Cabin Heater

[Martec]

Yes, It is not easy but I have big hands and disconnected it reasonably well.........on an early car.

Brian

[rosemary]

Hello Brian
Thanks I'll have a go.
Dave

[rosemary]

Hello All
Well the RCCM arrived in the post this morning from Mark at JoJags Ltd. Fitted and Yippee all is working as it should be!!!!.
Utter relief !!!!!!!. The only difficulty I had was getting the glove box back in place, what an awkward piece of kit, everything bends and flexes there is no positive location.
I am now trying to convince myself to keep the car having invested a total of £459 in it, roughly a quarter the value of the car.
If I had bought the parts (RCCM and Heater Valve) from Jaguar the cost would have been an additional £640 and equated to circa half the value of the car.

[Montana5]

Success, well done and plaudits to you for sourcing and repairing the the RCCM yourself.
Dave, did the parts supplier you bought from take back your faulty RCCM as part of the price.

Doug.

[rosemary]

Hello Doug
Yes I'm posting it to JoJags today,quite happy to do so,someone else with our car and I assume the XF will no doubt be needing a replacement sooner or later if Jaguar haven't learned a lesson.

[J44EAG]

I must grub my unit out and see if I have the same problem.

Another thing on the "to do" list.

Mike

[trakhat]

Yes, It is not easy but I have big hands and disconnected it reasonably well.........on an early car.

Brian

Talking of the electrical connector - how on earth does it work....?
I'm usually competent and capable with any technical job but that clip defies all logic.. Doesn't help that it is pretty much out of sight (for close inspection). I tried to get my wife to put her hand down there but as usual she declined to "fiddle with my parts", so I forced my hand in. I found two routes using my right hand and another using my left - none of which gave me a position in which I could manipulate the plug and clip with ease.. I managed to slide the red clip upwards and then using brute force ripped the red clip off completely.. I tried more brute force (having been out there for nearly 20 minutes in -2 degrees and rain) in a vain attempt to force the plug to become detached. I almost managed to remove the whole DCCV by pulling hard but that connector remains solid and defiant. Congrats Ford, a cable connector guaranteed never to become accidentally detached.
My objective here is to disconnect the valve and see if the drivers side when deprived of power, defaults to fully open, as I am reliably informed is the way this unit works. If so then I have a control fault if not then I have a DCCV fault. Problem halved..!
The motivation for this was a journey on 10th December from Northampton to Lowestoft. The snow was 4 inches deep when we set off. My dear wife was being slowly broiled in the passenger seat and I was almost suffering frostbite from my toes upwards. This is the first time I have actually needed to use the heater since I bought the car in September.
I am loth to buy a used DCCV at anything up to £80 + fitting cost just to find out that the CCM has burned out. To my simple mind this seemed like an easy diagnostic method.
I am sure someone will point me to the excellent full length diagnostic for Climate Control and AirCon. But I need a simple solution to achieve an acceptable result. I am almost on the point of buying a couple of generic water control valves, some wire and toggle switches and a few metres of 1 inch hose... It's a lovely old motor, a joy to drive spoiled by the overly complex and unreliable Climate Control.
Any pointers in how to actually detach that plug would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[rosemary]

Hello trakhat

The locking clip is not the usual squeeze and pull to part the connector, it's in reverse ,you need to prise the clip open to release it with a screwdriver or such like if I recall.
Your description of the symptoms you have sound exactly like the ones I had. Checking back in the Thread you will see my description.
This is a common fault issue where the CCV solenoid, either one, on the valve shorts out causing one or the other sides to go full heat, mine also was the passenger side. In addition this episode burns out a track on the RCCM, see photos in thread. I went to jo-jags ref Mark for a CCV and a RCCM and as Mike points out make sure you order the same Part code that's on your existing if you go this route.There are loads on eBay. The removal/refitting of the glove boxes is a pain and the CCV has to be replaced from beneath the car. Might be word getting a "Village Garage" with a lift to do that, it's not complicated, probably one to two garage hours at the most.
The parts will cost about£300 to £400 now I would guess about a third of the price from main stream suppliers. Finally the tip in the Forum Thread about fitting an in-line 1A fuse is without doubt golden.

Dave

[Montana5]

trakhat...this video should help you with the connector.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn2KEe1v9EQ

Doug.