Air Con or Something else

[Doherto]

Hi, having had the opportunity to get my car out this weekend, with the eventful episode described in Engine under List (Lost) ignition, I believe I have understood all the controls now. EXCEPT ONE. As it was warm over the weekend I was not happy that when the heater controls were set to cold, minimum, as warm air still flowed through the vents. I tried the 'Humidity' controls but there was no difference what so ever, although I am not sure what they are supposed to do as there is no description of them in the manuals I have and very little in the Handbook. I do not even know if I have AC. There is a pump linked to the crankshaft pully below the distributor which is connected to the dash by some piping and I will insert pictures hopefully when finished typing. Hopefully also I will attach a picture of my dash so that someone with more knowledge than me can enlighten me as to what I have and what it SHOULD do. Hopefully whatever the system is, it should provide cold air in hot conditions and it's just not working. May need re gassing, new seals, or something replacing, which ever, I am sure it will be costly. I would appreciate some education and or direction of diagnosis please. Tony D

[Andy P]

Hi Tony,
Going by the photo's it certainly looks like you have A/C fitted to your car.
I have a PDF regarding the Delanair MK IV HVAC system which I think is fitted to your car.
Here's the link.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t4HAqA ... sp=sharing
Not sure if this appears in the handbook you have.
Feel free to download the file.
Regarding having a Re-Gas,I would be inclined to have the whole system serviced by an A/C Specialist rather than a garage which just does A/C as a side service.(That's just my opinion)
My A/C Specialist comes to me,which has the added bonus of that you can see what is involved and the checks they do.
Hope this helps a bit and you get it sorted.
Take care and stay safe.
Andy.

[Doherto]

A.J.P. Thank you for your reply and good news. I was a bit afraid, as the car is an import from Japan, that perhaps it was somehow different. The link is brilliant and I have digested it thoroughly but I have another question. I set the Fan control to High, selected AUTO with the mode button, selected 2 drops for Humidity and rotated the temp control to minimum and expected the system to pump out cold air. I took the temp inside the car before and after 15 minutes and the temperature actually increased. The engine tick over bobbles about and settles suggesting the pump is working when initiated so I am now thinking that perhaps it's working to a fashion and may need re gassed. Sods law it is filled with Feron 12 so I understand that I will have to have the system modified for new legally acceptable gas. So my question is, have I set the controls correctly to expect cold air, all things being working correctly. She is going to a specialist early next week but hopefully it's not just me setting the system incorrectly. Any replies appreciated. Tony D

[cafcpete]

Reading the excellent PDF Andy sent, it sounds like you have it all set correctly.
One think to check is what happens when you press the econ button. This in effect turns the AC on and off. If you press this repeatedly, do you hear the clutch engage/disengage? You should (the revs will change momentarily too).
If you don’t then it may be that the gas is low.

[Doherto]

Thank you cafcpete again. I have tried your suggestion and cannot hear the the pump kick in or feel the clutch relay switch. I have checked all the fuses so will let you all know what the experts say on Monday. Tony D

[Doherto]

OK FYI I have been to the specialist today and he has confirmed that there is no gas pressure. Therefore he system needs to upgraded for different gas to Feron 12 and two options are being priced up, system renewal for the new gas and system modification and filled with new gas. Both sound expensive, I'll let you know

[cafcpete]

Excellent news that you have found the problem.
It wouldn’t be that expensive, and if they want much more that £120 give these people a go (not used them, just first on a google search).
https://www.coolcaraircon.co.uk/r12-to- ... onversion/

[Doherto]

HAPPY DAYS Thank you Cafcpete for the lead on coolcaraircon. They do not have a franchise in my area so I found Polar car air conditioning in Bolton and tried them. What a brilliant service. 'People' said that these services will arrive, as they come to the house, and magically there will be problems and additional cost to the quoted £128 plus Vat. Ian, who is Polar Air, was a really nice person, checked everything before he started, explained everything as he went along. Modified the gas valves, Vacuumed out the system and test pressured it, filled it with new gas and oil and re tested and re checked the whole system and BINGO everything is working brilliantly. £153.60 and all sorted in about an hour. I will be using Ian again to double check her when she comes out of hibernation next year before we go touring again in Europe, which we can now start to plan. Thank you all for your contributions to the eventual success and saving £ four figures from the Jag quotes which I have not yet received. Tony D

[JimboV8]

The problem you will have with not using the car is the seals in the system will dry out again and the gas will leak. At least you know the system, and it’s component parts are working correctly.

[Doherto]

JimboV8 Agreed and understood, I will ensure that in the schedule of warming her up every week when she is in hibernation that I will run the AC which will hopefully help. That's not for ages yet though, we've got some miles to clock up starting on the coast to coast run from the Curved Road book this Sunday. Tony D

[cafcpete]

Great news that you are now running cool.

As you are having a new crank sensor fitted you may feel like some ‘Free’ (well reasonable cost) extra performance at the same time and consider seeing if your car qualifies for an ‘Andy Bracket’.

I have one on my XJR6 and highly recommend it. He has made over 900 of these brackets.

It doesn’t fit all XJ40’s and I have added one post out of the LONG thread at the end of this post that states which VIN you need so you are saved from reading it all!

See here for the thread
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-x ... nes-66536/

You can contact Andys wife to check if it suitable for you car and order.

“
contact my wife Helen at helenstodart@gmail.com for more details.
“


“
Recently I have been doing some more research to try to determine when Jaguar changed between different designs of crank sensor brackets, so that I can advise owners, whether I have designed an alternative bracket to fit their car. It appears that Jaguar started fitting a bracket marked with the part number EBC1253 to AJ6 4.0L engines from engine number 108835. This part was fitted up to engine number 161586, which was about XJ40 VIN 667829. I have designed a replacement for EBC1253 which provides an extra 5 degrees of ignition advance. 4.0L AJ6 engines after number 161586 were fitted with a bracket with a part number EBC5017. This bracket was also fitted to all AJ16 engines. I have also designed an alternative to this bracket with an extra 5 degrees of ignition advance and this was the basis for this original post. These engine numbers and XJ40 VIN should only be used as a guide. The only way to be certain if a bracket is an EBC1253 or EBC5017 is to have a look at it. Hopefully this information will allow any XJ40 owners reading this to see, if they can fit one of my revised brackets. I might be persuaded to design revised brackets for 3.6L engines, but I would need one of the standard brackets from one of these engine, on which I could base my design. I would also need to know that there was sufficient design for such a bracket. I have had to disappoint a number of 3.6L XJ40 owners and 4.0L XJ40 owners with engines before 108835. “

[Doherto]

Cafcpete, Thanks for the great information. I have already changed the Crank sensor and fuel relay with Jag parts not OEM but am very interested in your info. I have read 80% of the thread until it seamed very clever people were having a bit of a spat. The consensus and local expert advise dictated that I contacted the e mail address you supplied. No reply yet but hopefully I will get one. Whatever I will let this thread know the outcome. Tony D

[Doherto]

Sorry Guys but I ned to resurrect this post. My air con worked last year as above, although I don't think we had opportunity to use it, but when taken out of hibernation this year once again it didn't. I have submitted an article with more details for the magazine but suffice to say I have now changed the Receiver Dryer bottle, the expansion valve and removed the condenser and had it tested as they are impossible to buy, well almost. The condense tested ok and the system was rebuilt with new 'O' rings for all joints. My man at Polar Air re tested and re charged the system and it worked fine. That was a few weeks ago just before our planned trip to France which we have just returned from today. Yes, the B....y Air Con packed up on our return journey, although I think it gave up shortly after recharging, but we needed it for a 250 mile journey last Saturday when it was 37 degrees. Slightly frustrating to say the least. Now home I have checked and there is no gas in the system. There is tracer oil in the gas but I can find no evidence of it anywhere. My Polar Air man said, when we last recharged the system, that although the condenser may test ok they can become porous and leak slowly even though it passed vacuum and pressurisation tests. Can anyone spread any light on that theory please. I have not touched the compressor so may have a bad connection there, I guess I will need to fit new 'O' rings there too. Finally, I have only touched components in the engine bay and do not know what connections, if any, are under the dash coming from the two pipes behind the Expansion Valve, again can anyone share their knowledge or experiences please. I'll go web searching for a condenser !!!!! Tony

[andypryce]

I must admit that mine also leaks, a specialist said it was ok and regassed it, lasted about 3-4 weeks. I now just regas it myself every 3 or 4 weeks, easy to do. Not ideal but other jobs are more pressing…

[Doherto]

How do you re gas it Andy