Condenser 1985 V12 HE

R134a conversations have been done by a number of list members. Ed Sowell has a write up on his website. ( not sure it’s still operational since Ed sold hid Jaguar. ) The following website links should help.

https://bernardembden.com/xjs/acup/index.htm

https://bernardembden.com/xjs/134/index.htm

Thanks Bernard.
I will be removing the engine to dp some work, so hopefully it will be easier to replace the aircon system…
On this note, i find the information in your website very helpful, as it has many pictures…
I can’t fabricate things like you, but your work does give me ideas how to do things

If you are going to do the changeover correctly the hoses need to be upgraded to 134a Barrier type hoses.

The compressor should also be changed to a 134a Sanden specific compressor.

I would steer clear of parallel flow condensers, the passages are much to small and clog up like nobody’s business, and once they’re clogged the only alternative is a new one. Be mindful of the fact that even if you change all of the components as suggested, the evaporator will remain to be the weak link in the chain. If you are removing the engine then the next best thing that you can do is to flush the evaporator really good after you remove the expansion valve. Once flushed, take care to immediately plug up the two pipes so that no debris has a chance to contaminate the evaporator before you get back around to hooking up the rest of the system.

I think it’s the most important of all.
I changed to 134a without changing anything, not even the expansion valve, and the system still has an acceptable performance.
Only problem is that the old non barrier hoses are whipping and are always oily.
More irritating than anything else, otherwise it holds pressure very well.

Yeah, the hoses are old to begin with and naturally suffer from degradation over time. But, even under perfect conditions the 134a molecules are much smaller than that of R12, and that’s where the seepage ultimately comes from.

This was one of the concerns that cropped up when conversions from R12 to R-134a first became popular. It was initially expected that such conversions would require replacing hoses. It was found, though, that usually the original hoses – providing they were in good shape – wouldn’t leak. Turns out the oil used in the R-134a system coated the inside walls of the hoses and effectively sealed them.

By now, though, I’d be surprised if any of those original R-12 hoses were in good shape. That’s a long time for a hose.

Thanks guys for all the information.
Our initail plan was to replace the compressor and the hoses. We will look into the condenser now too.

@A.J_Simpson, is there a specific Sanden compressor that we can use? If we have the part number it may save some time looking for a comparable replacement for the original.
Will remind the shop to flush the evaporator properly.

I used the R134a refit kit on my other car without replacing anything. It has been fine for the past few years, no leak yet. It came with a bottle of Ester oil which we had to fill the system with. Didnt see any oily residue on the hoses too…

But for the XJS, since the engine will be out we will do a more complete replacement.

I ordered the Sanden COMPRESSOR w/CLUTCH / SD7H15 $350.00

I don’t know what part of the world that you are in, but I purchased a much larger custom condenser that fit the space exactly like the original.

Thank you.
I will forward this information to the aircon guys.

And, I am located in Singapore. Not the best place to own a classic car… Haha…

You would benefit by attaching your country flag to your avatar.

I would imagine that Hong Kong, or Taiwan might be the closest places to try and source parts from. I purchased my compressor from a guy in Florida

Thanks!
Added my country’s flag!

I have upgraded to later style, parallel flow condenser used with 4.0 liter engines. Had to modify few things though.

I guess there’s a presumption that all of us know our flags. I don’t. It’d be really nice if you could hover over those flags and the country name would pop up.

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Hmmm. So, is it SOP to upgrade to the 4.0 condenser? Or does some aftermarket outfit offer a 2-row condenser designed to fit the 80’s XJ-S?

I think we will have to measure the original dimension and the space available… But will probably need to fabricate or modify the hoses to fit…

I modified a 4.0 condenser for my 87 XJS. The long lower “legs” on the 4.0 version unbolt, and I made up replacement brackets to fit the existing lower mounts in the car out of aluminum angle and some bolts. The top mounts are the same. The a/c line fitting on the right side of the car has to be changed on either the condenser or the flexible line as the threads are different. Since I was changing to a Sankyo compressor, I made up a whole new line.

I don’t know anything about SOP, but I can only say what was explained to me, what the solution was, and where it came from.

  1. The parallel flow condenser works fine as long as there is no dirt in the system. Once dirt is introduced it becomes Impossible to flush clean, because the tubes are so small.

  2. The condenser which is basically a radiator, so it stands to reason that the longer the refrigerant stays inside of the condenser the cooler it gets.

  3. The solution is to build a better mouse trap by first keeping the tubes open so that they aren’t prone to clogging and secondly, replicating the XJS’ along with extending the height to make it larger, but still able to fit into the space.

Enter: Lesley Cabrera
AC Global Metals, Inc.
10630 Santa Fe Ave
South Gate, CA 90280
+1-323-569-9916

I stumbled upon this company through searching for condensers on Ebay. Lesley took over her father’s radiator repair shop and saw a need to start making custom condensers, and (I believe) evaporators. The only problem that I had with fitment was the upper right screw on elbow attachment that connects the condenser to the AC hose. Turns out that the hose fittings on the earlier cars are a different size from the facelift cars and her fittings were originally based off of the earlier R12 cars. Since I wasn’t going to be using the old condenser I simply sent her the fittings from my car and she was able to fabricate a new connection with the proper fitting.

The original condenser that was taken out of the car

The new taller double row condenser




Hello A. J - hopefully the new condenser has a very good airflow path through it, so that it will not reduce the airflow across the radiator - don’t want any temperature up-creep of the coolant, right? - Tex.

There is always going to be give and take in everything we do. After purchasing the car, driving it 2,000 miles home, and then (I dunno) another 2,000-3,000 miles before taking it off the road, there was no evidence of any cooling issues.
But, removing the radiator revealed a horror story of debris and clogged fins.
I really don’t think that a real world scenario of 10-15cm is going to be an issue.

Hello A.J - sounds like you beat the heat problem ahead of it - good show on cleaning out the debris - guess that new larger condenser will probably not block the airflow path anywhere as near as much as all that debris did - Tex.