Wed. is my assigned day to fetch the li'l kids home from school. Enroute on US 380 @70 mph, maybe even a bit north of that, I notice a red WCA on the dash that I deduce to be the low coolant light. Temp checks good, no smoke in the mirror ...hmmmm.......already a coupla miles past the divert to home...trying to mentally construct how I could come to low coolant - could be stuck sensor - but would probably have to get low to stick and has been good since last fluid renewal. Got caught at the Devon traffic light and caught a whiff of glycol "Ruh roh! It's real, wonder how bad?" Getting into town, now and I decide I'll keep a sharp eye on the temp guage and proceed to IGA (on the way) shut down there for a look-see, and let her cool a bit while I hoof it over to school for my daughter (son out sick today) I figure I can buy some distilled at IGA and nurse it the 5 miles back home. Li'l bit is quite surprised to see me sans car, but we proceed afoot back to IGA, and pop the bootlid for her backpack "Ewwwwe....it feels oily, daddy" and she's correct, the whole rear end is slathered in glycol. I pop the bonnet for additional cooling, look around, poking and prodding a bit more, and I conclude the leak is toward the back of the engine and centered or just left of center, based on all the water trails. We beat-feet on into IGA and purchase 4 gal distilled (for the car) and 6 gal purified (for coffee) and return to top-up with distilled. As I'm pouring it in the top, I ask my daughter to look underneath and see if it is leaking out. "Yes, it is." Thinking she's just fooled by the puddle under it I probe further, "But it's not dripping, is it?" "Yeah, pretty much" and about that time I spy a little stream sprinting out from the left front tire, making a break for freedom! Crikey, we mayn't make it 5 mi home on this top up then...and buttoned it up after adding about 7 qts of distilled. Got the low coolant light at about 1/4 mi but limped on out to 380 and beyond the traffic light before pulling aside for another top-up. Now we have one gal and a bit left of distilled and I reckon we maybe got one minute, 90 sec max of run time before the re-emergence of the low-coolant light. Still, temp is good, though I'm aware it may also be highly inaccurate with NO coolant, so I run a bit longer to crest the hill, then shift to Neutral and silence the mill. We coast down beyond Cuba road and claim the shoulder prior to the bridge. Top up with the last gallon and bit of distilled..(Lil bit: "That's all the distilled, you think we'll make it this time?" "Yes dear, but we'll employ the purified if need be." and we finally wrestled it home. Found this on closer inspection after things were cool enough to touch:








and the other end hooks up here:





THink I'll order the replacement from Amazon - available on PRIME for about $3.50 more than Parts-Geek shipped via ground.




W0133-1618057 | Partsgeek.com


Also Related:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...new-one-80997/

 

Lucky lad.

I would do them ALL.

 

Thanks Grant,
I've thought about it. Replaced everything else last summer. But all these are pliable and essentially look/feel new, even though they aren't. I might...$175 vs. $55. And not due to get back into the coolant for a couple more years.....


Edit: Yes, after I thought about it, I didn't want to have to refill the coolant again until it's time to renew it. Managed to find all four hoses for <$162 at AutohausAZ


Shouldn't take too long to get here from the state next door..

 

I'm glad you've caught it without having any damage!

 

I ordered the following from AutohausAZ Wednesday night, 15 January, 2014:



(I had 4L of Zerex G-05 new, and uncut left over from last summer's coolant renewal activities, so only had to buy one jug. But figure funds to replace your coolant and a matching amount of distilled water for a 50/50 mix)


A couple of days later I rec'd an email from them stating that although one or more of my hoses weren't available in their main warehouse, they were having a second package drop-shipped from an outlying facility to prevent any delay in my receipt of parts. Nice communication. On Tuesday evening, 21 January, 2014 when I arrived home from work, 2 boxes were on the porch comprising my entire order. Nice communication, good service - though I believe MLK day cost me a day in delivery.


Normally I'd have done all the prep work over the weekend and been ready to install on Tue evening. However, I was just recovering from a bad cold and really lethargic despite the great weather Sat/Sun so I left it sit as-parked after I limped it home - did hook up the battery minder, though!


I have detailed my experience in the attached pdf in case anyone is interested or has a heater-hose failure and wants to see one way to do it, not necessarily the best nor quickest. I have included heater bypass instructions up front in case you don't have the luxury of parking it up and waiting for your parts - you can bypass the entire heater matrix and plumbing with a short length of standard heater hose and continue using the car, though without heat. Since I didn't do it, you'll have to work out the exact dimensions of the hose for yourself.


Seems good, I drove it to work Thurs and Friday, (70 mi round trip ea) and we took it to Celina and back today for a basketball tournament - good heat, good coolant temps whether ambient is 16F or 60F. I am a wee-bit nervous - the 4-ended hose I removed does seem a more robust one in better condition than the new one - but I've saved it so I can switch it back if ever there should be some problem....

 

I went through all this this last May. Same problem.
It was a Saturday afternoon, fairly light traffic, gave it stick coming out of a roundabout, blasted a mile, then slowed for 20secs, then caught up to a super bike, stupidly thought 'Why Not?', passed him, doing about 90mph for 2 miles, then a puff of steam in the mirror (I thought it was a spot of oil smoke), then On Came The Light.
I stopped, coolant everywhere, went to the boot-trunk to check for some water (even though I knew there wasn't any) and sticky coolant everywhere on the boot rear - it sucks up on the rear panel good and proper at 90mph. On the road, I couldn't work out the leak. I limped another 4-5km at about 70km/h, trusting the temp gauge which didn't budge (at that stage I hadn't learnt the oil & temp are kinda 'binary')
At home, I traced it to a 6 mm split on the underside of the heater hose as it comes off the rear of the cylinder head. I cut off an inch and joined it back on, as a temporary fix. i ordered a full set of hoses, genuine Jag, took 2 weeks to arrive from Poland, France, Italy..one was even made in UK!! All Genuine, of course. Ah, the joys of the common market..
The hoses cost NZD$1000. plus fitting. The joy of Jag ownership. pay the bill as soon as possible then put it out of mind..

No more leaks, though.