I have recharged the a/c system on my 2001 xkr for the third time in the past month. I charged it with the dye/sealant freon, and have a u/v penlight and also a freon gas detector. For about 3-4 days, the a/c will work fine and then it stops completely..No freon.
I have been following all the lines with the uv light and the detector, and today pulled out the guages and checked inside the vent and took a peek at the evaporator..I cannot see the entire unit, but from what I could see, it looked fine. Does anyone have any idea what direction I go from here?? The freon disappears in a relatively quick time, and I was expecting to see the green glow almost everywhere....

 

sorry, I got nothing...but I fear the A/C will need a little work here in TX this summer, its been getting only semi-cool wh.en she's not on the highway. I'm going to let the dealer tackle this one.

 

Let me start by admitting knowing very little about the AC system and your post prompted me to think it was time to rectify this.

Given the inevitability you have a leak, the diagrams in the attached may help you in tracing the pipework and components:

JTIS - 2003 XK8 Air Conditioning.pdf

If not, nothing lost because it's taught me quite a bit about the system.

Graham

 

I fought a similar issue on a previous car. Neither a sniffer nor UV light identified any leaks. Finally found that it was the evaporator but it would only show up with the sniffer with the fan on low. Off or any higher and you couldn't get a reading. Pulling the evap core is a real challenge. It appears that Jaguar sat the core on the assembly line and built the car around it.

Walmart has 134a on sale for $9.99! Put a few cans in my doomsday stash.

 

I had a Volvo that had would lose refrigerant over a longer period of time. Tried UV. The leak was too slow to see the dye. So I took the whole system apart and found 1 o-ring that was pinched. That was it.

That is likely not your issue, sounds more like a pinhole leak in the evap coils.

Good luck.