

So you want me to send you a new coil then.

"No thanks I bought one locally but thanks for your help".

Haven't heard from him since.

Edited by Mound Dawg on Wednesday 4th March 22:26

I think that it's rather nice that he rang you back to give you the positive feedback of your suggestion;
maybe buying a coil locally was much cheaper than your selling price and he didn't have to pay p & p on top as well?

[9xxNick]

Mound Dawg said:

Although...

"Your coil's overheating" I told him. "Borrow another coil and see how you go".

Yup, I have had the same thing myself on a couple of cars. Of course, checking for a spark when the car's working won't tell you anything, but I assume someone that's truly competent will be looking for problems once the symptom's just manifested itself.

Micro-cracks in the distributor cap can also expand and cause misfiring when the component warms up but not cause a problem when cold.

[jith]

9xxNick said:

Mound Dawg said:

Although...

"Your coil's overheating" I told him. "Borrow another coil and see how you go".

Yup, I have had the same thing myself on a couple of cars. Of course, checking for a spark when the car's working won't tell you anything, but I assume someone that's truly competent will be looking for problems once the symptom's just manifested itself.

Micro-cracks in the distributor cap can also expand and cause misfiring when the component warms up but not cause a problem when cold.

The first time I saw this Nick was on a Mercruiser marine unit in a 25 foot cabin cruiser. It would start first time and idle at the mooring all day. You could open the throttle and go for about 4 miles and then it would die and utterly refuse to start. The thing is, after it did this the plugs would come out dry so there was probably enough spark to keep them dry but not enough to fire the engine up hot.
After wasting hours getting nowhere, we took every single ignition component off the shelf, stuck it in the boat and went out into the loch and sailed until it stopped. We replaced each part until we found it: it was the rotor arm. It had been replaced brand new only weeks before as part of a springtime service, was a genuine Mercruiser part and there wasn't a mark on it.
When we got back to the workshop I had to find an answer to this so I put an ohmeter between the tip of the rotor and the underside of the plastic and heated the whole thing up with a hot air gun. As it got hotter it went conductive. The first time in my life I have seen conductive plastic!! I am going to assume something happened during the manufacturing process that introduced carbon into the plastic as it's the only explanation. But faults like this can drive you mental!

J

[dormrod]

Thanks guy's and as last post said. Things like this drive you mad. I have taken on board all advice given and fitted new. Coil points rotor arm and condenser And we seem to have a cure. But won't kno for certain until I give her a long run to
Get the engine fairly hot but so far after a five mile run she starts. Fingers crossed


Thanks to all