Greetings fromTexas,
I have a '96 VDP that I'm getting ready to take in for A/C work. It hasn't worked since I've had it (about 5 months). Is here anything peculiar that tends to go out on these model/year?

Also, I have been told the wheels on her are original.



Its missing three lug nuts for some reason. That's just dandy until you try to find one of these:


I'm calling a parts place in Houston that supposedly only deals in British car parts. Finding one up to this point has been near impossible.
Thanks for any input.

Dan

 

Freon .

On the AC control panel inside the X300 you can hit the buttons a certain way and it will do a self test . See page 110 below :

How tall are your nuts ? The salvage yard has many wonderful things needing adoption in a new home .

 

Hi Dan,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us. As Lady P has already mentioned, the most likely cause of your inoperable A/C is low refrigerant (R134a). Your shop will test the refrigerant pressure and if it's empty, they'll vacuum evacuate the system and check for leaks. Usually it's as simple as replacing an O-ring or two.

Regarding the wheels, I don't believe they are original. You can see the original Jaguar options here:

Jaguar X300 Wheels

However, it is quite possible that the wheels were installed at a Jaguar dealer, possibly even when the car was new. It is most likely that they were made by Dayton Wire Wheels, and if so, you may still be able to purchase lug nuts from them. It would certainly be worth inquiring:

Dayton Wire Wheels

Cheers,

Don

 

The lug nuts looked a little tall and may be a miss match and not seating on the wheel with a bite hence they walk off

 

The wheels are Dayton. 100 spoke never available on X300 from factory. Mine were dealership installed.

 

Welcome to the forum, Dan.

Most common issues with the X300 A/C seem to be:
Condenser bushes dry up and blow away (particularly the lowers) condenser then rubs a hole in itself against the grill opening panel structure.

Receiver/Drier - mounted atop the a/c condenser, lets its dessicant pellets loose into the system, clogging the thermal expansion valve. Best option here is much patience, an aircompressor and maybe a case o' beer. Success has been named by back-flushing the TXV with compressed air; recharging with refrigerant, finding it doesn't quite work, then lather, rinse, and repeat. As tedious as it sounds, it beats taking the dash out to get at the TXV.
Last, maybe even more common...and certainly least - the charge-port Schroeder valves are prone to leak.

 

Nice color;-) I always wondered what my car would look like with wire wheels

 

Thanks folks. The wheels are in fact Daytons...the lug nut is a 120B 1/2 and it says Dayton on it. Some good information here when I go to the shop to have it looked at. The lug nut I have is 1 3/4 inches tall. I believe it is original to the wheels, but no idea how I'm missing three. There is a place here called BPI (British Parts International) that supposedly only works on British cars. They are supposed to have a lot of cars in their junkyard and they refurbish a lot of stuff that is hard to get here in the states. I'm going to pay them a visit this weekend. Thanks for the information on the A/C. I printed it off and I'll run it up against what I'm told by the shop.

 

Well,
To follow up on the A/C issue...turns out that rodents had eaten my A/C wiring! My local mechanic was able to solder new wiring in and the A/C works like a charm. You cannot believe how relieved I was at that, because initially, it was going to be $800 just for the new compressor (the wiring to it was what was gnawed on). Thanks again for all of the input.