My first Jag was purchase a few months ago, it is a 2003 S-Type with about 117,000 miles on it. The coolant expansion tank was leaking from the top hose connection. Upon inspection I found that the nipple was cracked and about to fall off. I located a quality replacement part off a wrecked car for $68.

As with everything, you fix one thing just to find another problem exists. Upon installing the expansion tank the small nipple on the upper radiator hose fell off. This cap type connection was epoxied by previous owner and held down with a hose clamp. The plastic that the nipple portion was made from was almost totally deteriorated and the reason why the part broke so easily.

For this fix I located several options. The dealer and several online vendors had the entire assembly for $260-$280. I didn't want to spend this much an a radiator hose so I searched ebay. There were several vendors that offered hoses that looked very comparable for $80 and warrantied the product for 60 days. Why not. So I ordered the part.

Nothing seemed out of place upon recieving the ebay part. Once I installed the part everything looked good until I finished up by connecting the expansion tank hose to the radiator hose. While installing the hose using minimal force the cap portion with the nipple protruding from it just fell off. I suspect this is the same problem the previous owner had with the hose on the car.

Looking at the part it was obvious that this portion of the hose was made of very thin material and would have likely leaked after a short time in service. Good to find out now. Bad I have to wait longer to find another part. I contacted the ebayer and was issued a full refund.

Enough with aftermarket for this part, I decided to go with dealer parts. I'm in Murrieta CA and there are only three dealers within a reasonable driving distance of just over an hour. So i called around none had the part in stock. But Tony from Carlsbad could get the part same day. Best of all he lived 10 minutes from me and was willing to meet to drop the part of to me after he got off work.

Thanks Tony!

So about $250 for the hose assembly but it went on with no problems and I have faith it will hold out.

 

I would have spent the extra $40 - $50 and put on a new expansion tank. be careful installing "used" parts on these cars in general, especially "wear" parts.

 

Sure on some parts you don't want to go used. But as the tank is warrantied for 6 months money back, I was pretty secure in the order. If it goes bad before that it is easy swap. I don't do any long hauls and stay within a 5 - 10 mile radius of my house. So even if it fails I'm not stranded. Luckily the part looked great with no signs of deterioration or cracking. Only time will tell.

Still your point is valid and thanks for the advice.

 

No problem. Be careful with those "warranties" on used parts from the wrecking yard. Case and point - let's say you develop a catastropic leak in that expansion tank and you lose all coolant and your engine overheats, causing damage... You'll be on the hook for repairs and they'll just give you another "used" expansion tank.

Don't get me wrong - I'm all about looking for the greatest deal and I have installed wrecker used parts before - but for some parts - I go with new.... take care....