Hey guys - I'm a relatively new owner of a 2003 S-Type 4.2L V8 non-supercharged.
My mother-in-law passed it down to us after my father-in-law passed away. He always carried a jug of coolant in the car due to the radiator leaking.

I've got the radiator pulled - and I was even able to do it without disconnecting anything from the AC condensor since I don't have the means of evacuating the R-134a safely. It was a bit of a struggle but with some twisting, turning, and tilting, I got it out.
Anyways, long story short, I've been checking the parts at oempartsonline. I have used FCPEuro before since I also have a BMW X5 and was pleased to find they also offer Jaguar parts.
So I have the OEM C2C365606 radiator in my cart along with this thermostat and thermostat seal.
Reading through this forum, it sounds like I should also replace the water pump while I'm at it so I'll add this one to the cart.
Any other recommendations for pro-active maintenance while I've got the room with the radiator pulled? I've already replaced the serpentine belt.
I suppose replacing the idler pulley wouldn't be a bad idea but I'd probably try and find aftermarket as this Genuine Jaguar is a bit pricey for what it is.

Anything else I should be looking at?
Thanks!

 

Welcome. How is the condition of all the oddly shaped foam pieces that live in-between the radiator and the chassis? To do the job properly, these need to be replaced as well. These pieces tend to be pricy and I believe some members have recreated them on their own. More than a few forum members have used a Nissens brand radiator (as I did) and so far, so good after a year in my S-type.

Also, now that you are here, it would be a good idea to stop by the New Members forum and post the expected "introduction". This will get you additional forum privileges and lets us know a bit more about you and your Jag; it can be found here:

New Member Area - Intro a MUST - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

 

The front sway bar bushes are real easy with rad out.

 

Thanks for the reminder - I did notice the control arm ball joints are in pretty bad shape so that's definitely on the to-do list. I'll check the rest of the suspension while I've got it on the ramps.

 

Not in great shape so I'll get some replacement foam for that.

Yeah the one from FCPEuro is a Nissens so I think I'm on the right track there.

Thanks, I'll do that.

 

Another vote for front sway bar bushings. They are nearly impossible to reach with the radiator in place. I don't find the water pumps that hard to change BUT I would for sure be looking at that failure prone DCCV as that is a pain to get to and replace. With the radiator and hoses dis-connected the DCCV would be MUCH easier to replace. If it has not failed yet, it will!
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Good on the AC. You shouldn't have to touch that. A suggestion: Buy some 1/4 and 1/2 inch extensions. I have them from 12" to 36". I've used them all on my car. Suspension: I replaced most of mine and I ordered control arms with the ball joints already installed. Makes for much faster work. Check your shock bushings too but be careful if the shocks are electronic. I just took mine entire shock spring assembly out and pressed in new bushings and shock tower pads. Easy to do, just a bit heavy. Sounds like you are on the right track.

BTW, the water pump is the easiest task you will take on.

 

Thanks for all the advice, fellas.
I ordered a new Nissens radiator. Did some searching and AutoZone has a 20% promo code with free shipping which brought it down to about the best price I could find ($285-ish, $307 after sales tax).
It arrived over the weekend and I decided to go ahead put it in before doing any other work. It's a personality flaw - I like to see my results right away.
And now that I've done it, it's not too bad of a job to remove the radiator.
After starting it up I discovered a new leak. One of the transmission cooler lines was leaking at the aluminum joint. After looking up the cost of buying a new line - and apparently you can't - it's sold as a pair of the inlet and outlet hoses for $500-600 - I decided to try to repair it. I used JB Weld Steel Stick. It's kind of a putty that you knead together to activate it then press into place.
It worked out great - no more leak.

But as you can see, it looks like that line has been wearimg/burning into the rubber of the line behind it so I'm going to need to put some kind of padding between them before that one springs a leak. Maybe that woven sheath should be pulled up higher on the rubber for that purpose?

If anyone finds this thread and is looking for that radiator, It's a Nissens 66708. Here's the link.

 

I'm not sure I'd trust that repair to hold up permanently. The original leak is telling you the connection is starting to fail. All you've done is hide the symptoms, not actually correct the root cause. Consider the consequences if it were to continue. If lucky, it might just start weeping a little and give plenty of warning. If unlucky, you could lose all transmission fluid, ruin the transmission, get stranded, and cause your wife to run off with the pool boy.

Look around locally for a hydraulic repair shop or similar. There are many outfits that can easily fabricate new lines at a very reasonable cost.

 

I agree with the first statement. My experience with JB Weld is fairly limited, especially when it comes to liquids under pressure. It may very well last a lifetime but the prudent thing is be skeptical.

As for the 2nd statement, respectfully, I disagree. The connection wasn't starting to fail. It failed. On that line we have a rubber hose coming from the transmission. Then an aluminum crimp around the rubber. The rest of the aluminum fitting may appear to be one piece that feeds into the radiator - but it's actually 2 pieces. The joint where aluminum meets aluminum had failed and the end was swiveling freely. I couldn't replicate that behavior on the line that wasn't leaking so I'm assuming it's not supposed to swivel that loosely and that was the problem
Here's a video I took when it was happening. The white band is just something I put there to see if it got any oil on it - if it did I would know that the leak was coming from the rubber crimped connection. But it remained dry so I knew it was coming from the aluminum joint.



I neglected to mention that I don't consider this a permanent solution - just something to get me back up and running while I continue to look for new replacement lines. I might get lucky and find a deal somewhere.

 

Yes your right that connection does not swivel.

I fix these by cutting that Aluminum ferrule off carefully with a Dremel tool. Now you can peel it off and throw away the rubber hose. The remaining Aluminum tube has an upset on it to keep the hose from pulling off. I put a new high pressure hydraulic hose on the Aluminum stub with two worm drive clamps.

Here is a picture I stole from this thread that shows it very well.
Weeping Transmission Lines





I did them without removing the lines. Tight but I got it done.
Never leaked again. Leaking at the crimped ferrule is a common hose leak.
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You do not have to buy the complete hose assembly from Jaguar. Any firm that rebuilds hydraulic hoses for heavy equipment, or for aircraft, can rebuild your hoses using the original aluminum couplings and make a tidy hob of it as well; this would be much more reasonable in price as opposed a new part from Jaguar. if one hose has begun to leak, the other will not be far behind...

 

Good point. I suspect that I may have caused, or at least encouraged this leak myself.
In my original post I mentioned:
I did have all the lines disconnected when I did this but as you know, this is a very tight space and difficult to see what's happening towards the bottom with all the hoses in the way.

But to your point - I don't believe I was overly aggressive and this likely would not have happened with a line that wasn't 20 years old, so yeah - there's a good chance other line may very well do the same thing if/when it's removed again.

 

Replace the thermostat *housing* too while you are at it. This part is plastic. It can crack and leak.

 

If you haven't finished the job yet it would be good to go to Harbor Freight if there's one nearby and get a set of big needle nose pliers and the tool to squeeze the hose clamps on a cable. They will make it easier. Of course check the repair manual that you can download here. Leave the fan in the shroud. Once things are tied out of the way there is almost 1/2" to spare to get fan shroud out but it will come out. Clean the area where the water pump goes on very well they can leak if the surface isn't very clean. As far as the trans coolant hoses go, mine were seeping a bit at the crimp joint but not really leaking much fluid, When every thing was out of the way I turned the lines back and forth a bit and it straightened out the little kink that was causing them to seep fluid and doing this stopped it permanently.