JR is dead yet again.  Let's just say this XJ's favorite BeeGee's song isn't "Staying Alive."

My neighborhood is at the top of an incredibly steep hill.  I should really measure it, but I think you climb somewhere around 1000ft in elevation in just around a mile or two.  I'm probably wrong on that, but it's fargin' brutal when you're towing a trailer.

Regardless, I was hoofing it up the hill in JR the other day with the tach right around 3800rpm.  After cresting the hill I took my foot off the gas and began decelerating to make the left into my neighborhood.  That's when the engine stalled.  Crap!  I popped it in Neutral while rolling and restarted it.  Oil pressure was on the money and the rest of the gauges were where they should be, but it was running really rough and stalling just like before when the camshaft went flat.

I limped it the final 1-mile to my house and checked it out.  Oil level right on the money.  Letting it idle in Park I pulled injector harness plugs off one at a time.  #6 made no difference in the rough idle, so I suspected it ate the #6 cam lobe.  Off with the valve cover and an electric starter switch hooked to the starter to spin the engine and all of the rockers sawed, none of the pushrods bound, and lash was good.  Out with the plugs and the #6 electrode was damaged.  Apparently there was detonation up the hill I couldn't hear.  Cool.  A new Autolite 985 plug, back on with the valve cover, and start the engine.  Runs like crap.  Pull the dipstick and there's no oil showing.  Rats.  Pull #6 plug and it's oil soaked.  Double rats.  Out with all the plugs, hook up the compression gauge and remote starter switch.  Cylinders 1-5 read 177-174psi.  Cylinder 6 reads 0psi. 

My 4.6L stroker just became a 3.8L.  No time to disassemble the engine to see if it's just a hole in the piston, a shattered ring land, or worse.  I did drain the oil and cut open the filter.  No chunks, no flakes, so it may be salvageable.  You'll read about it in Jp when I finally determine what blew up.