My Jaguar has had a small coolant leak over the last several months. More recently, I filled it up one day and then it was empty the very next day. Filled it up again, and it was good.

I was driving yesterday and started noticing a burning smell for a second that quickly faded away. about 5-6 miles later, I notice white steam/smoke coming out of the car. I'm about 20 miles from home at this point so I start heading back. I made a pitstop to get some coolant/water. On the way home, the temp gauge is showing overheating and the car spews steam/smoke for about 20 seconds every 5 minutes going down the road. As I near home, I start to hear some grinding sounds and see the oil light come on in the last mile. I pull into home and the engine stalls.

When making the pitstop on the way home, I noticed the steam coming from under the fuse box on the passenger side, I also noticed everything below it was covered in the orange coolant. When I refilled the coolant reservoir, the car would steam up when the cap was off but wouldn't when I put the cap back on.

With this limited information, can anyone give me a rough guess as to what's happened? I imagine, I've burned off most of my oil if I heard grinding and the oil light came on.

Thanks

 

Carrying on driving may have been a really bad idea I'm afraid. Also, adding water to a hot engine can be bad.

 

+1 it doesn't sound good.
You will need to find the leak and hope for the best.

 

Prior to attempting any repairs, see if the engine can be rotated by hand in a clock direction using the crankshaft bolt head. If the engine does not rotate relatively freely, it is most likely seized.

If the engine does rotate, remove the spark plugs and perform a compression test as well as a pressure test of the cooling system to determine the location of the leak. The compression test will determine if there is damage to the cylinder heads or head gaskets.

Report back with the compression readings if the engine can be rotated.

 

After reading your description, my first impression is that you have a blown head gasket. If you do, you cannot drive the car so if you decide to take it to a service facility, it will need to be transported....

 

Had a similar issue with my 03 v8, I posted about it. Mine did overheat but I immediately shut it off and had it towed to the shop. Same symptoms, smelling coolant inside the cabin, coolant low light, fill up today - empty tomorrow, occasional steam coming from hood. I was keeping it topped off and still driving 10-20 miles a day, but going through a bottle of coolant every 2 to 3 days, Eventually mine did overheat but I immediately shut it off and had it towed to the shop.Turned out to be the water pump, throttle body to head and egr hoses. had to do the tstat and coolant reservoir while he was in there... set me back about $600 for everything. (first place I took her to *not the dealer* quoted 2100). Good luck!

 

The coolant reservoir is a known weak spot, over the years the plastic starts to dry out and causing a leak(s).
Never ever fill it up with water btw.

If neglected this can cause major problems.