Air Conditioner Filter's location
 

Guys & Gals,
I'm driving my 4th XKR and all this time I have been told that the A/C System has an Air-Filter.......Today, I was reading through my Driver's Manual and it said that I should clean the A/C Filter occasionally.......OK! Now, does anyone know where the darn thing is? and If I find it, how do I get it out of wherever it is to clean it?

Billy Clyde in Houston

US delivered cars did not have a filter installed unless specifically ordered. This subject has come up numerous times and so far I cannot remember any identified filter installations. If you feel the need to check it is located below the panel between the hood and windshield which requires removing the wiper arms.

Test points right. I've seen shipped numbers to usa. The number was infinitesimal.

Test Point & JohnKen: Thanks so much!
 

Thanks Guys! I was about to tear the Car apart looking for it! It's nice to know what the deal really is....I've got (2) Manuals; one from my 2003 XKR that was Totaled and the one that came with the 2005....The 2003 mentioned the Air Filter and I could not find anything about it in the 2005 Manual.....I do still have a question about this.....What do they use in place of a Filter? As apparently the outside air comes into the interior from that area between the Windshield and Hood....

Nothing except for the mesh on the cowl. It's important to never allow debris (leaves etc) to remain there. They will drop down onto the evaporator core and restrict air movement as well as plug up the cowl drains.

Ditto on what grantorino62 said. I went so far as to order a replacement filter before inspecting my recently-acquired '05 XK8, only to discover that there is no filter or even a housing for one. Interesting exercise to pull the wipers and mesh and clean out the accumulated debris, though. Was having issues with mold smell from the vents so it was a worthwhile exercise to clean out the compost pile from the prior owner leaving the car parked under a tree for a couple of years (or more). Still took a couple of cans of sneaker disinfectant to kill the mold thriving down in the vents.

FWIW, I believe the manufacturers of these filters were not in on the joke either. There seems to be lots of these filters available on closeout, etc, I suspect because nobody is buying them. Lots of unsold inventory, next to zero demand, you do the math.

FWIW, the plastic housing and screws are still available (cheap) from Jaguar if anyone wanted to retrofit this filter. The good part is that you get an air filter for the pollen season, the bad news is that it is such a labor intensive procedure even to just change the filter that it is likely to remain in there too long, and be counter productive in the end. Then again, mold on the filter is better than mold in the system, if that is even exclusive. I have personally bought the parts, but they are still on my to-do list. I'll tackle this once I get too tired of these high wipers in my field of vision...

In addition, the factory software can apparently toggle an option to up the rpm of the blowers to compensate for the drag of the filter. Somebody put some thought into this.

The details are here: retro-fitting-cabin-pollen-filter-57668/

Best of luck, keep us posted.

Billy, looks like you too have a convertible. If you're like me, it's down 99% of the time. Given that a filter wouldn't hell much anyway. I forgot to acknowledge the convertible angle before - large % of the X100s were convertible, another reason the filters are so rare. John

JohnKen, I don't have a convertible but I do have Hay Fever! That's why I was asking about the filter in the first place...also I would like to "Thank" whoever went back and picked up the original 2011 thread that has all the great information and Photos about How to install the Filter and Mounting bracket.

It's amazing that the Jaguar Engineers didn't put more thought into this.....No wonder they didn't put them in the US Cars....My Heavens what a screw-up that was......No way for me to spend my money for 2 or 3 hours Labor for replacing an A/C Filter...Anyway, Thanks for the really nice installation instructions. Much more information than I could ever ask for! Now I'll know to keep leaves and stuff out of that area.......

Billy Clyde in Houston

Just trade up to a 07. Theyre in there :)

Checking online I keep finding that the kit is no longer available. Will try calling a few dealers. Additionally the kit seems to include a water deflector in addition to the filter housing. If one is able to obtain the filter housing without the associated water deflector would there be an issue with a filter getting damp and having mold and mildew issues?

Thanks.

It think this can be "worked", but not really "solved". The wiper arms can be popped off the splines are re-adjusted down, depending on how high they are to begin with. Lower profile blades can be fitted. I believe some wiper arms have a side attachment (instead of the top), but the wiper nozzle are supposed to spray on both sides of the blades, so an offset blade may not work.

Next, I suppose somebody talented could bend the arm into something better. It does not seem as easy as it looks at first, though. The arm is already curved, so tools might be required. Might be best to work with a spare set to test out any theory.

Last, there are reports of people taking them out altogether. If you live in areas with low rainfall, and you develop a confidence in products like RainX just-in-case, you can take your chances. I would check with local laws before doing this, though.

Personally, I think these high wipers are the one design flaw for these cars. Like you, I believe they went out of their way to design a classy front-hinged compound-curved deep-channeled hood, and managed to make the cowl too shallow to recess the wipers into. As people say, "first-world" problems, I suppose, I am glad this wiper situation is the worst part of the design...

Best I can figure, this is all a mistake. The parts diagram for the later cars lists an upgrade kit that is NLA, but the diagram is wrong. If you look at the earlier years, the diagram is more clear. The plastic housing and screws are still available individually, as far as I know (they never really sold very many). Rockauto has the filters. You might want to dig deeper into this. Another small thing: that housing is different depending of RHD or LHD. Let me know if you need a part#.

Thank you, I would appreciate the part number for the LHD housing and screws.

Nice diagram and part# here:

XK8-00-02-Air-Particle-Filter.html

You are right, that housing is coming up "discontinued" in a few places...

Thanks for the part number. Found it online and just ordered the housing for $27.58 + $20.08 shipping at: https://www.jaguarpartsinternational.com/default.asp

The filter is available at a better price on eBay and locally.

Brutal, Thanks anyway but I'd rather not have the Filter than have a 2007! Hay Fever and all!

Billy Clyde in Houston