After several months on jack stands, I finally have the Jag back on the road. It's actually my daughter's car but I haven't handed it over yet using the excuse that I want to make sure it's reliable transportation. I think the truth is that I so enjoy driving this car, she's content to drive my Honda, and I don't want to give up the Jag
I've rebuilt the entire cooling system, with the exception of the radiator, replaced the idler, tensioner, and belt. I'm currently working on the AC which blows frosty air for about 3 days and then quits. I put dye in today.
So, to my question, we spent a week out of town last week and my daughter, who is a freshman in college at 16, drove the Jag to school while we were gone. She called in a panic a couple of days in and told me that "the skin fell off her sunroof". Lol, we finally determined that the fabric had come loose from the sunroof shade. This probably wouldn't have been an issue except that the AC isn't working and we're in GA where it's 99° on a September afternoon. Anyway, how difficult is it to remove this shade? It's a 2005 S Type 4.2. Thanks in advance for any advice or info.
Afterthought...I saw some dye light up around a little plate on the AC compressor after running the AC for a few minutes. Is this common? Is it repairable or is it a compressor replacement? Looks like one would have to jack the engine up a couple of inches to get the compressor out...

 

Can’t help with the sunshade, but might be able to help with the AC.

More than you ever wanted to know, with symptom-based troubleshooting to guide you towards a fix:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...ol-how-185002/


Don’t panic over a minor apparent leak. Tiny leaks/seeps are not uncommon, and typically go unnoticed until dye is used. Is this plate on the aft end of the compressor? If so, more details at the following link. This is on the X-Type, but the general details should be the same:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...problem-53501/

You mentioned the system typically works great for about 3 days and then quits. Are you doing anything to somehow regain AC or does it just magically come back on its own? Different driving pattern, such as long versus short trips? Regaining normal cooling like that is quite the unusual symptom. Makes me think the refrigerant quantity is adequate, as you get good cooling some of the time. If you had lost enough refrigerant to lose cooling, it would not replenish itself every three days.

My hunch is the Dual Climate Control Valve is intermittently acting up and dumping heat into the cabin. The DCCV has a very high failure rate. Details of how to test it are at the first link above. Please work through the guide in order, based on the symptoms present. If at all possible, do the testing when the system is acting up.

Be sure to post back what you find.

 

The headliner has to come down to remove the sliding shade. My 06 has the same dilemma

 

AC system is losing enough charge over the course of about 3 days to trip out on low pressure. I'm expecting to find dye somewhere today after driving it to work and back with the AC running. The plate I'm talking about is on the side of the compressor, oblong in shape, and appears to be secured by two bolts.
DCCV was replaced in the cooling system overhaul.

 

Thanks for the info on the sun shade. That sounds like a job for an upholstery shop. Anytime I start working on the interior, it seems like I break more than I fix.

 

yeah. Experience is a plus on that job. I got quoted 350 for replacing headliner covering and the sunshade. The guy had experience and all necessary clip assortments. I just never pulled the trigger as a trans issue ate up the money. Maybe this winter. Price is excellent

 

I’m thoroughly confused. Not sure I understood your original description, nor this update. Are you repeatedly charging the system so it will work for a few days? You said it would “trip out on low pressure”. The only sensor capable of causing that is the AC pressure sensor, and in that mode the response a last ditch effort to protect the compressor from running without oil.

If the system had leaked way down to that point, the AC pressure sensor would have done its job and totally inhibited compressor operation. So this also leaves me beyond confused, as turning on the AC would do nothing, yet you talked about driving with it on.

Not trying to bust your behind, just trying to make sense of your observations so we can get your AC working reliably again.

One word of caution: Do be careful if trying to make the symptoms fit what you think is happening, be it low refrigerant or whatever. Instead, offered in the kindest gentlest manner possible, go where the symptoms lead you.

Who knows, the root cause could be as simple as an intermittent relay for the compressor clutch, but that’s just a guess without working through the troubleshooting guide.


Is this where the two lines are attached?




Have you tested the new one?

 

Ok, I'm going to try this again and attempt to clarify.
1) Rebuilt cooling system including a new DCCV
2) Did not do any specialized testing of the new DCCV but hot air flows when I set the temp control to higher than ambient temp and pretty quickly goes back to about ambient temp when I change the temp setting to lower than ambient. This indicates that it's most likely working correctly.
3) AC did not work when I got the car. Pulled vacuum and let it sit for an hour. It held vacuum so I charged it with ~720g of R134a. Compressor kicked on around the 320g mark. At full charge, pressures were good and the air was very cold even at idle. On a 90 deg day in GA, I could only drive with it on LO for about 10 minutes before it was uncomfortably cool in the car. I did not charge any dye to the system this time. I also did not check vent temps because I was happy with the system performance and I suspected it was going to leak down anyway.
4) The above was mostly to see if the air worked and to see how quickly it lost enough charge for the system to trip out on low pressure. Turns out that was about three days of driving about 70 miles/day. My hope was that it was a "one can a year" leak but I kinda knew better.
5) I was going to replace the Schrader valves as they tend to be leak points but discovered that they're larger than the ones AutoZone sells. So I vacuumed it down again, added a small bottle of dye, and charged it with another 720g of R134a. Drove it to work and back...70 miles. It was still cooling well at the end of that trip.
6) My first investigation with the UV light showed some dye around the plate on the side of the compressor but it appears to me to be a negligible amount...maybe a "can a year" leak. I went back out after dark to look again as my UV light is weak. I see what looks like a lot of dye on the firewall behind the engine. I haven't done anything else because my wife has been working me like a rented mule moving furniture around this morning. I'll try to add some pics. Wish I'd known this was where it was leaking while I had the intake and cam covers off 😕

 

Started it up, let it come up to operating temp with the AC set to low. All three heater hoses were at ambient temp after the engine was hot. Pics to tell the rest...

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This morning approximately 48 hrs after charging and adding dye. Have only driven it about 70 miles with this charge in.

Small amount of dye showing on the plate that is on the BACK of the compressor...not the side as I earlier said.

Other side of plate on compressor...very small amount.

Bad picture of dye on the firewall. There's more than the pic shows.

Another bad pic of dye all over the top of the bell housing. I can't get the camera in there to get a good representation but the entire top of the bell housing is bright green.

 

The dye appears to be coming from the expansion valve or maybe the connection between the expansion valve and the evap core. Somehow I suspect this is going to be an unpleasant fix...

 

Ooh, I was afraid of that when you mentioned the top of the bellhousing was stained.

No personal experience with the expansion valve, but understand replacement is quite the ordeal.

 

This video (complete with porno background music) shows some of the details of the valve:



Do you think the leak could be from one of the seals on the engine side? Those wouldn’t be too horrible to replace.

Have you checked for dye up under the dash?

 

Lol...I started a new post since I had narrowed it down to a leak on that area. But, yes...I did look under the dash as best I could without doing any major disassembly. The question posed in the new post was whether anyone thought it could just be the outer o rings.

 

I think you said you were in Georgia and I can give some tips on the headliner. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME DOING IT YOURSELF. You can really screw up. Any how, one of the best shops in Georgia is Super Upholstery. 2 locations Marietta and Woodstock. Started by two brothers. One of the brothers has a shop in Alabama and that is who did mine. When you do a headliner, they'll do the SR piece and you should do all the posts too. They are recommended. Good luck.

 

Perfect! I'll give them a call Monday. Thanks.