My Jaguar mechanic (Ken @ Al's Jaguar in Torrance) says that the cooling system hoses in 'recent' Jaguars are the most common short-lived items needing replacement. He then gave me a piece (P/N 9W83-8S504-FB) that has seen better days.

I'm trying to determine the material used in these hoses. My research has not been very productive (one ad for more generic radiator hoses said they are silicone, but the item I have is far more rigid than any silicone I have encountered in the past).

Does anyone know which materials are used for these hoses?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

 

Jeff, in my searching, yes, the hoses are made from silicone. But, keep in mind, they also have a steel braided insert in them. So, that may be what is throwing you off with their stiffness. Also, keep in mind that saying silicone is like saying you have something made of steel. There are many different grades with many different characteristics. Not to mention, I would not be surprised if they used say silicone on the outside, but used a more natural rubber on the inside (or vice versa).

 

Your mechanic is very correct. I would add the water pump as it's just about guaranteed to fail.
It makes a lot of sense to do the WP and the 2 large cooling pipes at the same time to combine labor costs.

What car is this on? The part number you posted is for a F-Type and NOT the 1998 XK in your signature? It's for the later 5.0L engine.
If your looking at that be sure and consider upgrading to the lifetime cast Aluminum 2 front cooling pipes. Any replacement pipe made of plastic will eventually fail too. We think Jaguar has upgraded the material used in these factory plastic cooling pipes but that is just a guess as they have not published anything to indicate they did.
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After the paperwork on a repair job was finished, I was chatting with my mechanic and mentioned that I can design parts with my CAD software. I then asked which parts are most likely to need replacement; the pipes and hoses in the cooling systems of later model Jaguars were the first thing he thought of that could use improvement. The part he gave me was from a recent replacement.

For this part, I am mildly concerned that a metal replacement would not have the necessary flexibility to be mated to the engine block and the water pump.

 

You do know that the original pipes were Aluminum from Jaguar? Then they cheapened and released them as plastic parts?
No you can't retro fit them either as Jaguar has obsoleted that entire assembly (Both the AL. and plastic versions) with the redesigned plastic pipes. The factory Aluminum stuff had additional problems that had nothing to do with the Aluminum.

A number of these after market pipes have been installed with zero problems and I trust cast Aluminum over crappy plastic any day!
We are lucky that anyone even did this too!
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