I cant find this anywhere specifically for an STR but can you use Prestone Dex-Cool Extended Life 50/50 Prediluted Antifreeze/Coolant (Orange)?

I have seen people use them on X's, and S's. I just want to confirm that it can be used in an STR? Got a low coolant warning today, started the research and cant find an answer besides going to the dealer. I have a funeral tomorrow and cannot get over there nor do I want to put my car at risk with either having low coolant or the wrong type. Brother JagV8, yes I have the Ebay service manual and have searched. If you find a post specifically clarifying this that I missed.... I give up.

 

Sorry to hear about the funeral. Last thing you need is car hassle just now.

The STR isn't really a diffferent cooling system than (say) the NA V8 so I doubt there even could be a different spec for the coolant. I never found one. I bought 5l (about 5 qts) from the dealer anyway and it was quite cheap. It's a bright orange but the stuff I've seen elsewhere with the same spec WSS-M97B44-D is all sorts of colours (purple, red, whatever). What would happen if mixed, I don't know. I had some purple with the spec already, it turned out, but I'm not going to use it in the STR.

It's summer so I'd measure how much needed adding and personally would add water (I use deionised). I'd remove some at a later date and add in the jag coolant to maintain the concentration. But the 50:50 mix is not going to be critical within a few %.

Adding water will marginally reduce the boiling point but as it's losing coolant it's not maintaining a pressurised system and that will reduce the boiling point too. So, don't thrash the car! (After the funeral. You're not going to do so at it. Ahem.)

As it's lost enough to bring up the warning, see if you can tell how much is missing - can you see ANY in the tank? If so, how much? Any convenient measure (inches from the top, say).

 

Thanks for the info, but its game over. There will be no easy "top it off" solution to this even if I had the Jag coolant This morning I woke up to her bleeding orange. All day yesterday, I didnt see a freaking thing leaking, but sure enough, she is and I'm pissed.

The tank is VERY low, I would say by looking at it from the side there is maybe an inch or less in there. Just another thing, on top of many, going wrong lately, doesnt stop.

Time to scour through the "coolant leak" threads...Anything I should know that is different on the STR than say a 3.0 or 4.2 which would make a particular thread obsolete?

 

Check the plastic hose nipple on the reservoir tank first. That's the usual culprit. They get brittle after a few years and snap off. If that is indeed your issue, you'll need a new reservoir tank....

 

On the bottom or the side? It seems from researching these tanks are garbage. Thanks Jon

 

I'd still use plain (deionised) water to get to something important (I have no other car).

Quick thoughts:
1. access is DIRE if it's the DCCV
2. the infamous pipe under the SC is a weak point (as you know, but lest you forget)
(access is far more dire for that!)

To help figure out where the coolant is from, I understand #2 ends up towards rear of engine whereas all the usual others (DCCV, header tank, thermostat housing aluminium "octopus") are at the front. Better name needed than octopus!

I can see my DCCV by removing front right wheel and forward part of the wheel arch (well) liner.

 

On our 3.0, there's a hose on the top and another one on the bottom. Don't know if the STR uses the same tank or not, but if it's plastic, the hose nipples are gonna crack and fail at some point. I had our tank replaced as part of the extensive accident repairs that were taking place exactly a year ago at this time. Glad I did. They seem to last no more than 4 to 5 years before the nipples crack. I'm hoping ours is now a new-and-improved material, but I doubt it....

 

The STR has those and an extra one (SC / intercooler return). Which also fails

 

Nice, the STR has 3 nipples, she is a unique lady. I'm going to Jag after the funeral to at least get coolant and pick the service guy's brain I know over there. If this is that hose underneath the SC I just read about on another thread she will be sitting idle for a while. Looks like the Saab will become my DD.

 

Bull27,

Found this on another message about coolant tank issues. George Androulakis came up with a temporary fix that might tide you over until you get a new tank, assuming that is the source of the leak.

Mike

 

Thanks for that, gonna tackle this job tomorrow. Tech said #2 causes of leaks is the nipple underneath, and something about the thermostat I believe, was distracted by the new XFR staring directly at me. He also said that the failure of the hose underneath the SC is extremely rare. I hope so but that's just one dealership. Got two quarts or liters of coolant for $35 I believe. I'm gonna dismount that expansion tank, hopefully, and pour in the coolant. Let it idle and see what happens. I'm hoping there is enough give so I can see underneath or at least squeeze my hand down there to feel around. Quoted me $160 for tank and said it should take under 15 minutes to replace after he entered my vin and looked up procedure.

 

Took the intake and expansion tank off today. All 3"nipples" were fine, however I saw some signs of leakage from one of the upper radiator hoses. Went to Advanced Auto Parts, didnt have it in stock, but was around $75 just for the hose and would take 2-3 days to come in. I may have lucked out with this one. There were no cracks or cuts, but as you can see from the pics it looks like it expanded before the clamp probably causing a bad seal. I filled the tank, it took both bottles, and am going to see if I can get this tube elsewhere, quickly. The surrounding area had a couple of wet spots, clearly coolant. Could this upper hose really cause such a huge loss of fluid??? Take a look:

Lower Nipple all set:



Orange "blood"






This is the upper hose



The deformed hose

 

You did dilute 50:50 with water.... yes?

 

No, does it not come prediluted from Jaguar? The reason I went all the way to the dealer in the first place is so I didn't have to F around with the wrong coolant. I'll be pissed if I have to flush this out.

 

Over here, it's undiluted and probably there, too. I'd hope it and JTIS say to dilute 50:50.

It's not going to be critical. The STR coolant total is 13.3l. You added 1l too much (undiluted) coolant / too little water. Can't matter.

 

I threw the bottles away but I will ask him (parts guy at dealer) when I go to get this hose, in which I CANNOT find anywhere online. He also hinted to me that the Dexcool coolant I originally posted about can be used, but couldn't flat out tell me "yes".

I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure he said this Jag fluid was 50/50, and to just "fill her up".

 

Tee Hee... What a difference a dealer makes! FYI, from the dealers mouth... When my DCCV was replaced, they said that they bled the system but air pockets could still be there and if I got a warning light, just bring it in... Well, a couple of days later the light came on... I called them and asked what I could get since I was home and really didn't want to make the 40 min drive North just for that... They said... Just go to an auto parts store and get some Prestone Dex-Cool. I did, topped it off and all was good...

Now maybe your dealer could teach mine what good body work looks like!

Is the hose you need molded to go around bends? If not, maybe just a replacement length of hose would work. If it is.. then maybe call Nalley Jaguar for the part. I hear they are real good.

 

I have a 5-litre jug of Jaguar coolant that was left over from our August 2009 accident repairs, so the body shop gave it to me along with a 1-litre bottle of ZF Fluid. I can confirm to you that the Jaguar coolant is full-strength, not diluted....

And yes, Prestone's DexCool works just fine and meets all required specs. I also have a jug of it which I use in my wife's Lexus....

 

It looks to me like you just need to put better clamps on where the spring clamps are used. For the water connections that are metal take a SS brush and clean the metal really good to get rid of any corrosion. Even a strip of emery cloth works really nicely. Then coat them very lightly with some silicone grease (NAPA) or Dow Corning 111 "the best". That will forestall future corrosion and it makes getting hoses off a lot easier later on.

Check those plastic fittings very carefully. One could be cracked.

The best clamps to use are the ones with a rolled edge. Don't tighten the life out of them. With the grease on there they will still slide around a little on the fittings but that's OK. They won't come off and it helps to seal minor leaks due to surface irregularities.

I've been having to maintain vintage Italian alloy engines for 30 years and this really does help. The collant stagnates in between the fitting and the hose just before the clamp and deteriorates.

A system pressure test before you took everything apart might have been helpful. So do one when you're done to be confident.

BTW, if you have too much antifreeze in there it will just degrade your cooling system's ability to cool a bit. You could drain twice the amount you added and then replace it with distilled water.

I'm still deciding if I want to dump the dex-cool. It was a real big negative for Suburbans from the 1990s. It allegedly caused corrosion for certain coolant system fittings. Mine went bad so I switched to the long life Prestone stuff that says it mixes with anything. It's been just fine for 5 years now. On the Suburban forums they refered to it as "Death-Cool".

But who knows?

One more thing. If you are worried about the quality of the original hoses (they look to be OK stuff) then I don't think I'd shop for deals at Advance Auto. I might try and see if there's a better grade offered from Gates or Dayco. I substitute silicone hose where I can. I shop at truck supply and hose shops NOT the tuner places.

Bob S.

 

Ordered the hose today, $71 + tax......yes the hose is only a foot and a half long, unreal. He was kind enough to overnight it for free though.

My boy Bob in the parts department must have said "needs" to be 50/50, not "is". I confirmed with him this morning. So yes, Jon and V8 you are correct. Those two bottles only brought me to the MIN. level anyways and I will add some more water, probably a ltr., or until it is at the max. level.

Jeff, where you been man, havent seen ya around in a bit? I was thinking about getting something aftermarket, but this thing has 5 90 degree turns and is only a ft and a half. It is so tight under there that I feel like it it is just easier to get the factory, pre-"bent".

Bob S. - Thanks for the tip on the silicone grease, I was trying to figure out what a good option would be. I probably could have gotten away with just re-clamping this hose but it looks pretty beat up and deformed, it looks as though it was clamped to far down in the first place. By rolled edge clamps, are you talking about the ones on a "slotted track" that tighten with a flat head screwdriver?

That seems strange about the extended life 50/50 orange Dex-Cool, I was under the impression it was a newer product and better quality, at least the price certainly reflects as such not that it means anything.