AC gurus, I am midway through the major thrash of replacing the AC compressor in my STR, and am trying ot decide whether to also bite off changing the condenser. The oil that was left in the old compressor looked pretty clean, and the dessicant bag looked moderately dirty, so I'm looking for advice. I have (I hope) attached a picture of the oil and dessicant bag.
What do you think? Just flush and take the chance, or do the condenser as well?
All AC original 2003, so 15+ years in...

 

Unless the compressor has physically disintegrated internally and spewed metal particles throughout the system, you should be able to replace just the compressor and dryer. If the compressor did disintegrate, then the condenser may need to be replaced as the tube passages are very small and can easily become blocked.



Be sure to carefully measure and add the correct amount of compressor oil per the instructions in the Workshop Manual beginning on page 2644:
http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto...M-Workshop.pdf

 

^^ What he said....

I had to replace the slowly-dying factory compressor in my 2005 S-Type back in May/June 2010. Its inner guts had not disintegrated, and I was able to replace just the compressor to get the HVAC system back up and running normally again. It has stayed that way ever since and was still blowing ice-cold air when I sold the vehicle last month....

If I remember correctly, I opted for an aftermarket compressor built by Omega....

 

Thanks guys, much appreciated!

 

Before installing the new compressor, there's a service bulletin you may want to consider. A simple modification will increase low-speed performance of the new compressor. Details and links are in post #4 here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...2/#post1714573

 

Thanks KR, I had read your OUTSTANDING troubleshooting guide and noted that interesting trick, but I'll try it stock and see what the new compressor does first.
Thanks again for that guide.

 

You're welcome, glad to hear you found it useful.

Just curious, how did you determine your compressor was bad? It's easy to misdiagnose, so I decided not to go too in-depth in that area. For example, a sticking THX valve could mimic a worn compressor. I don't have a very good method to differentiate between the two.

I mostly concentrated on external issues (bad sensors, slipping clutch, etc.) that would affect AC performance. If you have some reliable troubleshooting method for the compressor, I'd be happy to add it to the guide, with proper credit, of course.

 

I initially wimped out and took the car to an AC specialist whose gauge readings convinced him. Then he declined to do the ~$2000 job because he didn't have and didn't want to purchase the motor lift part called for in the Jag manual. I know that with the compressor running at that time, it would not reduce the pressure on the low side enough for Freon to enter from a can, and it would spin, the high-side pressure was not tripping the pressure safety. I assume that the AC guy saw little pressure increase on the high side, but I don't know. I did verify (from your guide) that the DCCV was operating.
And shortly, I will have it together to gas up and test (I have gauges now, and a vacuum pump I am hesitating as I prepare to replace the DCCV (figure why not, while its accessible) as I see that my replacement part has one large hose fitting with two smaller ones above. Every one on Amazon looks like that, but eyeballing the one that's in there now, the upper two hoses look bigger than these hose barbs. Hmm. Let me go look for some pictures here...

 

Is the high-pressure safety sensor before the condenser or after? If after, I suppose a really clogged condenser could lead to low high-side pressure readings at the high-side port. That would be bad design for the safety...

 

I see that the DCCV in Caveforce's picture has one large and two small. The hoses really appear to all be the same diameter, and large for those smaller barbs. I guess I'll pull the old one and see what I see...

 

I hope to hell (because that's what that looks like) I never have to use that thread!

I did the dual system on my Suburban 2 years ago after it had been dead for 4 years but that was just a manual AC system and working space inside the engine compartment is way better than these Jags. That was a 17 year old vehicle with 140K miles so I replace all the hoses, front expansion valve and out of caution the condenser. I didn't know where the original leak was but the in dash evaporator had been replaced once already so I figured it was OK.I also flushed the system and then ran the vacuum pump twice overnight as I had to nitrogen to blow the system out.

Works like a champ.

But there's a lot more to this modern climate control system and it's stuffed in a very tight space.