The 'E' Type Forum

just a couple of things I have noticed with my 3.8 now it is all but finished and would be interested in any comments that you may have confirming mine is correct or incorrect.

1. when the radiator fan comes on to keep the car cool, it switches off with the ignition, no run on which whilst I am sure is safe ( ish) I rather like the idea of a bit of run on to aid cooling down. Is this normal?

2. Submersible fuel pump is very noisy! mine is a FHC so only just under the floor boards and not far away. Its a brand new pump, is this normal also?

3. after you switch the engine off, there is a dripping noise within the engine, which is presumably the oil draining back to the sump from the rocker covers. drip drip drip. Is this par for the course too?

none of these are problems, just things that get my mind thinking and it would be good to cross them off the list of things to worry about if they are normal idiosyncrasies.

thanks as always for the help.

1. Normal and standard
2. Normal but quieter with a full tank of fuel
3. Normal

perfecto. I could not ask for more. thanks. I have had two attempts at getting the tank reasonably full but it does seem to drink it with my new jets! Sounds very throaty though. I had not thought through having more fuel in the tanks!

With regard to the submersible fuel pump, I also noticed last time I put the ignition on that it was noisy, a noise I had never noticed before.
It turns out that I had removed the floor and the thick hardura mat in the boot for inspection and cleaning (I have a FHC).
Maybe the floor and mat are enough to dampen the noise so that I did not notice the noise beforehand.

The enjoyable noises of the E-type! I'll confirm the 1-2-3 is quite normal, albeit a bit alarming in the begining.

And don't forget the 4th - the enjoyable sound, sight and smell of the overflow hose from the radiator spitting the excess fluid contents onto the ground as the engine and contents cool off.

Other threads cover this (as being normal) and how to make cosmetic workarounds, and/or how to avoid filling too full hence avoiding the spill.

Ah, yes indeed I do keep getting puddles of water from the drip tube. I imagine it will cease soon. I am desperate for a proper road journey but we have salt on the roads so it's a wait until it rains and washes all the salt away.

1. No point running the fan if the engine isn't running as coolant isn't circulating.
2. My SNGB new submersible fuel pump is virtually silent. I have an OTS with fully trimmed boot though so that might be the difference.
3. Can't answer that one.

Yea I suppose so on the Fan although I believe my XJ12 fan runs on after the engine has stopped. I may be imagining it !

If you want the fan to run on and you have the normal Otter wiring, just hook it up to an unswitched feed at the fuse holders. Number six rings a bell although I don't have a wiring diagram here. It does help mitigate heat soak because there is air blowing back over the engine, especially with something like a CoolCat fan.

The fuel pump noise is exacerbated if you have the pickup pipe touching the sump or its mounting ring in the tank base. It shouldn't touch at the sides or base but sometimes the pipe is bent or a short sump is fitted and you get metal-to-metal sound transmission. To a lesser degree a badly mounted tank can do the same or even rubber mounts overtightened sans central spacer tube.

I don't recall ever hearing the oil dripping back, but then my E-type has neither rockers nor rocker covers. Stay back after class and write out fifty times "My father's car is a Jaguar, it has no rocker 'sharfts'."

I can recommend an excellent kill-or-cure for all strange E-type noises that will forever ensure any car you drive will be quieter than average: A few years of motorcycle racing... :-(

An age-old Jaguar mechanic told me that the old dripping / splashing sound was the oil filter (e.g. the original style) draining back to the sump. Made sense to me at the time, so I've always associated the noise with that.

Can't see how oil up around the head would make a splashing or dripping noise, I would've thought any excess oil there would just run down walls and surfaces and chains, hence quietly.

I cannot believe I said rockers covers! I must be getting senile.

No, you're just off your rocker!

hi Charles. someone has been searching on the forum! Well done for finding my old post 3 years ago.

to answer your question, now my FHC is fully trimmed and the boot floors etc are in the car, I cannot say I even notice the pump. Maybe I have become conditioned to it, but I suspect its more that its now covered with boards and hardura as is the rest of the car. Plus I generally run around in it with a decent amount of fuel in the tank. See what others say.

abowie wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 03, 2015 12:33 am

1. No point running the fan if the engine isn't running as coolant isn't circulating.

I'm not so sure. My Series 3, XJS and both my Jensen Interceptors run their fans after ignition off- if the fans switch was on prior to switch off.

I've been wondering how much circulation remains present due to the convection effect.