Hi, I have a 2015 Jaguar XF 3.0 AWD. I took it to the dealership yesterday as I noticed a coolant leak and bubbling in the coolant reservoir. The service manager called earlier saying that there is a coolant leak along the exhaust and since a rubberized material, it is not covered under CPO warranty. $200 diagnostic fee, $350 for the hose, $950 for installation.

I took the vehicle in for several issues that has racked over the past two months since my last visit to the dealership among many others in the past two years I've owned the vehicle.

Backup camera (not available contact dealer) message keeps appearing randomly. Diag: $200
Conclusion: Its working fine (even though I showed them a picture of when it isn't working)

Headlight washer not working. Diag: $200.
Conclusion: lose connecter..

Engine making a hissing sound and supercharger making a knocking sound. Diag: $200
Conclusion: Supercharger not covered under CPO. We disconnected the supercharger and the engine sounds fine. Cost of supercharger $4600, labor: $1900.
(I've addressed this issue in another post earlier)

Driver side lumbar support not working. Diag: $200
Conclusion: Normally covered under CPO, but we believe you may have dropped a liquid causing it to go bad as this part almost never goes bad (no proof of liquid found). Covered cost of part under "good will", still paying diag.

Total diagnostic cost: ~$1,000

In the past the service advisor has always called before doing any extensive diagnostic of any issue mentioned. This time around I just get a call with a massive diagnostic fee.

CPO does not cover supercharger (covers the tensioner only), it does not cover any coolant issue (safe to assume since literally every part of the coolant system is either rubberized or platic).

Safe to say this is my last JLR product, perhaps I'm not at a point in life where I can afford one. Paid extra for CPO in hopes it would cover any major repair that may come along in the 2 years of warranty. That's clearly not the case. JLR's CPO warranty is a joke compared to other popular European brands.


With the rant out of the way, let me know if anyone has experience dealing with JLR dealers in the past and how I can go about dissolving all these ridiculous diagnostic charges. I'm also planning on doing the coolant leak repair myself if I can find sufficient information, or take it to an independent mechanic.

Any and all help is welcome and appreciated,

Cheers!

 

Got more information on the coolant leak. It is a heater pipe between the engine and the fire wall. The heater pipe and the seals will need to be changed.

Has anyone attempted this repair? Anywhere I may be able to get the parts cheaper, any special tools required for the job etc

 

What part are they quotong for the connector pipe? Lower? Do you have a part number?

This one ? https://www.brit-car.co.uk/product.p...r_xf_2009_2015

 

That's definitely the worst pipe to fail. You will enjoy that job. Basically everything needs to come apart on top of the engine. Big Will did a DIY on here for the supercharged V8, which I believe is roughly the same block as the V6.

Expect the other pipes to start breaking after you complete this job. You'll probably be pulling the engine apart again real soon if you don't replace all the plastic at the same time.

 

Anyone have the part number for this pipe? Is it the same for the 3.0?

 

Hey, I'll have the part number posted soon.


According to the technician, it's a very minor leak and the heater hose is relatively easy to fix alongside the seals on each ends.

I'm taking it to an indipendant shop to get it replaced.

Pretty much given up CPO warranty for any repairs. The whole idea of "plastic and rubberized materials are not covered" is ridiculous beyond belief. What's left? The engine block?

 

Yikes. Should I hold back on it then perhaps? Sounds like it will make things worse. Don't think I can afford to change all the hoses at this point in time.

 

Well, if you don't fix the leak and keep driving the car, you run a very high risk of overheating and blowing the engine. Can you afford to pay around $15K to have the engine replaced? You wouldn't be the first on these forums to blow an engine by not taking a coolant leak seriously.

 

Nope, but I'm not driving the car either. I'm looking to sell it. Want to make sure it's in order for the next owner. If changing the heater hose is going to trigger others to break (is there a way around that? Perhaps go to a more qualified mechanic?) then I rather hold back for the time being.

 

Changing any of the plastic pipes doesn't trigger others to break. But when one starts to leak, it's telling you the others aren't far behind.

The parts aren't cheap, but the labor is more than the parts. So once you are replacing that back pipe, it's not a lot more labor to change the rest of the pipes.

If you were keeping the car, you'd want to do all the pipes, new water pump, and clean the tar off the intake valves and then the car would be good to go for another 5-7 years.

 

Update:

Part number for heater pipe: AJ814006

Rear Heater Pipe leaking (very minor), labor time 9 hours. The intake manifold needs to be removed alongside other pluming to reach heater pipe.

 

Yep, that's the worst pipe that I was talking about.

It's fused in two halves, and you can bet the leak is from the seam starting to split. When you keep driving it like that, it's just a matter of a short time before the whole seam splits and dumps out all of your coolant. When that happens, the pressure in the cooling system drops and the boiling point of the coolant drops immediately along with the pressure drop. Then the coolant turns to steam around the heads very quickly, and your heads warp and/or you drop a valve seat. In that case, it's an engine rebuild/replacement that costs more than the car is worth and you end up selling it for scrap (around $4-5K).

It's story that's been told many times on this forum. Just think how many more never posted about it.

 

Should I get the car towed? It's a 50 KM drive from my house to the Jaguar dealership.

My mechanic is charging just a hair less than what the dealer quoted me and my mechanic is not a JLR specialist, rather a VW Audi specialist. I see no point is saving a few hundreds.

Thanks for informing me about the severity of the issue...I rarely ever drive the car "rough" or even fast. It's never winter driven, all services done on time etc. The car did have several coolant related issues in the past, which was all taken care by the dealership. Any chance it could have been caused by a tech that worked on it in the past? In other words, are the pipes brittle enough to break if they're man handled?

Booking an appointment ASAP!

 

Also, when you say it's fused in two halves. I'm not entirely sure I understand that, are there two of these pipes connected together? If so, I'll get both changed.

 

One pipe, with two halves joined in a seam down the middle. It is this seam that splits.
This pic from a different thread shows most of it (still in place, 4th pic down): https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...5/#post2063492

 

I see. So just one part then. It appears to be a weak point....The tech informed me that there is a pin hole leak, I doubt they can determine that w/o taking the intake manifold off. Thanks for the visual Oz.

Thus far, I've driven the car to the dealership (50 km), back from it (50 km), to my mechanic (40-50 km) and back (40-50 km), so 200 KM + 100 KM'ish more before I noticed the bubling when I opened the hood while detailing the vehicle.

I want to at least be able to drive back to the dealership, but considering getting a flat bed instead if driving it (gently) another 50 KM more is discouraged.

 

It's just a role of the dice. I know someone that kept driving for a few days after the a similar coolant leak started. He didn't know about the failure mode of these plastic parts, so he just filled up the coolant every morning for 3 days so his wife could keep driving the car until he could get the small leak fixed. They sold the car for scrap on the 4th day.

You could easily make it to the dealer. Just have to ask yourself if you feel lucky.

p.s. No, I don't think any mechanic did anything to cause the leak. It's a weak point in many manufacturer's cooling systems these days. I just bought a Mercedes, and there's plenty of plastic pipes in that car too.

 

Thanks for that! I could not find it on the cooling/hvac parts diagram but figured it was the same part number as on the V8 (but did not see it there either. ) Obviously different but still prone to failure

 

I am pulling my charger and this pipe ( I am pretty sure) is leaking. Since all the plastic bits fatigue over time is there any thing that I need to replace in the back while I have the charger off that I can't get to ( or in front). I will get to them ASAP but I am getting help pulling the charger and want to get it back on before I lose my chance at borrowing a garage. If I can do the rest in my drive with the charge in place I can do teem on my own after.

 

Oh yes, there's about a dozen parts that need to be changed. Look on parts.com for your model to see the parts diagrams and order away!

I would also change the water pump and the coolant reservoir while you are at it.

And if you really want piece of mind, use the opportunity to switch over to Evans waterless coolant. Because it doesn't have water, it has a much higher boiling point and it doesn't build any pressure in the system. No pressure in the system means the plastic water pipes and the water pump last much longer and if they do fail, you are very unlikely to have a massive loss of coolant because there's no pressure to push it out, and therefore, you won't lose your engine.