Many people have to replace their air compressor because it gets tired and very inefficient and
this can only be because the piston seal wears allowing the pressurised air to blow by.

Replacement seals are not available because of a conspiracy between Jaguar and Wabco.

The seals are made of a type of PTFE with a low coeff. of friction however the compressor has to be replaced
on average at about 45,000 miles and usually the only thing wrong with it is a worn seal!

The piston is made of aluminium alloy and is about 35mm in diameter with a 6mm approx. deep groove to hold the seal.
The seal is split with an overlapping joint so that it is gas tight.

My first reaction to solving this problem was to have new seals made. This is possible without much difficulty

however, there is a much simpler solution…………………………..SHIM IT!

Shim for those that don’t know is a sheet of thin material in different thicknesses. It can be brass, aluminium, stainless
steel and plastic! They even make some which is self adhesive.
This can be cut to be an interference fit (tight) in the piston groove
and wrapped around the base of the groove. This will increase the diameter of the seal making it gas tight.

Obviously you can’t increase the diameter beyond the point at which the joint in the seal does not overlap.

Now this will have to be done by trial and error until the piston is a snug fit in the cylinder but not too tight!
It seems to me that once the shim is in place and the piston is in the cylinder the shim cannot “go anywhere”

Therefore it does not need any further fixing. I think the best shim would be a plastic, like the seal itself, but it does
not have to be the same material since it will not be subject to friction.

The only snag I can think of is that you don’t know what thickness of shim you will need until you dismantle the compressor
but then you can buy a range of different thicknesses, it’s not expensive for small sheets.

What d’yall think?

OMG I am becoming American!

Any precision engineers or toolmakers out there who would like to comment?

 

I know mine is on the way out. IF mine gives out very soon (I hope not), I will be happy to be the test mule. Perhaps we can be lucky and find a willing participant soon. It shouldn't be too hard, I agree.

 

A seal repair kit would be nice. Come on, all you aftermarket suppliers, there's a big market out there !!

 

I'm in the aftermarket business.

The problem with a part like this is that even though it is small it would cost several thousand dollars to create the tooling and manufacture the parts. Most companies will not make the investment because the market it too small.

Can you put a number on the "big market"?
What is the source of your data?
How many parts could we sell per month/year?
What would the market consider to be a reasonable retail price?
Do you know how many of these units were produced and how many are replaced or repaired each month/year?
For the mechanic doing the work, is it faster/easier for him the replace the whole unit or to rebuild the old one?

These are the kinds of questions that a manufacturer has to ask to determine if making a part is going to result in a return on their investment and generate profits.

Show me the "big market" and I will make the parts!

Mark

 

Through some research, the jaguar suspension air compressor for 2004-2009 XJ8's is the same compressor used in other cars such as Audi and others, simply the mounting is different. There is a person on Ebay that is currently selling just a rebuild kit for 35GBP or about $56USD out of Maybole, United Kindom. I am not endorsing this persons listing but rather sharing what I have discovered, it is worth checking out.

Dear bagpipingandy, seller on Ebay
Can you tell me for sure if this kit you are selling, mainly the rubber pistion seal will fit a 2008 Jaguar xj8 suspension air compressor made by WABCO. There are may Jaguar owners begging for such a kit to avoid having to buy a whole new compressor which seams to fail at approx. 40K miles. The Jaguar rubber ring looks just like yours with the same looking split end. 2004-2009 Jaguar XJ8 Suspension Compressor WABCO part number is W0133-1939145.
Regards,
lcmjaguar


Yes this is the same compressor as used on your Jaguar, I checked up the part and it is the same compressor but with different mounts but the piston ring part is the bit you need and will fix your compressor. Spread the word to your Jaguar friends !! Any questions just ask.
Best regards
Andy
bagpipingandy

Here is the listing link:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/bagpipinga...&_trksid=p3686


The listing Says...


This repair kit contains:

· A new precision machined PTFE piston ring.

· New rubber o-ring seal.

· 2 new bolts.

· Cable ties.
· Step by step manual with photos to assist you in the repair.

Postage to the UK is included in the price,

Postage outside the UK offered.
The kit is easy to fit, saving a lot of money on replacing the whole compressor unit for a new one.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This repair kit will only renew the compression, the compressor must be operational, typical symptoms are the car being slow to raise and even not reaching the requested level which then puts the error light on, but ignition off and on again and it will try again. If the car is sinking, not sitting level or the error light is on all the time, there is a leak or fault in the system and this will need to be fixed by other means before fitting this kit.
If unsure I would recommend a fault scan before fitting to ensure there are no other faults in the system, or send me any questions for more information.
The rubber o ring provided in the kit is only suitable on some units, some compressors have a shaped o-ring, in this case you would need to re use the original rubber o-ring.
If you have any questions Don't hesitate to ask.
Have Happy Air suspension again J!!

 

Well spotted lcmjaguar.

In the past I have searched the planet for a
replacement seal and not found it!

This must be a relatively new listing.

I am sure that this seal will do the job and I think I will ask the vendor what the seal is made of. Even if it is an inferior grade to the original it will do the job.

 

According to his listing, the seal is made like the origional and is a machined PTFE piston ring with a low coeff. His listing shows a picture of the piston ring. If you have an origional compressor double check that this kit will work with the vendor. My understanding is that the compressor exterior design has changed a little since 2004 depending on who is making it but the internal components remained the same. For instance the dryer/filter is sometimes integrated inside the compressor, depending on who you bought it from. Arnott's compressor is integrated.

lcmjaguar
2008 VDP
1988 XJ6

 

The listing above says right in it:

 

here is a quick reply from the vendor:

hi Robert, the piston ring is the same as the original & made from a type of pfte, which is ideal for a dry running system, I have been providing them for around 8 months now,
any questions just ask.
best regards
Andy
- bagpipingandy

Well there you have it....it's the dog's b******s

I am pretty sure that the material is Ekonol.

Ekonol Polyester is a very thermally stable polymer, making it easy to blend/fabricate with other high temperature materials. When combined with polytetrafluoroethylene (i.e. PTFE); it produces a composite material that has excellent temperature and wear resistance properties. The Ekonol Polyester/PTFE blend will not wear metal surfaces and resists self-wear better than any other PTFE composition. Applications for Ekonol Polyester/PTFE blends are varied and include packing sets, compressor ring sets, "0" ring seals, spring-loaded seals, lip seals, self-lubricating bearings and rotors or vanes of process pumps. Ekonol Polyester/PTFE works best under environmentally tough conditions where wear resistance, dimensional stability and corrosion resistance are critical.

Compressor seals first on the list!

 

Andy aka bagpipingandy on Ebay sent me the following:

This kit does not exist from WABCO, I actually manufacture the piston ring and buy parts to make up the kit, I an an Audi enthusiast and own an Audi Allroad car with the same compressor and as your Jaguar owners the only options for us was to buy a new compressor at serious costs but being an engineer i thought i could fix it, I manufactured prototypes and tested it on my allroad finding the best solution, You can buy a kit from WABCO for the VW Touareg but the drier unit differs slightly and it still costs a lot of money, WABCO don't offer the piston ring only as obviously they won't sell many new compressors if they did.

My initial investigation is found here, please read and pass to your forum if you wish:

Allroad Air Suspension Compressor strip & repair

In short, I have made a replacement Piston ring made from 25% Carbon graphite PTFE which is the same as the material used on the original, and ideal for these dry running applications. I have manufactured and sold over 340 kits from my garage at home where i have a small machine shop for hobby work and now to produce this repair kit. I have sold kits now to all types of cars using this type of compressor all with great feedback, please read my feedback for your reference. The compressor is actually very well made and just changing the piston ring gives it a new lease of life.


This all sounds promising as a cost effective fix!

lcmjaguar
2008 VDP
1988 XJ6

 

I just ordered one..... I'm at 78k miles on the original compressor..... for ~$50 it's worth having the kit handy for when the inevitable does happen

 

What was the total price to ship to the US? After looking through the instruction booklet, does it look fairly simple to instal?

Thanks!

 

I currently have 2 extra air compressors as standby rebuilds, this kit will be used on one to get it ready. My VDP just went over 140,000 miles a couple weeks ago, compressor is still working fine.

 

Guys, if it helps any, I know Andy quite well from the Audi forum we both use.

I can confirm that Andy is a well respected and long standing member for many years. He is both knowledgeable and helpful, helping many members to date.

I believe ( please check ) that Andy also offers a compressor refurb service if required.

With a high post count and long standing on the forum, I guess Andy could be compared to our Steve ( WhiteXKR )

 

Hi All, 1st post here so go gentle, Thanks Jim for the kind words, I don't know about "well respected", but I am an Audi & Diy enthusiast and like to have a go fixing tings and breaking things, I try to fix more than I break, but never usually works that way!!, I am a toolmaker to trade and when my audi allroad wabco compressor was on its last legs I thought I would strip and investigate it, as you see from the link further up you can read the strip and repair for more info.
It turns out that these Wabco units are actually very well made, but the "weak" part was the PTFE piston ring, so either being a tight Scotsman not wanting to pay for a new compressor or using my engineering experience (i think the 1st is more realistic) I decided to make a new ring to try to refurbish the compressor & with great results.

A few of your members got in touch and pointed out to me this compressor can be found on the XJ8, & maybe others, this is what the above discussions have been we have been reading about, so although I am not a Jaguar owner i would like to be a member here if you will have me & if you have any compressor questions feel free to ask me, and i will try to help if i can, any knowledge shared is money saved (or is that the Scots thing again!!)

best regards

Andy

 

Welcome Andy! I'm glad you joined the forum.

 

Thanks for the welcome, to answer your post above the total postage to US is £4

also see instructions provided for the allroad for now here: Fit piston ring Manual rev E.pdf takes 10 mins to change the ring, hardest part on the allroad is removing the compressor as it is located under the car and usually rusted on there!!

I can modify the instructions through time to suit different cars but for now the actual changing the piston ring is the same, it will obviously differ how you remove the compressor from the car if you even need to do that.

regards

Andy

 

PS how do you edit a post?? my spelling is pretty bad in both my 1st posts!!!!

at least i got this one rihgt

Andy

 

Welcome to the forum Andy.
There is a time limit on edits and you may also be restricted as a new member.
I'm sure if you post an intro in the New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum Jim will upgrade you to full membership.

 

Anyone know where the compressor is located on a 2008 XJ?