Air Con Leaks

[rosemary]

Well the saga of the S-Type continues. Having just sorted a short circuit flattening the battery, on the hottest day of the decade the Air Con packed up. I thought it can't be the heater control valve burning out the climate control module surely!, I'd just changed all that two years ago and have since been very careful filling the windscreen washer bottle. So out comes my new i930 OBD reader and up comes b1858. Trawling the internet I eventually came across an American site where this code was described very simply as low gas pressure or lack of charge. I do like American sites they don't confuse issues with technical gibberish.
So off to the local garage for a recharge and this is where it all becomes a question of do I scrap the car or bite the bullet.
Decision made I'll keep the car mainly because I like it better than the other Jaguar I have, and pay the price of a repair that is greater than the value of the car. What really erks though is that with the exception of the condenser unit which has simply succumbed to road debris impacting it, the pipe leaks are a re-run of what happened to my previous S-Type 3.0 Petrol of 1999 in 2007. These leaks are a direct result of Aluminium to Steel contact at retaining clips, in the current case the rubber insulation around the aluminium tube had perished allowing steel contact. All is now well and the mechanic at Les Liney Autos in Studely Green, said he doesn't want to do another one of these sometime soon,(with a smile on his face) it took him five and a half hours and he has learned a lot about Jaguars and how they bury things, I must say the service here was brilliant and although the cost was tear jerking it was hugely less costly than if I had gone to the main dealer.

[J44EAG]

Old S-types for you. A bit more space in all departments on a 350. The design is rather more user friendly too.

I hesar my old battering ram is soon to live in Wembly. Rotting nicely, someone will get it through the next MOT. Good stuff is concrete and chicken wire!

Mike K

[oldtimer]

Hi David,
I followed your long and agonising electric saga very carefully dreading the thought of having that sort of curse visit me. I note with interest that the air con pipes had corroded as a result of differing materials, this is on my list to examine and hopefully avoid another potential calamity. Sadly the evaporator is exposed to the risk of damage from road debris , like I've just had a another windscreen go , the only consolation it is cheaper !
I would hope that with all the recent attention the car has had that it is now performing well.

Oldtimer

PS Long over due time we met again for coffee

[J44EAG]

Mixed metal corrosion is a real cuss. With some design thought, what we all expreience from time to time could be erradicated completely.

The most obvious things to keep an eye on on modern Jags are undertray fastenings, ali bumper bars and steel mounting bolts, steel hub cartridges on the ali front suspension, rear subframe ali cones, aircon pipes and most importantly, the off side front metal brake pipe and clip mount along the chassis leg just before it joins the flexi pipe on the modern S-type. The clip onto the chassis leg can eat that brake pipe for breakfast.I replaced the steel brake pipe in that location with Kunifer making use of short lengths of rubber fuel pipe as an insulator. I used the original pipe to hang the new pipe off with the fuel pipe as protective sheathing and then used cable ties as the quick method of fastening the whole lot together.

As regards fitting new steel wheel bearing cartridges into pre-used ali hub carrier legs, then Duralac paste provides the answer to control of further rampant corrosion issues. Duralac is a bullet proof insulator paste and stops corrosive galvanic action dead. Use that product and you will never have issues in the future with bearing cartridge replacement.

Mike

[rosemary]

Thanks for the input Mike and Phil, I got out from under the lawn mower without too much blood after paying the bill, drove the car to Benson where I was dog sitting for half the day then came home plugged in the i930 and so pleased to see no DTC's. The air con working well. I might have a go at the rear parking sensors now as I've spent so much on it now, as it is I've had a full replacement set for about two years now. I'll be in touch next week Phil.