Help please? I have a 2003 x-type 2.5. I had been driving the car for maybe 5 minutes when I noticed the temperature guage was pegged to the right and the idiot light was on. I pulled over and turned it off. I popped the hood and saw the coolant reservoir was half full. I carefully unscrewed the cap and there was no steam or excessive pressure built up - no boiling noise etc nor was there an antifreeze smell thta usually accompanies overheating. After 3 - 4 minutes I turned the car back on and the needle was at the half mark. I drove it maybe 1/4 mile and the guage quickly climbed all the way to the right again. Does this make sense to anyone? Thank you all for your help.

 

Need a little more info. Is the water pump belt on? Just checking! Was it really hot under the hood when you opened it (more than a warmed up engine? What happens if you just let it idle? Will it overheat, do the fans turn on? Once it is warmed up and the thermostat should be opened can you feel fluid moving past the top radiator hose by squeezing it a bit? Any changes to the car (i.e. work done, fluid flushed etc in recent days)? What does your oil look like? Coolant?

 

check the plastic nipple on the side of the coolant resevior where a small 1/2" black (overflow?) hose connects on the engine side of the tank - they have a bad habit of developing (stress?) cracks and leaking. Same thing happened to me last year, and thats what it was. A new tank cured that.

 

Thank you for responding. Evidently the pulley on the water pump froze. I'm sure this is fairly easy to replace but it is already at the dealer so I will eat the $350.00...not much for a Jag repair but way too much to replace a pulley that sits right on top of the motor....

 

Pulleys don't just freeze. The water pump froze. Replacing a water pump and the belt sounds quite fair at $350 from a dealer. Parts alone are probably $150ish.