Hey guys,

since my engine bay is now totally torn down, I wanted to replace the expansion valve.

I can see the valve and I can see one of the two connections... One is screwed into one of the two connections. The other has to go onto the evaporator... Or at least in the near of it. Is that an easy job to do? Also, is there some kind of insulation around the expansion valve? Mine is coated in some kind of tar or bitumen stuff which doesn't look original but more like it has accumulated there over 30 years...

Any tips how to tackle this best? Do I need some kind of "gasket tape" between the fittings?

Cheers

Damien

 

I had a look at mine, it also is coated in tar looking stuff.
hope this helps.

 

I was going to say, TAKE THE ENGINE out, its easier, but you already done that.

The "Black Mastick" is standard, and readily available as a "tape" type product.

The small tube is self explanatory.

The double nut fiasco is a 2 spanner job, and LOTS of care, and whatever else keeps you CALM, as one slip and the evaporator pipe will crack and you have another 2 year task in your future.

 

Cheers Grant!

And yeah, the engine is out - luckily!

There are, as said, 2 tubes on this expansion tube... Or is the original one with only one tube and I have been sent the wrong one?

 

Mine were all Del 2 cars, as in S2 and S3, XJS.

They had only one small cappillary attached under the mastick stuff with a hollow nut fitting.

The Del 3 may be different, no idea.

 

The black stuff is insulation. It's usually a mixture of cork and bitumen of some sort. There should be the small sense line from the diaphragm shaped piece that goes against the expansion valve, that's the temperature sense line. It should be covered in the insulation. Strip off the insulation and then you will see the nuts and flats to put a wrench to support the valve.

Be very careful removing and reinstalling the valve, and when you put the new one in the pigtail shaped sense coil needs to be in hard contact with the valve body to accurately sense temperature, and then replace the insulation with new. It's a tape specially designed for this application.