UK Car Repair: V12 Jag wont start, wd 40, water drops

Question
1988 XJSC V 12, 62,000 miles. Seldom driven but has never, never failed to start even if untouched for 3 months. We have had non-stop rain for the last 11 weeks (strange for Houston). A week ago I needed to move the Jag for the painters and it would not start. Sounded like half the cylinders were firing. I fully charged the battery and triied again the next morning.  Still no go. I opened the hood and saw water drops sitting on everything. The Ingnition Amplifier had 20+ on top if it so I expect condensation inside as well. I removed the Distributor cap and cleaned and buffed the rotor cap and posts. And gave a liberal dousing of WD 40 where needed. Can the Lucas be firing only one side of the sparkpluge, because when it is running whit smoke coming from the left exhaust and very little black out of the other (right exhaust). I had to push the throttle way in to keep it runing and at that it hit only about 2000 rpm. The smell of raw gas was present at the rear? Please help. Jimmy Moriarty

Answer
Be very careful, it sounds as though only six cyl's are working, check the oil level and smell it on the stick.  It is probably contaminated with fuel, the raw fuel is running down the cylinders into the sump!  The problem is most likely in the computer in the trunk. It could be that the injectors are open continiously, with fuel just pouring in.  The odd thing is the injectors work three on one side and three on the other, the spark is individual by cylinder, so it is odd for all on one side to fail, normally it would be all.  You have to remove the spark plugs and see which ones are soaked, let me know whaty you find. Be careful;  as you have a lot of fuel around, you will have to drain out the oil before running the engine.