Those are two very good points by Baxtor. I would remove the entire housing and fix it on the bench, too. The jiggle pins are small holes (about 3 or 4mm diameter) with loose metal pins in them. The purpose of them is to release any air from the system into the rad if the thermostats are closed. If you have the correct thermostat but it does not have any pins; just drill a small hole in the large diameter, towards the outer rim, but NOT through the outer rim. Rotate the thermostat so that the hole is at the top.
Here is a listing of a thermostat that shows the jiggle pin clearly. Not a V12 thermo, but a good pic of a jiggle pin if you mouse over the pic!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/THERMOSTAT...item19e0a4eff0

By the way, remember that the spark plugs must be finger tight plus MAX an extra 5 minutes of rotation with a spanner after that. They have solid taper seats and must not be overtightened.

Greg

 

She's also got the 89 Indicator Stalk! my pet hate on my 1989 as at night its all to easy to use the indicator and put the headlights on full beam.

Which for some strange reason, seems to annoy the hell out of other drivers!

The one on my 1990 is much better built for the job.

 

You will seldom come across a Forum like this one, with so many helpful members freely offering their advice.

In fact I would go so far as to say that if you own an XJS or are even thinking of buying one, with all the years of experience and all the collective knowledge these guys have.

Joining this particular Forum simply isn't an option!

Somebody somewhere on these boards has been there and done it before.

 

I think it will make my life much easier if I jack the car up some and put it on jack stands so I can at least get something under the car to try to catch the coolant when I drain the radiator.

I have read the manual and for the front it recommends "a suitable block" and the same for the back- except this block needs to not apply pressure to the flanges of the rear crossmember plate.

does anyone have a recommended diagram or measurements of the blocks required?

And for stands I have seen a lot of people use a hockey puck between the stand and the jack point. Is this reasonable to try not to have the stand damage the jacking spigot?

 

Haines and ROM manual recommend depressurizing the a/c system first. Is this really necessary to remove the radiator? I seem to remember the books recommending depressurizing the a/c system to change the plugs too but that obviously was not necessary-

 

I put my stands under the jacking points. No problem at all.

 

Is this the appropriate place to jack up the car in the front so I can put it on jack stands? I mean the plate directly behind my magnet on the underside of the car.

 

Personally I would never use axle stands, if the car slips off them its game over.

I much prefer to use a big block of wood 12in X 12in with a smaller piece on the top in order to keep it clear of anything else.

If you are intending to remove the Radiator, it would also be false economy to re-use the bottom hoses.

For at least a Couple of good reasons.

If one of the bottom hoses goes, replacing it at the side of the road is an almost impossible job and keeping the XJS engine Cool is of paramount importance.

Secondly trying to remove the bottom hose is a 'nightmare' in its own right, as while you 'may' be able to undo the hose clip, where it goes on the Radiator.

Trying to undo the clips where it goes on the engine is a different ball game altogether! as there is a really sharp bend to contend with together with a smaller hose that spurs off it.

So its very hard to see the clips, let alone undo them so when I had the Rad out on another XJS, seeing that I wasn't intending to use that hose again, I just cut through the whole thing with a Bread Knife.

Otherwise it tends to snag on the Rad as you're taking it out.

The Rad just sits on a couple of pegs that sit on rubber doughnuts that poke through the front beam, its not bolted in at the bottom but those pegs sometimes stick in those holes.

Also there a two hydraulic hoses to remove at the side of the Rad which are not too difficult to undo but counter torque them with another spanner.

Those hydraulic connections are the small ones to the right of the picture.



Block of wood under the Front Cross Beam.

 

I ordered a set of all new rigid hoses to replace the old ones. The top right hose had bits and pieces of rusted inner support all over the place.

I have all the hoses off except the left lower hose. The vertical T hose was actually pretty easy to get off but whoever last replaced the larger hose must have had the car lifted because the screw access on the fastener is pointing straight down.

One question- when I removed what looks like the lower right hose in your picture oil came out! Is that supposed to happen? I could have the wrong hose but I am pretty sure I don't. Pics attached. I can get more if it helps with location/ orientation.

In contrast the lower left vertical hose definitely drained out green coolant.

 

That is a transmission cooler line.

 

Yes!: Oil coming out is expected and quite normal, so nothing to worry about.

The amount of Oil that came out, is also the amount you would expect.


The Main part of the Radiator has the honeycombe fins and looks much like the normal Radiator, that you would find on any other Car.

But on the Side of the Radiator, where the Two smaller hoses came off, this is an integral Oil Cooler for the Transmission Fluid.

This Part of the Radiator seldom needs replacing, which is one of the reasons why it costs less to have the Radiator Re-Cored, than to go out and buy a Brand New Oem Radiator.

A Ball Park figure for a Re-Core: Circa £250-£300 (UK)

Brand New Radiator: Circa £500

 

Chnage the transmission fluid, though. That looks old and cooked, it should be red. Chnaging it is a whole extra pain though, involving gearbox supports and all sorts. When you are ready, post again. If you have one of those transmission guys nearby who can somehow pump new fluid though and remove the old stuff using those cooler pipes, then that is a good and much easier alternative.

Greg

 

Below when you say blow air through the wing overflow spout do you mean this tube where the magnet is? Or is it one of the tubes in the wheel well itself?

And when you say blow- do you mean with compressed air or less powerful (say a turkey baster or something)?

I have the radiator out and am going to take it this Thursday to the radiator shop so I figure I may as well try to get some other things done while I wait.

 

Congratulations on your purchase. You will have many years of joy and frustration, not necessarily in that order.... My 89 XJS is an absolute love to ride experience. But a RPITA to work on.... These fantastic motor cars were built from the bottom up, so when they are worked on, you must take "stuff" off from the top to get to the part !!!! It's a cross between a labor of love and hatred.... You must have a very serious sense of humor to work on the fabulous vehicles.... They are so extremely frustrating, but you will love it anyway !!!
I'm 73 years young and am currently replacing the power steering pump and hoses that will take me to February to accomplish.... If you are in a rush, buy a Chevy or Ford...... If you really want to love something, buy and work on an older Jag !!!!
Ken

 

Now this says it all, print it and hang it on the wall, for those moments you want to put the Cat on fire ...

 

Start at the header tank on the inner wing. The one with the pressure cap on it. Remove the cap and you can see the overflow spout goes into a thick black tube leading backwards twoards the cabij along the inner wing. It then goes through the wing into a cavity. In this cavity is another bottle. This bottle is mean the catch any overflow and then, when the engine cools, the overflow is sucked back into the header tank, so it stays full. It is this black tube that can become blocked. Disconnect it and blow compressed air through it. You should hear some bubbling in the inner wing cavity behind the wheel. If not, pour a pint or so of antifreeze down the pipe so the tank that you cannot see in the wing has some coolant in it. If the hidden catch tank is shot, and the coolant just pours out of the wing, do not worry. For the time being run an overflow pipe to the bottom of the inner wing to vent to the ground. This is how I permanently run my car for over 10 years. Then, when all well you can either redo the catch tank, or not, as you wish. Without an atmospheric catch tank, if the system is good, the header tank will when full, blow out about 1/3 of its contents, then stabilise at that level. Well above the level at which the warning light will come on.

Then when you refill with your lovely new rad and stats in place, you fill up at the central cross pipe spout until the header tank is completely filled to the brim and then put on the header tank pressure cap. the continue filling at the centre spout and follow the bleed instructions from there.

Please also check that the overflow outlet from the centre fill spout that goes to the rad top is not blocked. See this post I made recently on the "what did you do for your XJS today" thread:

Warmed up the car in the garage today to give the aircon compressor a go, and to have a general XJS fix. Noticed that the air bleed arrangement pipe from the crosspipe centre fill spout take-off to the RHS radtop banjo and thin radtop cross pipe was not getting warm.

This indicating the small steel tube exiting the crosspipe fill spout was blocked.When the engine cooled off I removed the rubber pipe from the steel tube takeoff, and the cap on the spout (a solid non-valved cap in my case). Air was in the spout, which there should not be, ideally. Blew through the rubber pipe into the fill spout and it was blocked, sucked, same thing. There is a non-return vale arrangement in this tube that prevents water going into the spout from the radtop bleed arrangement. This is still available from Jaguar, and fits into the end of the rubber pipe that connects to the crosspipe spout takeoff pipe. Part number EAC4126

Metal takeoff pipe from the fill spout was completely blocked. I had ensured it was free when I rebuilt 4 years ago. Coolant regularly changed, so how it blocked up I do not know. So I drilled out the blockage, refitted a new rubber pipe, pushed the non-return valve into the rubber pipe to clear the steel takeoff pipe and allow enough free rubber pipe to be clamped up to the steel takeoff. Then checked the non return valve was working by sucking/blowing. Did it all up, topped up the spout and started the car.

In no time the tube was getting warm, indicating the crosspipe bleed arrangement was working again. So well worth checking this function from time to time. If it is working correctly, the takeoff pipe should get warm, not hot but noticeably warm, well before the thermostats open. Once they open, the whole lot gets so hot you cannot tell.

 

Thank you for the thought! I bought a set and it worked like a charm!

 

Do you remember where you got your thermostats? I ordered some from Brian Welker at v12 performance that specified the jiggle pin but I may am coming on two weeks since order with no contact from him after multiple calls and emails.

So I may need to buy from another source but most of the sites do not have a picture or the picture does not show the jiggle pin specifically.

thank you

erik

 

Im happy they worked for you. They have gotten me out of many sticky situations.

They go in the cool tool section.

 

I saw a thermostat once from a different vehicle that the giggle pin was no more than a brass cotter pin through the hole and spread open. It seems to me that it would be an easy fix to do the same. I hope this helps.
BQ