1993 xj6 a/c problems, mechanic said under dash is where the problem lies. How difficult is it to remove dash? anyone with any experience?

 

Whole lotta work to remove those dashes for the evaporator. 93 and 94 were awful for evaporator leaks. The center console has to come out first then the dash. whole lotta work. I took the upper dash out of my 94 one time for the demister flaps. took about three hours out, fix, in, done. The evaporator is that much further in so not really a job for the novice or inexperienced.

 

robhair,

I'm not sure what your mechanic means by "its under the dash" but it could be a number of issues: flaps, vacuum, darlington resistor, blower motor, condenser, etc., If its the blower, consider a rebuild from Coventry West (no affil).

Perhaps a little more diag is in order.

I am considering that option to eliminate all but the condenser issues above, but they are not cheap! About $395.00 US PER SIDE!!!!!! plus core exchange.

Plus installation.... ouch.

I'm glad I no longer live in Palm Desert!

 

Been a while since I took out the dash but as mentioned by others, it is a real pita. If you have never done it before, I would suggest expecting it to take LOTS of time and that you should have a FSM available and study it carefully. Also in this case, a Haynes manual helps as well because it has some pics that show things that even the FSM doesn't. You do have to begin by taking out the console, followed by other panels so you really do want to carefully diagnose to be absolutely sure that this is needed, especially since you have to flex the woodwork a little to get it apart. When I was doing it, it was to get to the ignition relay that up behind the radio that prevents the car from doing anything. One encouraging note, it goes back together much faster than it comes apart!

 

the mechanic filled with freon and dye traced the leak to dash area feels it's a leak in evap / coils ? any guess what a indy jag tech would charge?

 

I noticed you are in Lake Forest. Small world. There WAS a great shop in Lake Forest called XJ Jaguar that has since gone out of business.....These guys did an OUTSTANDING job rebuilding the head.

There is an indy shop in Downey called Downey Jaguar that will give you and estimate over the phone. There is also a Jag shop not too far from you in (IIRC) Mission Viejo/Aliso Viejo.

Let me know if you can't google that out.

David

 

are you in lake forest ?, I had a white jag pass me yesterday on the 405 before Bake pwy, nice looking ride ! I have gone to performance jaguar on jeronimo and alicia they replaced my center drive bearings a few month ago. They seem very professional but a bit pricey.

 

No, I'm near Los Angeles. When my head gasket blew I did alot of research that led me to XJ Jaguar. One of the owners at the time had over 20 years experience as a Jaguar tech. At the time Lake Forest was about 80 miles from where I was but I had it towed over there anyway.

One thing that sticks out in my mind is this guy held the world speed record in those old mini coopers.

Anyway, they did a great job and I'll miss them if/when that gasket goes again.

 

Got two estimates to repair the a/c both over 2500.00, Found a mechanic that wanted to try a product he has had good luck with first. He used a leak seal called Red Angel. It's been a month now and the ac blows cold sometimes too cold hahaha. I know some ac techs call baloney on this product and worry about damage to their freon equipment but I researched before we started and seems to me that they are just misinformed and a little paranoid. Anyway it's fixed and it was about 150.00 total with the freon.

 

Good to hear and thanks for your update . I am fed up with my A/C problems too .