Daimler addiction: my fourth, Regency red with magnolia [page 6]
The bad points
I drove the car home over 42 km of motorway. It drives very smooth and delivered well. A few kilometer from home, I tried to accelerate faster but the car didn't do it and the 'check engine' light came on. VCM code fuel fail 44. After standing overnight in my shed and just running the engine for a couple of minutes, the check engine light again went on. Again Fuel fail 44. Any suggestions? (I know there are some at the XJ40 forum, will see later, but comments welcome now.)
During that 42 km of smooth motorway driving, the onboard computer showed a fuel consumption 25% higher than my other 4,0 litre car. Could that be a clue?
The most disappointing of the car is the complete contradiction between its great condition from the outside and inside and the condition of everything at the underside of the car. The complete suspension, brakes, subframe, the lower engine components, exhausts, everything is covered in a thick layer of rust. Also the alloy components like the alternator show heavy oxidation. This cannot be true: the lower side of the car looks like coming from a different planet than the bodywork and interior. At least the first owner stored the car for the full 16 years in a dry and heated garage. What happened?
Even the steering pump line and nuts and the brake calipers have thick rust.
A clue could be the right front tyre: at the right side in the image below it shows a mark of a 12 cm deep puddle … The car has possibly been parked over a very wet surface for the past few years?!
The engine oil at the dipstick looked bad: thick and light brown, muddy. In the mean time I changed oil. When I poured the old oil into a can, the inhomogeneity became very apparent. What can it be? Coolant?! I don't know. Suggestions? If so: oh no! In fact, there is no pressure on the coolant cap, neither is there on the oil filler cap. So no gasket failure?
Actually, I changed oil twice, because I apparently did not succeed in placing the new oil filter right, it is even more difficult to get there than with my Insignia: the rubber ring turned out to have been displaced and after I started the engine and waited for the oil pressure to rise, it turned out the engine had pumped most oil out. Well, that was a good oil flush … Luckily (to some extent), the car was on a smooth concrete floor.
At first sight, the coolant also looks bad. It looks orange and thick. Oil?! But this apparently was an optical illusion. It is rather clear pink coolant. The pink colour can also be seen at the thermostat housing. The pink colour indicates a modern G12-like coolant. (As far as I know, 'G12' is a requirement code used by Volkswagen, other makes use different codes.) And G12 cannot be mixted with the classical blue coolant (although the colours are no guarantee for what type the coolant exactly is!), because a muddy brown deposit will result, no need to say that it could kill the narrow coolant ways in the block.
I always use MPM oil and fluids: you do not pay for a premium name and the quality is very good. They have a very good website, here I saved the recommendation for our Jaguar with AJ6 engine from 1991--1994 as an html file an html file (in English even, please see the conditions) (and here is the complete recommendation for the 6.0 V12). For Jaguar, this is G11. G11 is sort of in between the famous BS 6580 classic blue coolant and the modern G12, G12+ etcetera. If MPM recommends it, I would use it. So I would not agree with Rob J. in requiring a Jaguar branded coolant for the V12. Jaguar does not make coolants, they just specify their requirements and MPM knows them best.
By the way, I would never use a mixture of antifreeze and tap water. You all seem to do that? The Dutch tap water is the best in the world and thousand times cheaper than bottled water, but it contains minerals that you don't want into the coolant mixture. The safest way is get a MPM ready-to-use coolant, would be my advise. [Having said that, in the meantime I bought a barrel of 60 litres and MPM only sells it as concentrate, so yes, I dilute it with genuine Dutch tap water!]
But as said: G12 is not to be mixed with G11 or blue coolant. G12+ can also be pink and can be mixed. I think I best flush the cooling system (never did this though, I fear to get at the drain plug in the block and get it loose), run the engine with tap water, flush again and then fill it with G11.
The car was originally equipped with rear self levelling suspension. The first owner had it removed when the car was TWO months old!! At one occasion it just raised itself to the maximum height, making driving impossible, he told me. All components are still present though, I don't know them (my Insignia doesn't have them and my Daimler Double Six is a different story). The feed from the valve block was just disconnected. However, at the rear end the line was bent back and fixed to the brake line (is it?). I believe the levelling line at my Double Six is at the left of the car, here it is at the right. The sensor module over the right lower control arm is still there, but of course the link arm is removed.
The problem is that the hoses and lines of the levelling directly behind the radiator are leaking badly. The central device af the front of the engine must be the levelling pump (ok?), I don't know whether it also leaks. The result is a front end and the aircon compressor and V-belt dripping of oil. Bad, it is a mess.
As you have seen above, the whole lower front end of the suspension and engine is covered in oil and has attracted loads of dirt. It is difficult to judge whether the steering rack and lines are leaking, not much, I believe. From the new rubber I would guess the lower and upper ball joints have been renewed recently, well, a good point in the end.
If I understand it well, as a MY 1993 specialist till now, the steering system and self levelling system share one supply reservoir of oil. I see the T-joint in the hoses, one to each of the two pumps. This oil must be hydraulic system mineral oil (HSMO) (MPM recommends LHM+ for Citroën, I used it for my Double Six until the SLS was removed). I recognize the exact power steering pump I had so much trouble with on my 1993 Insignia. How can it also operate on hydraulic oil?
The question I have now: it appears to me that the current oil is not HSMO, as it has an orange-red colour. The MPM LHM+ is green. So, could you guess what is in the system? And how can I refill it? Should I kind of flush it and fill it with the green HSMO?
Wouldn't it be the best to remove the hydraulic SLS pump from the engine and remove the hoses, to cure the heavy leaking? Can it be done?
The right front shock – or at least suspension – is clunking if driving over a bump. I guess only the upper bushes need replacing. The left rear suspension is also clunking, it is almost if it is loose. I don't know what this could be.
The left front wheel bearing has play. Although it probably will just pass the MOT test, I reckon I can get it right. The right front wheel is OK. I did not have the rear wheels off the ground till now.
The rear bumper is missing, as it was brought to a bodyshop to repair a large dent. After some struggles, I have it back in parts now, covered in sandblasting dust (it covered the whole workshop). At least the chrome is perfect, to my relief. The bumper was taken apart completely, partly by grinding the screws. Not all clips and connections are present.
The rear license plate bulbs surround ('tactile panel') is rusting badly.
A patch is welded in the right inner wing.
The rest seems OK, apart from rust near an extra bonnet switch, possibly from the security system. I guess this rubs over the wing.
There is a pair of dents in the left side of the bonnet and a slight dent in the driver's door. [This photo also shows a difficult to detect feature, that I only was able to discriminate after a while: the whole car, except for a patch on the bonnet visible in this picture, is covered with a paint spray residue! Awful!]
The horns do not work. This at least is a MOT failure.
The windscreen washers do not work. Also MOT failure.
The windscreen wipers function, but will always stay where they are as soon as you release the handle. They never return to their rest position.
All fuses in the left, middle and right fuse boxes seem to work. The fuse at C4 in the right hand fuse box was missing. As soon I place it, the instrument lighting comes on and never goes out. Also, it cannot be dimmed. Within two days this drains the battery. After replacing the C4 fuse, also the buzzer behaves normal, till then it buzzes as soon as you open the driver's door.
I can hear the aerial motor whirring if the sound system is turned on and off, but the mast is dented and stuck. The missing grommet apparently was cured by sealant.
The privacy screen or left rear sun blind is not retracting.
I hope you managed to read to here. Any help and comment is highly appreciated! [Mail to rens at-sign rensswart dot nl.]
All the best, Rens
Next page: selected forum comments
Overview: Introduction to my fourth Daimler
Page published on xj40.com January 2014, published on my website February 2016
Kind regards,
Rens Swart