I've washed my engine many times, washed it yesterday, let the XJ sit until today at 7pm (basically 24 hours) and now she won't start. There was so much muddy stuff under the hood that I only covered the intake this time. I used engine degreaser & a garden hose. Did not cover the alt or the distributer like I usually do.

My starter is barely a year old. So someone please tell me what to look at first.

 

Dry out your distributor.

 

is it not cranking over or is it cranking, just not starting? if its not cranking over try smacking the starter with a hammer a few times. if you get a bunch of crap in them theyll get stuck once in a while. if it is cranking over check for fuel pressure at the fuel line and check for spark at the plugs.

 

wow!, i cleaned mine today and only covered the coil,soaked everything with degreaser then had the hose on shower setting and rinsed it all off,in fact i did that like 4 times today and let it sit in the 80 degree weather for a couple of hours and he started right up.

 

i did the same thing if its not doing anything i would make sure your relays are good because i have burnt out a few... you should also dry your distributor and your wires but really dry them but them in the sun for and hour or two just remember were everything goes

 

How do you do that? Shouldn't it have dried out by itself after 24 hours?

It's not doing anything ... no crank, no nothing ... maybe a tiny click

I'm about to go outside now & take a look. Not sure how to dry the distributor tho. I'll check the relays ... another area I usually covered, but I didn't this time. I doubt it got wet in there tho. See this is why I hate mud.

 

L... feel free to give me a call..

 

Y'know John I did consider that, but didn't want to bother your BBQing .

The problem is I work at night, & got only a few minutes in the day time between life & sleep to play with the XJ. It's at a friend's since I have no driveway. Went back the day after washing, tried to start it, nothing.
Yesterday I checked these posts then walked a few blocks to the XJ, planning to check what I do know about (fuses) instead of what I know zilch about (distributor). Eureka - it was a blown fuse! And John, the same fuse controls the electric fan which died at NAC Fest, because I changed it, hooked the fan back up after removing the jerry-rig & it fired right up. I don't know how we missed that - & why the XJ started with the ignition fuse blown. Things electric just confuse me ... and I still have no headlights.

But starting problem solved guys. Thanks all!