Hi All,
Another coolant expansion tank failure and my experience with it...

2004 XJ8 138,000 miles, now four Minnesota winters after spending the first four years of it's life in Hawaii as a lease, poor thing... I bought this car in 2008 with 44,000 miles on it.

Funny side story..
When I bought the car in November 2008 the windshield washer did not work. After some thought and knowing where the car came from I put the car in our heated shop at work for two days and the washer started working. Washer reservoir was full of water which does not flow well in Minnesota in the winter...

Expansion Tank
From day one the car smelled of a slight antifreeze odor under the hood after long drives. Kept an eye on the expansion tank, but never saw any weeping until this fall. Car has always smelled of antifreeze though. A closer look last fall and the seam of the expansion tank was wet. OK got to get that fixed. Kept a close eye on it and started to read more on the board this winter of the failures and that little bleeder hose issue. Had a day off work last week and decided to take a closer look. As soon as I touched the bleeder hose it broke. I mean I just touched it. It was ready to blow any time....
Without a new tank in my hand I put a nipple on the engine side on top of the thermostat housing to close that off. Filed the nipple on the expansion tank and roughed it up some. Closed that off with marine epoxy. In reading about the cooling system that small hose appears to be the bleeder to release trapped air when changing coolant.
No bleeder for now...

Ordered a new tank and other parts I have been needing, (fog light, blinker switch/stalk, (another story)) from Nalley Jaguar in Atlanta based on all your recommendations - Thanks for the heads up - Steve was great to work with and be sure to mention the board for your discount...

Tom