Hello all. My S-type is making a very strange 'squeeking' kinda noise and it's coming from behind the 2 center air vents on the dash. If starts with any chnages to the climate control system and continues for 5 minutes after I have shut down the car. I have a video of it and, hopefully I can post it. Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated. Thanks
PS. I uploaded the video twice, but I have no idea where it went.

Here is the YouTube link:

 

Hmm, that's an odd one. It kinda sounds like a door actuator fighting against some extra resistance.Perhaps something is keeping a door from reaching full travel, and the motor keeps trying to drive it. The other possibilities are refrigerant gurgling through the evaporator, or coolant through the heater core.

Some thoughts to isolate the source:

1) With the engine cold, turn the key to On but not Start. Play with the buttons that manually control the doors that direct the airflow. See if you can duplicate the noise. If so, then you know it's not coolant or refrigerant.

2) Start the engine and select Auto on the HVAC panel, and then turn the A/C off. The little light at the A/C button should be off. Now you'll have coolant flowing through the heater core, but no refrigerant through the evaporator.

3) With the engine still running, press Auto once again. This should turn the A/C back on, and the light next to the A/C button should illuminate. Now manually toggle down the temperature until LO is displayed. This should stop the flow of coolant and start the flow of refrigerant.

 

Thanks. I'll try that and let you know.

 

A bit of a long shot, but I know that a whistling noise in that area can be the result of deterioating AC gas.
Perhaps a re-charge may help?
Is the A/C Ice cold, if not a re-charge may be the answer.

Mellow

 

It's not a whistling sound at all. If you looked at the video, the sound is more like a squeak... kinda hard to describe.

 

Very odd-

Sounds mechanical to me..as Karl suggested..like a blend door is trying to park and the gear can't move it.

Do you have a way to remove the center console panels near the front to gain access to the workings of the blend doors?

What year and trim level is your car? I will help in troubleshooting this.

Thanks

 

2005 VDP Edition. Walnut dash and I don't see any way of removing the center vents. I've got the feeling I'm looking at a complete dashboard removal to get to it. The left side center vent blows cold air. The right side blows warm air... both at the same time. Sometimes the temp control has to be turned down to 61 before I get any cool air. When stopped the air blows like a freezer. While driving it warms up. Recirculate button on or off makes little difference. This started earlier this winter while driving in the 20's and 30's. The low outside temp light on the dash illuminates if the temperature fall below 40 degrees, and I'm not sure if that has any effect on the climate control system or if it's just Jaguar's way of telling me that Baby, it's cold outside.

 

Pull the glove box out and see it the noise is transferring from the blend door actuator

 

Glove box removal info is on page 3107 of the service manual posted in the free downloads.

Good luck!

 

Ah, this sounds like the Dual Climate Control Valve (DCCV) has jammed and is not closing all the way, on at least on the warmer side. Coolant flow through the heater core is marginal at idle, so the AC can overcome this small amount of uncommanded heat and you get plenty of cold air. Increase the engine RPM and the coolant flow increases, and the heater output increases accordingly.

Details of how to test the DCCV here, in post #2:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ol-how-185002/

For troubleshooting, manually bump the selected temperature to HI or LO when the fault is active. This bypasses most (but not all) of the automatic features and can help isolate the cause.

Is your car a V8? Those engines are more prone to low heater output at idle. Jaguar's fix was to add an auxiliary coolant pump. If you have a V8, make sure that pump is working. It won't help your temperature split problem, but it will help on cold days when you want lots of heat.

I'm not sure a jammed DCCV would cause the noise, but who knows. A basic rule of troubleshooting is to fix the known faults first before digging deeper elsewhere.

I wonder if that noise could be from thermal expansion and contraction of the evaporator and/or heater core. Maybe there are some foam support blocks that have deteriorated, or something like that. Just something to consider. Take care of that possible DCCV problem first, though, and see what happens. And manually test the doors with the engine cold and not running, as previously suggested. This will take the heater and AC out of the equation when chasing the noise.

 

Thank you all for the responses. The mechanical fixes suggested are a little above my level of expertise. I'm not a mechanic and don't pretend to be one, but I have copied all the suggestions and will pass them along to my repair guy who is. Basically, I'm first Jag guy he's had as a fulltime customer, so he's getting more familiar. He spent years working on my domestics. The nearest Jaguar dealer to me won't work on my car. They quit servicing Jaguars that are older than 10 years. Oh, I can get oil changes and the like, but no major engine or infrastructure repairs. Also, I can't find the service manual referenced in one of the responses that is supposed to be in the free download area. Thanks again.

 

Have a look here https://www.mediafire.com/?0uorr97z527l5

 

Most of the climate control troubleshooting guide (previously linked) consists of some very basic "non-mechanic" tasks, i.e. push this button and record the temperature at X. There's very little wrenching or use of a meter involved, especially for the preliminary steps. You wouldn't even need opposable thumbs for most of the troubleshooting.

For example, you can verify the DCCV is operating properly with just an inexpensive infrared thermometer. You may find it much more cost effective to spring $20 for a thermometer and do the test yourself, versus paying a mechanic $75/hr to do the same. Since our DIY time is essentially free (to a point), you can run more in-depth tests than a professional, who has to account for all his time and charge accordingly. Your mechanic can still do the rest of the wrenching, but it may be nice to know ahead of time what is wrong.

Same with the auxiliary coolant pump, if your car is a V8. Just run the engine at idle and bump up the selected temperature until HI is displayed. Being careful of the fan and serpentine belt, touch the pump and you should be able to feel it running.