I'll send you a PM; I'd like to know what's involved with it.

 

So far so good this morning. It was 27 degrees and no air suspension fault message. I'm hopeful that it was just the water was causing my issue. I think some of the rubber stripping around the trunk was loose - I found where it was leaking in. I won't hijack this thread with the details; I'll start a new one once I'm sure the leak is gone.

 

Had a service exchange compressor fitted, and fault seems to have now gone - several journeys some fairly long, and no faults so far, and it is absolutely freezing here at the moment, (not as bad as US northern state winters, mind).

 

What is the service exchange compressor? Are we talking a big ticket item?

 

Replaced mine a couple years ago, got the compressor at JPAM Jag parts (a supporter of this site) and it was about $400. The part was rebuilt but it looked new to me, even after close inspection. I replaced it myself in about an hour. It is easy to do, just remove the left front wheel, then pull back the left front wheel well liner (I didn't even remove it), it's all right there behind the front bumper. Easy shade tree job.

 

That's all you have to do to replace a compressor? Sounds like a piece of cake!

I think I could do front shocks, as long as they are not much more difficult to replace than regular hydraulic shocks.

 

Price at my Jaguar main agent in Wilmslow, (south of Manchester), was £299, but as I am in their "Regency Club", I got 10% off this, or nearly £30 making the price about £269 or $420.

 

The dealer replaced the compressor for about $420? I thought it would be a much more expensive job than that... like most other repairs at the dealer.

 

Hi Carmat731

I suppose not all dealers are alike, and clearly London-based dealers charge bars of gold and get away with it, but we are a lot stingier here in Cheshire. Of course it helps with my car being over 4 years old. Many UK dealers have realised that with cars this age, (or over, like mine), that there is no company accountant writing the cheques out, it is the poor owner. So labour and parts are charged out less, although I don't get a courtesy car, but then I don't want one anyway. They realise that if they are way over the top on charges, the other (non-franchised) guys will get the business.

Remember the €420 includes 17.5% VAT tax as well !!

 

That's a much cheaper price than here is the US. My dealer wants $2,000 to put in a new compressor. I've been told that some dealers charge as much as $2,500.

Unfortunately the water in my trunk was not causing the problem. The dealer suggested that since I'm getting the fault message more often (it's a daily occurrence) I probably need a new compressor. I'm hesitant to spend that kind of money on a six year old car. It needs a few other minor repairs that probably bring the cost of my next visit to the dealer to around $3,000; that's down payment money for another car!

I may be parting ways with my XJ.

 

How much was the compressor?, that's really low. I know the compressor is pretty much close to $1,000 wholesale.

 

There is clearly something wrong somewhere with some of the US dealers, these prices are way, way too much, (assuming the OP has been correctly informed by the dealer). Service exchange compressors are widely available. Look here:

http://www.justjagsuk.com/product_de.../?model=X350&q

They send parts worldwide

Here is a US supplier - higher cost but still $600 (= £383), more than we pay in the UK for some reason.

http://www.jagbits.com/mm5/merchant...._Suspension_26

This is a UK parts dealer - note price is lower than official Jaguar service exchange ones at £299, but as I the time is in my bill, plus 30 minutes for diagnostics readout, (their standard charge).

So my local Jaguar Main Agent needs 45 minutes to fit it. So what kind of hourly dollar rates are these US guys charging ? Even with a brand new compressor from Jaguar at around £600 = $930, where does the $2000 come from, it's outrageous.

 

I think their hourly charge is about $115. Even if they used a new (Jaguar supplied) compressor at a cost of $1,000 one might logically think they wouldn't charge more than about $1,200 or $1,300; but no, they like to rip people off. They seem to bill a certain amount of labor hours per job rather than clock the actual time worked on the vehicle. Both of the Jag dealers in my area seem to do it this way; it's an observation on my part and difficult to prove. Given how much they charge for a repair like this it seems to prove my suspicion. If I had the time I'd actually consider doing it myself.

 

Every shop does that. I've never seen a shop not do that. The compressor under factory warranty pays 1.3 including replacement, diag, drive in drive out. Now warranty time is going to be different from COD time. No shop would ever clock the amount of time they actually spent. It doesn't make since. Otherwise they would have to give you the estimate after the work was done. Then they could, if they wanted to charge you more. "Oh I spend 5 hours doing this!" 2 hrs for this job is a fair price for customer pay. But all shops are different. Some may charge 3, if they are tossing in diag time. That's why if you wanted to, you could do the job yourself.

 

There's nothing in the trunk, with the exception of the the resivour that is air suspension related. As long as water hasn't got to the tank resivour tank valve block connector the only other water related issues with air suspension is on the rear passanger side of the car. water can get into the car there, past the door seal and get into the connector for the height sensors in the rear. You would have network and height sensor faults, and not compressor faults.

 

The block connector was partially under water. I got all of the water out, left the trunk open over the weekend (last week), then took a hair dryer to it in an attempt to get rid of any remaining moisture. I appears that the seal along the back edge of the trunk was not in place properly and allowed water to get in. We had pretty heavy rain storms here last week and no new water appeared in the trunk so I figure I took care of that issue correctly. Unfortunately the Air Suspension Fault message is appearing with greater frequency. They appear unrelated.

 

Check the archived comments on replacing the air shocks, there are some special things that must be done to avoid taking it to the Dealer to have the system reporogrammed afterwards.
By the way, allowing the car to run on a bad compressor will eventually damage the air springs and guarantee you a very expensive repair. The compressor is around $400 and the replacement takes about an hour. Don not wait to do the work, get it replaced as soon as the suspension fault message appears. Once it starts happening, it will not stop.

 

I have just pulled out the Royles Jaguar invoice for my replacement service exchange air compressor, and here are the prices as I read them:

Labour - 0.5 hours - £37.50
"Air suspension fault on VCM; confirm concerns with IDS, Download fault codes, carry out TIB JTB00067 confirmed concern as air pump failure"
Labour - 0.70 hours - £52.50
"replace air suspension compressor; clear codes, test, now OK"
Parts
JC2C 27702E Assembly - one - £245.79
Surcharge on above - £55.00
JC2C 27702EXP - minus £55.00
Credit on above

Subtotal = £335.79
VAT = £ 58.76
Total = £394.55

Labour is charged at £75 per hour which is 20% less their standard rate, and parts get a 10% reduction.

Of course it is not a new compressor, but I still get a warranty of 12 months. What would be the warranty on a new pump ? Note the surcharge, which was immediately credited. This is normal service exchange practice.

So in US dollar terms, the job came to about $615 at today's rate of £1=$1.55 So I have to say again, where does a price of $2000 come from ?

Remember this a UK Jaguar Main Agent, not a non-franchised specialist.

 

Hi all, this is my problem, Yellow light is on and sometimes red light comes on and says the car is too low, could it be number 4 relay if so can I use another relay in the car to try. Had a bosch guy test the car and he does not think it's the compressor.

I live in spain so it's not too cold.

Regards Marc

 

The dreaded suspension fault light has come on, and I have only had the car 6 weeks! have been told by local agent that it is quite common and got it booked in next friday.
I thought I heard a rattling noise on start up and then the fault flagged up. I think the noise was the death throes of the Compressor, so am expecting a £600 bill to have it replaced. Upon investigation have been told the reason for the failures of the compressors is the condensate freezing in the unit in the colder weather and making the unit work harder?