Hi, New to the forums and bang straight in with a question and plee for assistance.

My 2004 2.0d X-type Overheated Last week on a short run and when I checked the expansion tank, discovered it was empty. Let the engine cooldown for about 40 Minutes and then filled up the water again to get me home. I then ran the car for around 30 minutes just driving around and got home and checked expansion tank and low and behold almost empty again.

I've just been out to investigate (waiting for some decent weather), I removed the underpan and put the front up on Axle Stands and then ran the engine until it hit temp (with expansion tank full), once at temp I started to see the drips of water appearing whcih gradually turned in to more of a steady stream of dripping, turned the engine off and can say the amount of water dripping out was quite excessive so got under the car to look for where it was escaping and pin-pointed the area.

The only problem is I dont know what this part is, as I understand it, the Thermostat is located at the front of the engine and the water pump at the left side of the engine to the right of the batter case.

The offending item (pictured hopefully) is located to the right of the engine right underneath, although the leak is coming from the top of the round part shown with no access.

Can someone tell me a) what the round part is and what part of it is likely to be leaking coolant and b) what the metal slatted part directly attached to the round part is (also pictured hopefully).

Much regards

 

Mike, the round piece that you are looking at is your oil filter housing. You unscrew the cap, let the oil drain out, lower the cap and your filter will be on the cap. As for the accordian looking piece next to it, that is your oil cooler. This uses engine coolant to help cool the oil. So, if you are loosing coolant, this is the piece that I would be looking at. Odds are, the gasket between the oil cooler and the block has developed a leak and is the source of your problem (assuming this is where the leak is coming from).

Now, with all that being said, have you checked your overflow bottle. Our bottles are subject to cracking at the nozzle on the front of the bottle. Where this nozzle is, it would leak down on to the tranny and then over to where you are seeing the coolant leaking out. If you look on the front of the bottle at the very bottom, you will see a rubber line coming off of it. Give it a gentle push and see if that nozzle moves. You may also be able to see the crack in the plastic (will look like a non-translucent piece in the fairly translucent bottle). The fix for this is a new bottle (about $150 USD).

 

Thanks for the reply Thermo, the kind of great information I expected from you (I'm a new poster but have been following the forums for a while now and often see excellent replies from you that have helped me in the past).

I'll check the expansion bottle, although havent seen any apparent leaks coming from that area and the general area around it appears dry.

If I'm looking at the cause of the fault to be the gasket between the Oil Cooler and block, any idea of cost to replace, amount of work involved, it all looks very tricky to work under there, some very tight spaces to get sockets and screwdrivers in.

 

Mike, I have not worked on any Jag diesels. So, to give you an estimated time, I would be pulling a number out of my butt. The person you would want to get an unbiased time quote from is a member by the name of "Brutal". He is a certified Jag tech and can atleast give you the Jag recommended time to get the work done. With that being said, for labor, you are normally looking at about $100/hr (USD) for work. It shouldn't be that long of a job (under 2 hours-remember, I am just going off of my other dealings with vehicles), but this is also assuming that the repair is something basic (ie, failed gasket).

A check that I would recommend doing since you think you have a leak from the oil cooler is to pull the dipstick on the engine oil. Is the oil still a nice dark color or are you looking at a light grey "milkshake" (very cloudy, light grey substance). If the oil is a nice dark color, then you should be good. If the oil is the milky light grey, by no means should you drive the vehicle. The light grey color is telling me that you have water mixed in with your oil. This severely decreases the oils lubrication properties and can lead to engine damage. I'm not trying to scare you, but it is better to do this very easy check than to have to write a big check for a new engine.

Since you are messing around under the hood, try following the rubber hose coming off of the bottom of the overflow bottle and see if by chance you simply have a cracked hose and it is leaking that way. A new hose would be a very easy fix. I am being hopeful, but at the same time, trying to be realistic too. Normally the gaskets don't give like that. Hence why I am looking at the other options.

 

Once again, many thanks Thermo.

I've just been out to check that the Overflow bottle isnt leaking, ran the car up to temp with the OF Bottle retaining bolt removed so I could easily lift it to ceck all around when the leak under the car began, and fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your outlook ) the OF bottle is fine, I also made sure the car was on an Incline today rather than yesterday when it was on a de-cline so any water flow would be altered.

The coolant is definitly coming from the Oil Cooler area and at a fairly rapid rate (not bath tap speed but maybe not just single drips either).

To be honest the first thing I checked after the initial over heat last week was the Oil Colour, on previous not so nice cars I've had I've encountered the blow head gaskett come water loss come over heat issues so do get very concerned about sudden over heats and water loss, fortunately on those old OHC engines (when I were a lot young) stripping them down and replacing Head Gaskets, O-Rings etc was a doddle, in the Jag though I'm scared to go near it with a socket set, although I did pluck up enough courage 2 months ago to whip out the EGR Valve and give that a good clean out.

I'll probably drop the car in to the garage in the morning and get them to give a final diagnosis of the problem and cost, but thanks to you I've now got a good starting point to work on with them.

 

Mike, not a problem. I wish I could be there to assist. I love getting my hands dirty with projects like this. I hope that it is nothing more than a leak at the oil cooler. I would hate to think how much replacing the head gasket would be. While the diesel engine is more basic than a petrol engine, it still isn't that basic.

Let me know what the outcome is. I keep a tally book on problems with the X-Types.

 

Thanks Thermo, Just returned from the Garage who have confirmed the problem to be the O-Rings on the connection between the Oil Cool and the block, they've basically perished and need to be replaced and will of course replace the Gasket at the same time, cost of the parts £8 (UK Pounds), about 2 hours work which is around £150..... Was tempted to take the job on myself but the good old British Weather has other ideas, so decided to just let them got on it.

Thanks again for your help Thermo, mad the task with the garage so much quicker this morning being able to point out where the problem is and the likely cause, they were able to verify in 5 minutes.

 

Mike, not a problem. This is what makes the site so great. People sharing information and everyone is learning something in the process. Hopefully the kitty will be good to you for a bit more.

Happy driving.