My 03 XK8 blows cold at speed but at stop lights and very slow speed it gets warm, also takes awhile to blow cold air after starting.

I ran the AC diagnostics and it shows no codes.

Want to try having the AC serviced with a freon change and top up but every shop I contacted on Maui says they can't work on Jaguar AC units.

So what's so special that a regular AC service shop can't do a freon change on the Jag?

 

There's nothing special about your HVAC system. Your area shops just don't want to work on a boutique marque like Jaguar because they are afraid of them. I hope you are indeed just low on refrigerant, but I won't be surprised if your compressor is beginning to fail. Listen to it running through a mechanic's stethoscope. If it sounds like a cement mixer full of gravel, your bearings are on the way out....

 

As far as nothing special that's what I figured..As far as the compressor, thanks for the bad news. LOL

 

Have you tried any of the cheap can/gauge combinations from the parts store? Especially if your system is not empty, you should not have to mess with oil, etc. My understanding is that a small percentage of gas escapes every year, so a refill eventually becomes necessary. These cheap refill kits usually require you to run the AC, locate and connect the gauge to the low-pressure port, and press some trigger until the gauge shows the pressure to be in an OK range. Once you have the kit, you only need to buy cans from that point forward. The whole kit costs less than a visit to a shop...

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

fmertz, am thinking about trying that. Is the pressure reading on the cheapo refill cans accurate for my Jag?

Anybody else used these?

 

Can't really speak to the accuracy of the gauge, but I believe the target pressure is a function of the refrigerant fluid, not the car, so all these "universal" kits should work on "all" cars (based on R134A).

 

(sorry not sure how to embed youtube videos here..)

I was thinking about doing this myself.. this guy goes through the video .. doesn't look TOO hard.. :S

 

Thanks,
Can someone confirm which one of the ports to connect to, see photo's below.

 

Well the port behind the engine is the low pressure port.

I took the chance and bought the same setup as is in the video. $50 at Checker Auto.

Turned on the care and put a thermometer in the vent, set AC all the way down till Lo appeared on the display. Let run for a couple minutes and the temp stabilized at 60, connected the recharge bottle and charged up the system till just below the max charge noted on the guage. Temp on AC dropped to 50.

 

well that's a little bit of a difference I guess hopefully the pressure holds or you can recharge it from time to time I guess.

yeah I need to do this as well.. I was trying my A/C a couple of weeks ago and it should be lower.. I'm going to wait until next summer since it's getting cooler already but glad it improved a little bit!

 

As you found which one it's a bit moot, but the port fittings are different sizes, the 'kit' will only connect to one (I believe from my other car(s) experiences).

 

Just updating on the quick charge cans....I'm a very happy camper.

It's very hot today on Maui, trade winds are gone and it's humid and hot!

Took the Jag on a shopping trip and it's like a different car as far as the AC is concerned, AC gets cold as soon as the car starts and stays cold at any speed and at stop lights..

Best $50 I've spent in a long time.

 

So, I just did this. I was able to add about 10psi but it wanted to add a few more but it didn't seem to want to increase.

Thermostat dropped 20 degrees after I added some but still reads 60ish.

Thanks

 

I have used the ac pro and other brands on a few cars and it is just as easy on the jags (the exact same process). The gauge they come with seems to work fine. remember that the gauge only gives you the correct system pressure when you are not holding the trigger down.

 

I just did this with a can of no name brand 134A from NAPA, no sealants, or conditioners, etc. I figured mine was low on charge due to the 10% per year drop and a code 23 pulled from the A/C Head Unit indicating 'compressor lockout due to low refrigerant', seemed to confirm that this was most likely the case. Since my car spent it's life in Seattle prior to my ownership, the A/C was not used often, if at all, and it actually blew dust out of the vents the first time I turned the A/C on. I live on the other side of the mountain in the Desert where we see 100*F plus in the Summer, so A/C is necessary if driving during the day; I avoid it when possible.

I added the Freon as described in the instructions, but I think something is wrong with the gauge supplied with the bottle of A/C Max I had bought previously and used the gauge set on the can of 134A, I have another brand and it's gauge set up, so I can confirm the pressure is within normal operating range, hopefully. According to the gauge set I currently have attached, the pressure has not even built up out of the 'white zone' into where it displays numbers on the gauge. Although my Center Vents are blowing air at 43*F, and the End of Dash Vents are blowing air out at 41*F. I added the Freon in two stages, as the can froze up quite quickly despite moving it back and fourth, and I still have half a can. But the pressure still has not made it into the 'green', or around 35 Psi on the gauge yet, and I am uncertain about blasting more Freon in it, with it putting out such low temperatures at the vents.

I am on my way out to hook up the alternate gauge set I have that came with the big blue can of A/C Pro that I also bought and decided not to use in favor of the 134A only brand, and see if I can get a more normal Psi reading that would match the ~40*F air the system is putting out.

 

One thing NOT, NOT, NOT, to do is to use the all in one refrigerant, lubrican and sealant in a can, use refrigerant ONLY.
The sealant will contaminate the refrigerant and contaminate the recovery system of any shop that does the environmentally responsible thing of evacuating the system before they work on it. In California, the EPA cost of dealing with the contaminated load is around $400 over and above what repair costs are.

Find a responsible AC mechanic or look around under hood, nooks and crannies and look for green ooze of the lubricant coming from end of hose connections. O-ring seals are cheap. If you spot a leak, they are likely to feel more comfortable with assisting with evacuating, fixing leak and refilling with right amount of refrigerant.
If you dont evacuate the system (pull all of the old refrigerant out with a vacuum pump) you get a mix of air and refrigerant as well as not knowing just how much refrigerant you put in. This makes a huge difference in AC performance.
Mahalo.
PS, i am on island 10/3 to 10/6
-Steven

 

I agree with the statement not to use a coolant leak sealer. I would recommend draining the system pull a vacuum and recharge with the proper weight of freon. For that information look on your fender under the hood then it will be as it is supposed to be.

 

I used the NAPA stuff recently and I could only get it to the left line on the v (the minimum). That was a few weeks ago using the ac pro gauge with the small bottle of napa r134a. I just went out and checked it on the ac pro gauge and it is at the same level, ac works fine. The AC Pro gauge is temperature dependent and must be set to ambient temp.

I will defer to Gus on the safety of using this stuff. I did call AC pro before I used it and they told me it was only r134a and PAG oil with no other sealant, so I used it, but I am no expert.

 

That is why I used the no name brand 134A Freon only with no additives. I had bought the other two types of commonly used re-charge agents that come with gauge sets, both the big blue and big black cans, both of which were recommended and used by several site members, but after reading the ongoing debate over the type with sealants causing damage to, or problems for the shop's equipment and a bigger bill should I need to take it in for service, I decided against using either, and was more comfortable with the Freon only.

Truth be told, the gauge set that I was using first, which has a trigger, had accidentally jammed after I had connected the gauge to the car while shut off, to check the static pressure, and a blast of dry warm air could be felt coming from the can-less gauge set which caught me by surprise, so it blasted for several seconds before I realized the trigger was jammed up and released it. What was expelled was very dry and warm, and not cold at all as the blast was hitting me directly in the hand at the time.

When I began adding Freon the first time before the can froze up, I got air in the 50's coming from the vents, but the needle was still in the middle of the undercharged zone, and about 1/4 of the can went in on the first go. The next evening when I added the Freon, I got stable air temperature discharged at 40*F from the vents, and the gauge was closer to entering the low end of the acceptable scale but was still in the 'white' zone, and only another 1/4 of the can added. However, both recharging sessions occurred in the evening, with ambient temperatures around 65-68*F, so I decided not to go back out last night and take any pressure readings as it was about 40*'s here last night by the time I got around to working on the A/C. I will check the pressure again when the ambient temperature is up to at least 75 or so.

I had been busy adjusting the passenger window, and re-attaching the trim, door seals and door panels correctly, and putting the blue 'bulb sock' on the passenger window switch back light bulb, which is the reason the door panels were all screwed up as basically one screw was holding the whole assembly on the door. The shoddy Dealer work is unbelievable, everywhere there was recall or warranty work performed on the vehicle, there are loose, or incorrectly installed panels or missing fasteners, wadded up bundles of wires shoved up under the steering wheel long enough to get the lower kick panel re-attached, etc. It is infuriating to say the least, but at least I have a 'list' of sorts to follow. I follow the TSB list, and look at each location that was a recall or warranty fix, and find crap work at every location, just enough done to satisfy the recall and get it out the door, I then go through and re-assemble it correctly.

 

I just wanted to clarify my understanding of the "sealant" issue. The AC Pro product I used was ACP-100CA (I am in CA):

ACP-100CA | A/C Pro Professional Formula R-134a Refrigerant Auto A/C Recharge | AC Pro

It claims to "seal A/C leaks" on the bottle. This concerned me because I had read here about sealant damaging the system. I called AC Pro and asked about the above product specifically. I was told that it contained only r134a refrigerant and PAG oil. He said that the "seals A/C leaks" claim on the bottle was just because PAG oil can seal minor leaks. Other products do have actual sealing agents added to them, but he told me that this product does not. Jaguar specification is for a certain ratio of r134a and PAG oil, so it should be the same stuff, but maybe the ratio is not perfect (I did not look into that).

I do not know anything else about the safety of using the product, but if he provided me the correct information then we at least know there should be nothing contained in the product that is not specified by Jaguar (like I said the ratio could be off, but this seems pretty standard).