Well my Jag has had some bad luck the past couple of months. I have had to replace the water pump, the clutch, and a wheel bearing. Yesterday my car turned 96,000 miles old and it decided to celebrate by deciding not to start. I took it to Jag and they have come back with a nice list of problems. My ac compressor is leaking, the starter is bad, and the flywheel has two chipped teeth. So my question is because the flywheel has two chipped teeth, does it necessarily need to be replaced? If so, where would be a good place to get one? I will most likely opt to fix the ac compressor later since it is winter.

 

Jerry, as long as the car is not shaking as it is running (especially at higher RPMs) and it is starting every time, I would not worry about the flywheel. If you feel a shake, then replacing the flywheel is going to be critical because you can trash a bearing in the motor and then you are looking at an engine rebuilt. So, no sense in avoiding one problem to end up with a bigger problem.

As for the A/C, you may want to get it looked at sooner than later. With the new systems for defrost, the A/C is used a lot. They use the A/C system to dry the air out (cold air can not hold as much moisture as warm air) so the defrost system will work more efficiently. Keep in mind also that if you leak too much out, the compressor will have inadequate oil for the bearings in the compressor. I don't know how bad it is leaking, but that is also something to keep in mind. The new freons have oil mixed in with the freon to keep things lubricated.

 

thanks thermo, it does not shake but yesterday it would not start. The dealership is saying $2900? Is there a good place to look for a new or used cheap flywheel? As for the Ac compressor, is its only purpose the Air conditioner and defroster? because i can deal with no AC for a while since it is winter.

 

Jerry, yes, the compressor only runs for the defroster and A/C. So, you don't need either of those items, then drive on.

As for the flywheel, I would do some searching for the compatability of say a Ford 3.0L engine's flywheel. That may save you some. But, unfortunatly, most of that cost is in labor as you have to drop the tranny to get to the flywheel. That is just the nature of that beast. Once the tranny is out of the way, the actual job of replacing the flywheel is easy. I would see what a local trusty mechanic would tell you. May want to even look at a tranny place to see if they would do it as they pull trannies all the time and may be a bit more of an expert in this sort of repair than say a straight repair garage.

 

Hey thanks thermo, i appreciate it. I will most likely wait on the ac compressor, but replace it before it gets too hot.

 

Jerry, I was just on E-bay, there's a flywheel on there for 100.00 plus s/h. Just to let you know they are out there.