My Wife’s 2010 XF 3.0 petrol has done about 80,000 miles and has been very reliable to date.

I have given it regular servicing from new, it’s had new rear disc’s (got a deal on Pads and disks), fronts probably next service although they are not horrid , it’s had one new rear speaker, a driver door lock needed replacing last year.

I also changed most of the Auto Box’s oil at 60,000 and that’s made the box a lot smoother.

And then about a week ago it started getting a coolant low warning, so I topped it up, didn't think much more as I hadn't topped it up for a year or so.

Then the next day the warning light was back again, OK better take a look I thought.

I noticed a small amount water sitting on the water pump, and water splashed around, but it was not obviously the water pump was leaking, so that evening I thought I’d try and find the problem. It looks like it’s coming from around the pump area, so I thought I’d remove the pipes as a starting point and check them.

What I did,
1) Removed the under tray, had a look up but it didn’t really help to see anything
2) I removed the Header Tank and checked it wasn’t that leaking
3) To gain better access, I removed the Inlet Air Pipes, the cold air feed and the Filter lid and Filter
4) Then I started removing all the Water hoses in the way, again checking them along the way, they were all in a good condition considering the age
5) I can now see a bit better, and can also now get too the Water pump, yes there is a little water on it, but not pouring out, but given the rest looks ok, I’m working on the assumption it is the pump leaking, so its ordered together with a new belt.
6) Next was to remove the Belt, this requires a tool to un-tension the belt. I wasn’t going to pay £50+ for the service tool so I used a Torque Wrench with a impact driver head and a 3/8” socket bit In that, see picture. This worked very well and was easy to use
7) Next I removed the water Pump, remove the wires and bits clamped to the bolts and remove the 3 fixings, 13mm spanner. The only complication is the right hand bolt has a black mounting plate on it for a value that sits below the pump, I ended up undoing the bolds holding this plate and the bottom and this allowed just enough wiggle room to spring it off (try just loosening them first as getting them back in is a blind job). The pump then came off easily. Stripped it down, swopped the pump in the body and we are ready to go back on. I used a little sealer on the new gaskets as well..

Re-assembly was in reverse order and much quicker than taking it apart because the pipe clips and hoses were easier to put back on, the hoses were difficult to get off!. Refilled with water/antifreeze and gave the front of the engine a clean with de-greaser and job done.

I took my time and it probably took 4 hours in all, I cleaned all the parts and under tray and put a new accessory belt on at the same time, was more of a fiddle then difficult.

What would I do different, clean the front of the engine before starting, while I took the under tray off, it was not required to do the job, but it meant I could clean it and rescue the spanners I dropped easily.







My Finger is on the bracket that needs loosing