Greetings all,

I just purchased a 2014 F Type V6 with 39k miles. On my first drive home with the car, after some spirited driving, I saw puffs of steam coming through the hood. Luckily I was only a minute from my house, so I pulled in and shut the car off quickly. When I stopped the car, I could hear a bubbling/boiling noise under the hood. With the hood open, I could see splattered clearish liquid on the underside of the hood. A ton also leaked out of the bottom of the car, as shown in the photo. The steaming eventually stopped with the car shut off. Can anyone help me diagnose this issue please?

 

I would guess not much to diagnose except a leaking coolant system. Steam and bubbling from hot coolant escaping. Hopefully, no damage to engine given your description of how you shut it down.
Since you just purchased it presumably you have some sort of (even short term) dealer warranty that should pay for towing to the dealer and repairing the coolant leak.
You will notice the post just below your refers to an ongoing problem with coolant pipes.

 

Possibly water pump. The 2014 v8 has pump failures, I’m unsure if the v6 uses the same pump.

You can stick your phone camera down there from the passenger (USA) side in front of the engine and look for wetness.

My 2014 V8 pump failed in 2019 with under 20k miles on the car.

 

Coolant on the underside of the hood (so it was obviously spraying upwards from somewhere) suggests three possible culprits to me:
1. Out of the expansion tank, either through a loose/ill fitting cap or a crack in the tank or or loose hose connection or a split in that hose.
2. Out of a crack/split in the other end of the expansion tank hose, where it separates into two smaller black plastic tubes which connect to the cross-over pipe (mine cracked/split there).
3. The classic and well-documented split in the seam of the two-piece cross-over pipe (top/front of the engine).
All of these possible culprits spray coolant from a different place so a check of the spray pattern on the hood might give you a clue.
Otherwise, and to possibly save the cost of a flatbed to the dealership and a diagnosis fee, you could check yourself (that is how I found my cracked expansion tank tube):
Fill the expansion tank back up again with distilled water, then start the car and let it idle up to operating temperature while watching for leaks/spray. If no obvious leaks or spray start gently wiggling all visible coolant system tubes/hose/pipes and the culprit may reveal itself. Best to wear gloves and goggles in case it lets go with a gusher!

 

I had exactly this happen to me a few weeks ago, steam out of the engine bay, clearish liquid all over the engine bay and a steady stream leaking under the car.

It was after the water pump had been replaced and the washer had got twisted on refitting by the garage. Check if yours had a replacement before you bought it. Otherwise as others have said could be from the expansion tank/coolant pipes under the supercharger.

good luck.

 

A common place for a leak is in the valley under the supercharger; pipe there is a known weak factor, usually replaced with the current improved part. Cheap replacement pipe =- but much more for labour!

 

But do the coolant pump or valley pipe (under the SC) leaks also spray coolant onto the underside of the hood????
I guessed they don't which is why I suggested three other possible culprits but of course I could be completely wrong, maybe someone who has had one or both of the leaks in question can chime in.

 

It possibly wouldn't, so more likely the other culprits you suggested, but in my experience water has a remarkable ability to get to places you wouldn't expect according to where the fracture in the pipe is. So if the other culprits aren't guilty, worth considering the valley pipe maybe.

 

I f the liquid on the underside of the hood was indeed clear then it could have been condensate of the steam from the leak.

 

Thank you all for the helpful replies. The car was flatbedded back to the dealer yesterday. I've received a text from them stating that they found a "blown hose" and will try to replace it Monday, but that's all the info I have for now.

After reading the responses and related threads, I am a little freaked out about the possibility of engine damage, especially because the car is not under warranty. I know it's speculative, but does engine damage seem likely in this scenario? From the time I saw the smoke till the time I had it shut off in my driveway was approximately one minute. But, the tow truck guy did start it up again after that to get it on the truck. Would that be enough run time to wreck the engine?

 

I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Again, having been In the same situation, as long as the car didn’t completely run out of coolant/water you should be fine. On mine there was a pool of water/coolant similar to your photo and it was started to get it onto a flatbed as well and it’s been fine.

 

Since you have a 2014, you may still have the 'flanged and glued' coolant pipes, a known issue for failure. Those pipes are glued or hot sealed/whatever and over time become brittle and split. There are any number of threads and posts about this failure.
I was fortunate with my 2017 V6, Premium. Built on the cusp of the transition period when JLR realized this was a problem and redesigned/re-engineered the pipes to a solid form factor, my car had the flanged pipes. Armed with all the owner data and anecdotal stories, the TSB (I think) and photos, I went to my dealer and nicely asked them to investigate this. Apparently, the replacement pipes come as a kit with a new water pump, as the solid pipes won't fit on the original water pump. The dealer agreed and replaced it all under warranty.
The rest of the story is that because of the location of all the coolant pipes, the SC had to come out. Again, with backup support from owners here, I gently asked them to change the supercharger oil. (33,000 miles on car). My tech, a great guy, at first was taken aback... JLR says the SC is sealed, good for 100,000 miles etc. After reading the documentation I provided, he practiced on a used JLR supercharger that he had in his parts bin. So I got that SC oil changed. Then, when my OE supercharger was put back in, it exhibited the classic marbles in a can noise and so I got a new SC as well, under warranty. Tech also mentioned that the SC was a bit tough to get off, due to rusting of the locating pins, probably due to coolant leakage. The photos show the flanged coolant pipes and a comparison shot of new vs old pipes.
Post and let us know how you come out!

 

Own an R MY2017 built in sept of 2016. Have the original designed coolant tubes, no problems yet but since I plan on keeping the car past the 5 year warranty may want to see what my friendly dealer has to say about it- they’ve been pretty good so far. Does anyone know what month they actually started fitting the upgraded design?

 

.

 

hi Valerie, i was at lime rock this past Saturday June 4, and a ‘16 base f type manual was on the track. Very cool to see with other cars. I had a chance to speak to him and he’s very pleased with his purchase, jag has 45k miles usual clutch complaint that he attributes to slave cylinder, he didn’t say whether he had clutch replaced. He seemed to be ok with what he’d had. Not racing but at least going thru the track s turns. Have you received the information from your jag dealer as to parts and numbers.and have you told your story of long term storage at dealer, was it parts availability; supply chain; or Covid related. Cheers Frank

 

Yes, I'm curious too, is my 2019 under the new design?

 

you can easily tell simply by looking at the front section of your engine where the upper coolant pipe can be seen. That pipe will either be the old or new design. I believe the pipe was changed sometime in 2017 so a 2019 f-type automatically has the new design.

 

Yes, as others have stated probably either the coolant crossover pipe seam split and or the connection points where the two pipes enter the manifold under the SC have cracked. Had it happen on my 2013 V6 SC XF which uses the same defective coolant pipes. When I pulled the old ones out the flanges where they enter the manifold literally crumbled in my hands. Jag quoted about 1800.00 for labor as the whole SC assembly has to come off the top. I did all the work myself, is not too hard if you are slightly mechanically inclined. took about 8 hrs to do. When you open the supercharger be sure to replace the supercharger coupler at the same time. You want to save yourself having to do it all again when it fails and it will fail sooner in some and later in others and start to make all kinds of racket.

 

Thanks again for all the comments. The dealer stated that they pressure tested the system and traced the leak to a "blown hose". They said that replacing the part in question would not require removal of the supercharger - apparently it can be accessed by removing the serpentine belt. Does this sound right? Does anybody know which hose they might be referring to?

 

It could be any one of a plethora of coolant hoses on/near the front of the engine, there are dozens of them, see the attached pdf.
Note ROW = Rest Of World which in this case means distinct from the Hot Climate Market (bottom part of the pdf), the Hot Climate Market coolant system has an extra auxiliary radiator.