I sure remember faucet water in Arizona. Distilled easily available for
cooling system use. Drinking it didn't bother me. Dear departed wife wanted and got bottled water. Happy wife, happy life worked.


As to radiator choice. Original, flushed or recored should be just fine. Same for the Summit sourced unit. Good to have options.


Yeah, the trailer is surely the safe choice.


Great car, enjoy it. Odds and ends can be tolerated or fixed...


Carl

 

One of my favourite parts places is Coventry West in Atlanta, but others are SNG Barratt, either in NH or the UK. I have heard good things about Jagbits, but never used them.

 

Yes...the water is AWFUL here. We roll with bottled water, too. It also makes for a happy wife.

I am really struggling with making these good decisions. It is so out of character for me. LOL

 

Got it. At times, too many options clouds the decision making.


In my past career in insurance claims, decisions were every thing.
I wrote a paper and delivered an address before colleagues in a seminar. The theme was " Investigate, evaluate, and decide". Wel,l received and published.


And, I've taught my kids. Gather the facts, weight the options, decide. Oh, don't look back, it's done. Favorite words, "done".


Assigned tasks by me for this morning, done!!!


Carl

 

On to the other problems you mentioned. The throttle should be nice and smooth, a likely cause is a kinked throttle cable. You'll probably need a replacement. However, try turning the throttle by hand at the "turntable" on the top of the engine with the 2 rods coming off to the throttle plates and make sure that turns smoothly.

AC: you have a GM compressor generically called the A6. The hoses are held to the back of the compressor by a plate and a bolt through the center. As the bolt is tightened it bends and doesn't hold the hoses exactly square to the compressor body and the O rings. It's a common leak point. If a mechanic tightens up the bolt to fix the leak it bends the plate more and makes things worse.

The solution is to find the retaining plate from a 70's or 80's GM car or truck that also uses the A6. Some 70's Fords also used the A6. The GM plate is about twice as thick and doesn't bend. Put in new O rings along with the GM plate and pull vacuum to see if the system is sealed. I've fixed a few V12's with no AC by changing this plate.

 

Thank you very much for the great info! I might have time to dig into it after the weekend. I'm sure I will be gassed by the time I get home with it on Sunday.

The most surprising part is that I survived letting the Mrs in on the secret last night. She was a little skeptical at first, but seemed to come around as I told her more about it. At least I'm still alive...and married. That was a much better result than I expected. LOL!

 

That is the magic of the XJS, my wife was out of town when I bought mine.
I didn't get any grief though.

 

I won't say she was ecstatic...but she came around. I may have made a similar purchase for my own use a couple years ago. That project went nowhere, and is still sitting in the driveway. So that will be the next to go...as soon as I find the title. Ugh.

 

I also have to unload a project before winter parking sets in. We can't park overnight on the streets in winter. sheesh

 

I need to build a garage/barn/shed structure. I'm unloading a pile of guitars, too...so maybe it will happen...

 

Just a quick note regarding your aluminum radiator from Summit - don't know if it's the same one but I also got one from them, manufactured by a company called "Becool". I replaced the original radiator because it was leaking, on both sides where the tubes met the tanks.

On the positive side, the Becool seems a well made piece, fit (physically) not perfectly but pretty well (fan shroud needed some small mods), and has been working fine for me.

On the negative side, it was much more of a project to make the plumbing work than I thought it would be. The left bank has to be routed to the right side and both teed together. The tee may be available, I saw some on the web but they were very costly, ended up making one, also the pipe from left to right side. Matching Jaguars transmission cooler hoses to the new radiator was also a challenge, the jag fittings were "odd", hard to find, and my new radiator just had pipe thread to meet them.

So in conclusion, I made it work, but if I were to do it again, I would either get the original recored or get a direct fit aftermarket unit (I didn't find one at the time, but I've since seen some made by Wizard? if I remember correctly, that look pretty good). If you already have the radiator that may change the equation for you though.

I'd be happy to add any details that would help you, and I may be able to find some photos from when I did it, just let me know.

Eric

 

It IS a Be Cool model...#62082, for which the application is for V8 conversion usage. It does state that it can be used for the V12 "with additional hoses". I figured the translation of that is that it would be a nightmare!

I think the tentative plan is to have the original recored...and then we'll go from there. I'm sure I don't personally have the skill (or time) to make the replacement one work. But if I need to use it, I will certainly be out here raising the red flag for help!!

 

williewilkens,

Before you pull the trigger, I'd like to offer a word of caution.

The cheapest transaction in many people's XJS experience is the purchase, so that is something you should think through, and have appropriately reasonable expectations while you still have a chance to opt out.

The above is compounded if you don't do all the work on the car yourself. Even without seeing the car myself, I can confidently predict that the first mechanic's bill, to bring the car to a condition you will feel comfortable having your wife drive the car, will exceed the purchase price.

At current values, the cost to bring any XJS not maintained by a genuine obsessive enthusiast up to snuff doesn't make much financial sense. If you wrench it yourself, you can count the satisfaction and enjoyment on your side of the ledger.

The car is over 25 years old, and spent most or all of its life in a very dry climate. That's great for preserving metal, but death to the squishy bits found throughout the car.

Properly maintained, the XJS is bulletproof. Chances it was properly maintained? Odds are it wasn't, even if owned by a professional mechanic (I doubt he bought the BeCool for weight saving reasons).

I don't want to discourage you from joining our ranks, but I do want you to do it with your eyes wide open. The charms of the XJS can be the automobile equivalent of beer goggles, and some people have ended up wanting to chew off their own arm the morning after.

My sincere apologies for raining on parade day, but forewarned is forearmed. Best of luck!

 

Duly noted on all accounts...and I appreciate the candor. I fully intend to do most of the work myself going forward, but I feel that getting this cooling issue under control quickly would best be handled by someone other than myself. And if it doesn't work out? Cut your losses and move on. Between the extra radiator and the library of books and manuals I am getting...and the other unknown parts I have yet to be told of...I could probably reclaim a good bit of the initial investment (assuming the absolute worst here).

I can tell you that this little endeavor is serving as incentive to unload a good portion of the vast collection of other stuff I have managed to gather over the years. If I accomplish that feat, this whole thing will be a success...whether the car turns out well or not. I am already feeling relieved knowing that I will move in that direction.

I will proceed cautiously. And will keep the title where I can find it. But I am looking forward to the challenge of owning one of these fine vehicles.

 

Actually, don't sell yourself short on this. You can handle this, and if you run into trouble we're here to help.

When I first got an XJS, the V12 seemed so complex and intimidating that I always took it to a local specialist. He's a great guy and very honest so I was happy with that arrangement for many years.

I don't recall the exact issue that got me to cross the rubicon and start to tinker with the car myself, but little by little, I did more and more. At the end of the day, it's just an engine, and it is really more straightforward and simple than I thought.

Doing a complete refresh of the cooling system isn't hard and it's just nuts, bolts, and hose clamps like any car.

Here's a tip that will help as you tackle the car. A smartphone or digital camera is your best friend. Take pictures of anything you touch before you touch it. That way you'll have a reference of what goes where or which way things go. Also organize nuts, bolts, screws, fittings, etc. as you remove them. I either tape them to a piece of cardboard with notations, or to the part they are associated with, or use an organizer tray.

There may be things that you (or I for that matter) can't do on the XJS, but the entire cooling system isn't one of them.

 

I want to add a comment about radiators...

For the last 3-4 years, my 89 hardly ever ran below the midpoint on the temp gauge unless the outside temps were pretty low. And in the summer with the A/C on, it was closer to the 2/3 mark more often than not. I torpedoed a fan blade earlier this year and tore up the stock radiator, and decided to replace it with the one from Wizard Cooling.

The unit isn't completely "drop-in" as advertised, but once we plugged up the extra bung holes we didn't need, the car now runs a good 20-30 degrees cooler. Running it with the A/C on in 95-degree, humid Alabama weather has very little effect on the car. It has reached the 1/2 mark exactly once and usually operates closer to the 1/3 mark.

Jess

 

This is where work effects home life. I work in IT...and I know that one of the key points of an implementation is to get buy-in from your staff. So...if I'm going to get the wife on board, I don't think having it torn apart for weeks right out of the box is the way to gain her trust or interest. I think I'd rather pony up for the initial work as opposed to diving into unfamiliar territory with an imaginary deadline hanging over me. (And I sold the 390 tonight...so we're on our way to softening the blow from the repair bill!)

I must say, I am impressed with the knowledgeable members on this board. I have already picked up a great deal...and for that, I am grateful!

 

I looked up the Wizard ones today. They definitely look extremely well built. Their product will certainly be in consideration of i have to go that route!

 

I've always said the V12 isn't complicated - there is just a lot of it.

 

Regarding MacAllens cautionary note - he's almost certainly right that the purchase price is just the "cover charge" so to speak - depending how far you want to go, who knows what it will all add up to.

On the other hand, I paid $3500 for my car, knew it needed the radiator and a couple small things but it was drivable as is, after taking care of that stuff maybe around $4500 into it. We got more than that when we sold my wifes 12 year old Camry with more miles than the jag! (We didn't exchange the camry for the jag if you were wondering, just for comparison). At any rate, I think I got way more car for the money!