Mike pm'd me about his AC compressor not working correctly. I remember reading a post by a tech(?) not so long ago, about cleaning the screen and not having to replace the compressor, but my searching has come up empty.

There is a TSB about cleaning this filter (screen), anyone that can remember please post back to here. Picture is what needs to be cleaned.

Hope this helps Mike.



Thanks guys

 

Rick, nice of ya finding the pic of the a/c compressor. Looks like the screen comes from the area featured in the pic?

 

Yes Seth, the smaller black hole on the left in the red circle. It is a 2 part screen that needs to be cleaned. I have pics of that (the screen) but not downloaded to this puter yet.

 

PM Motorcarman. He brought that (TSB) up just the other day when we were discussing something else mostly unrelated. He just performed one recently, on an S-Type, despite some "a/c expert" assuring him it would make no difference....but yeah, it worked.

I'm getting old...memory not what it used to be...or maybe I wasn't listening closely enough...but something about reversing the filter and the valve.....maybe?.....


edit:
hehe...what I "meant" - reversing the spring and the valve.....thanks Brutal!
wait! Orifice tube AND a txv? (and OT at the comp!!?!) what kinda screwy system have we here? That's as bad as one of the high-end BMW's of a few years ago (7-Series?) that had electronic feedback actuators driving bowden cables to operate the flaps!

 

you need a orifice tube extractor to carefully remove it. or buy a new 1 not at jaguar but maybe ford. check with ac compressor rebuilders online. But I can tell you taht compressor in the pic is the old style that suffers from poor cooling at idle that many want to replace the compressor for which yes does fix the problem.BUT.....the big valve in the pic next to the orifice tube needs to be removed, the spring behind it taken out, the valve reinstalled, then the spring reinstalled behind it and the plate reinstalled. This fixes the poor cooling at idle. This only works on the compressor with the plate. the later ones do not have this plate or valve......

 

That explains why my new one doesn't have the plate and all the stuff behind it.

Thank you Brutal!

 

Thanks Brutal and Rick,

It may be a case where my a/c got overmatched by the 100 plus degree days we were having. I noticed that when it got reasonable (90s) it didn't seem like a problem. I'll continue to monitor it to see if the a/c stays about where it is.

Mike

 

Mike,

Overmatched at idle and/or lots of low-speed stop-n-go is one thing, and acceptable..but if you had it at highway speeds for any length of time with good air over the condenser...it should've cooled you.

Development testing is done with 120 deg soak then 30 mins @ 30 mph followed by 30 mins @ 60 mph and 30 mins at idle..all at 120F with sun load...looking for discharge air of about 40 or below from the vents and an avg cabin temp <70 (all manuf. specs vary somewhat, but in general these #'s are close) things heat up a bit in the idle segment and they are mostly looking at head-pressure then...<400 psi hopefully...(in a climatic wind-tunnel with dyno-rollers, of course)

 

aholbro1,

Once I got going it worked fine as you described and after the cabin got cooled down it didn't seem to be much of a problem at idle. I'll have to look at my compressor to see if it has the plate like Rick or it is one of the later ones as Brutal described. I could be over-analyzing things (like that never happens with other Jag owners). Man, I love DC in the summertime..NOT. It's a city described as combining Southern efficiency and Northern charm.

 

When I was home in July, the first day the temps were bouncing off 120 and the ac was struggling with the fan running almost constantly on high, this was driving around town in traffic, following that temps fell to 110-115 and the ac coped much better with similar driving.

 

Mike,

I agree with Zane - if your HVAC components are functioning normally, you should have been nice and cool even in the 100+ degree temps of late. We hit 104 here last week and our S-Type's cabin has remained nice and chilly. Granted, the factory compressor had to be replaced in May 2010 when it began to die and struggled to cool the cabin when temps were above 85 degrees outside. No issues since, though....

If I remember correctly, didn't your factory condenser fail a few years back? That could be the culprit as well. But as we know now, some of us have indeed experienced compressor failures on our 2005 models....

Keep us posted. I assume your Select Edition has expired by now and you are on your own for any future repairs....

 

Hi Jon,

If I remember correctly it was a condenser replaced under warranty. It looks we're getting a break in the weather with temps only in the high 80s or low 90s. It feels almost cool by comparison to what we have been getting.

 

Jon,

To give you an idea how bad hot it was in the DC area, the Potomoc River was measured at 96 degrees F! You could have gone fishing and had your catch pre-cooked. I don't know what the heat index was but it just plain miserable. Sometimes my glasses would steam up it was so hot and humid.

Mike