The xtype defrost is pushing out cold air. I checked the coolant and is fine. The heater core was suspect but is also fine. In some blogs I am reading about heater valves? automatic valves? Can anyone shed some light on what I could check? I also thought thermostat but car temp is good and before I spend the money I wanted to get some input and do some more homework.
Thanks
Blondie

 

Blondie: Check out this thread in which PanamaJag recently had and fixed a similar problem: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...s-cold-127794/

Some cars have a water valve that opens and closes to turn on and off the coolant flow to the heater core. But our X-Types don't. When the engine is running and warmed up to normal operating temperature (and, of course, the coolant reservoir is full), hot coolant (that's an oxymoron? ) constantly flows thru the heater core (unless you have a blockage - see PanamaJag's thread).

So how do our X-Types control the temperature of air blowing from the vents? With air dampers, also called flaps that direct air to flow either thru or bypassing around the heater core. There are three dampers / flaps that:
1) direct air thru or bypass around the heater core, i.e., temperature control
2) direct air at your feet or your face
3) direct air at your face or the windshield, i.e., defroster

Stepper motors rotate these dampers. Unfortunately, the dampers can get stuck. But with some patience, they can be persuaded to turn again. See PanamaJag's thread for how to determine if this is the issue with your X-Type, and how to fix it. Then ask if you have questions, or find your situation not addressed in his thread.

 

Check your hoses with engine at temp - easy to do to see if you have a blockage. Suggest you do this first, since of course it was the last thing I did

If your return hose is cold, like mine was, you may simply have a blockage and you can use a water hose to flush the core. See last post I made in thread dwclapp referenced above.

Good luck!

 

thank you for the reply. I am learning a lot about my car. Everything appears to check out okay as to the list abovehowever, I discovered the defrost does blow hot air when on the highest setting, but if I turn it down to a lower setting it blows cold air again. It does sound like the flappers you describe. Are they hard to access? They seem suspect to me.
Blondie

 

Blondie: The good news is hot air is blowing, so coolant is flowing thru the heater core, i.e., no blockage.

When you say air blows hot on the highest settings, and cold on the lowest settings, are you describing high vs. low temperature settings, or high vs. low fan speed settings? This is important to figure out if the air dampers are working properly.

Also, for defrost mode, which button do you press:
1) The left-most "DEF" button, located below the fan speed knob, or
2) The right-most button, with the symbol of air blowing at the windshield and feet, located below the A/C button?

The "DEF" button turns on the A/C to dehumidify the air, and you can't turn the A/C off in this mode. Button #2 allows you to turn off the A/C and blow hotter air at the windshield. If you're using the "DEF" defrost button #1, try instead using the windshield / feet button #2 with the A/C off.

Let us know if high vs. low settings refers to temperature settings or fan speed settings, and we'll figure out what, if any, attention your air dampers may need.

 

Again, thanks for the information. The setting i referred to is heat not fan. For the sake of simplicity i leave it on high. Your suggestion proved curious. On A/C high(est) heat it is warmer heat. Not hot but warm. Thankyou. On defrost however the air gets much cooler. Very curious. Once in awhile it will go hot but most the time is cool. This sporadic heat has again made the flappers you discussed a likely problem. Almost getting to problem it feels.

 

Blondie: When you set the controls to Defrost mode, it should blow hot air with the temperature control set to a high temperature. And it should blow very cold air with the temperature control set to low. Why? Because in Defrost mode, the A/C turns on to remove moisture from the air. Dry air is better than moist air to remove condensate fog from inside the windshield. And Hot, Dry air work the best. So set the temperature control the HI whenever you use the Defrost mode.

If you wish to blow hot air at the windshield without running the A/C, then instead of using the left-most Defrost button (beneath the fan speed knob), use the right-most button with the symbol of air blowing at the feet and windshield (beneath the A/C button), turn the A/C button off, and set the temperature control to a "HI".

 

My latest update after all my poking around is i now indeed have hot air and for some reason HOT air only. Cant get ac to work at sll now. I checked all fuses and am toraly perplexed. Full on heat or full on cold with no way day to day to know which i will get. Hmmm any idea? Itdoesnt seem i can get lower temp now.

 

Blondie: Try resetting your stepper motors. It's a simple procedure in this thread:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...hot-air-95548/

If this doesn't work, let me know. The next step is removing the glove box to confirm the air dampers are simply stuck and "unstick" them.

 

Thankyou for taking the time to post. Now that weekend is here i have time to turn wrenches so will learn how to remove micky box and see how things work. It is nice to have heat but is roasting me and putting substantial strain on my deodorant. I will keep you posted as to the results. Hopefully ac unit is not failing.

 

Blonde: Since the A/C was recently working, it's unlikely it suddenly failed. More likely, the air damper that directs air either thru or bypassing around the heater core is stuck in heater mode, aways directing air thru the heater core. So you're getting hot air even with the A/C running properly.

To test this, try running the A/C with the engine cold, for example, after it cools down overnight. If the A/C blows cold air before the engine warms up, then the A/C is working properly.

After the engine warms up, if the air always blows hot even with the controls set to low temperature, the problem is likely a stuck air damper that always directs air thru the heater core. This is relatively common, and usually not hard to fix.

 

I finally got glove box out. I see on the left side what appears to be 3 motors. I watched the closest one cycle. Right or wrong i sprayed penetrating lube toward shafts and ran cycles repeatedly as you noted above. The system did respond and indeed worked normal for two days but i noticed one afternoon commute what appeared to be a click noise then all went cold. I am fine with buying a component but not sure what it is. I no longer fear ac unit or heat but seems there are more than one dampers. Can i swap wires from one damper to other for testing sake or is it best to use ampmeter?

 

OK, you're narrowing in on the problem, and may be able to fix it with a few drops of super glue.

Take a look at this diagram of the actuators, thanks to clyons. In the PDF, stepper motor #4, the Temperature Blend Door Actuator rotates an air flap a ~quarter turn to direct air flow either thru the heater core, or bypassing it.

XType_heater actuators.pdf

This picture of actual stepper motors is likely a better view than what you see thru the glove box hole:


Remove motor #4 and you'll see the end of the shaft for the temperature blend door. Be careful not to push on the shaft!!!!! Some members, by mistake, pushed the end of the shaft into the air box, and had a devil of a time getting the shaft back into position.

Try rotating the shaft a ~quarter turn in both directions until it hits a stop. With the engine warmed up and A/C off, confirm that air blows hot with the damper turned all the way one direction, and cool with the damper turned the other way.

Also, change the temperature control settings a few times from "Hi" to "Lo" and watch motor #4 (still detached) to see that it rotates each time.

Since it recently blew hot and cold air on demand, it will likely blow hot and cold when you manually rotate the temperature blend door. And motor #4 will probably turn each time you change the temperature control settings.

If this is the case, then look for something that's slipping where motor #4 engages the shaft. Here are two threads by people who observed slippage, then used super glue to stop the slippage. Since you recently applied penetrating lube, be sure the surfaces are clean and oil-free before gluing:

Post #1 by thegraytribe in this thread:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...system-117663/

And Post #2 by Doogie in this thread:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...54/#post898710

Again, be careful not to push the end of the shaft into the air box. This thread discusses the pains of getting the shaft back into position:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...d-door-111458/

 

Your patience and efforts finally paid off. The blend door does work manually. The actuator I could feel was binding *thus sometimes it worked). It is not intended to come apart but knowing there was nothing to loise...there was one tooth that broke. I cleaned it as best i could and superglued it in place,reassembled, and success. I will order the new part and all should be good. I rather enjoyed the hunt and enjoy the fact there is a affordable conclusion. Thankyou for your efforts. Top notch you all.

 

Congratulations on the satisfaction of realizing you figured it out, and fixed it yourself.

The next time your Jag needs attention, it will seem less like a daunting problem, and more like a riddle that will be rewarding to fix on your own, with this forum coaching and cheering from the sidelines.

 

Thanks to this forum, I was able to find out that my #4 actuator (temp blend) was skipping inside. My heat on "HI" was working sometimes and other times it was ice cold. I removed the glove box, and the actuator. While running the car, I could see the actuator skipping. The flap door worked manually. $40 on ebay (for 3 used) and 15 minutes worth of work. Thank you so much. Jarod 2006 X-type 3.0 all-wheel drive.

 

This was the culprit inside the actuator. You can clearly see the broken tooth. Just FYI... its all about knowledge. Jarod

 

1995 Jaguar VP, heater blowing cold air, sometime luke warm. I changed the thermostat, still cold air. Any suggestion on how to get hot air from the heater?

 

delete: wrong thread