Hey guys,

So I had the first issue with my XJR.

I am driving in the morning and getting the faint smell of coolant for a couple days. Finally yesterday at a light car starts with the overwhelming smell of coolant, steam under the hood whole nine.

So I pull over pop the hood, and the little hose coming off the recovery tank has popped off, and the tank is speweing coolant all over the side of the motor.

EVERY modern Jaguar i have had, my S-Type, X-Type, and now the XJR has failed in the same exact way.... I managed to find a tank at Nalley Jaguar and used the forum discount, and they are overnighting it. So the damage is minimal, but still..... Jag really should have done something about this issue...

Sorry just venting...

Take care,

George

 

How many miles do you have on the car? I'm thinking it may be smart to change this out BEFORE getting stranded? How much did the replacement cost through Nalley?

 

78k - on my 04 XJR.

IF you ever smell coolant, inspect the tank carefully. the nipple on the top left (as you're facing the car), with the small hose attached blows off.

Nalley charged me 111.00 for the tank, but I'm a used car dealer so I don't know if I got a bit better discount than the forum one. I also gave them my fed-ex acct to send it up overnight, but I believe standard shipping is free.


Take care,

George

 

When I read about this sort of thing, which is use of poorly made, (or specified) parts, I do despair for Jaguar. It would be so easy to get the parts made properly to give a reasonably long life. I can remember my friends E-Type in the 70s having a similar problem with a steel tank. Why are lessons never learned !!

 

The issue as I percieve it is one of a part which is ordered via an OEM supplier - that fails in droves AFTER years of use. Basically every 03-06 Jaguar has one of these tanks, and pretty much all of them will break. The problem is they will break 3 or 4 years later.

Now did the OEM supplier KNOW this when they were sold? Obviously this is a known flaw, now... Since pretty much all of the cars do it or have the potential to do it, similar to the Bosch DCCV's. Jaguar didn't have a clue that the failure rate of these parts would be higher than other parts.

Other manufaturers have had similar issues. BMW in the 90's with the pixelated LCD displays made by VDO, which pretty much all fail. GM with Dex-cool destroying intake gaskets (although that may be more material incompatibilty).

What amazes me is that Jaguar at this point seems no different than any of the other luxury car manufacturers quality wise. They ALL have well known and common failures. Just go on a BMW or MB forum to name a few. The "Jaguar" reliability (or should I say lack of reliability) reputation seems to cause these cars to depreciate at a much greater rate than comprable luxury brands, really making these cars a great value. You can pick up an x350 for less than the cost of same year / miles bmw 3 series. Think about that for a second. And the 3 series will cost you every bit as much to maintain / repair. Trust me my fiancee has one I want her to get rid of.

Regardless, what would be criminal is after a lesson such as this is learned. AKA that the plastics used in these coolant recovery tanks fails after a certain number of years (or more likely thermal cycles), if Jaguar was to use the same supplier or the same material again.

Take care,

George

 

Because manufacturers get all their parts like that from pretty much 1 or 2 of the same suppliers. I know they design in points of failure(the parts supplier, not the manufacturer) that way they sell more parts. But they do want them to outlast the warranty period when they reimburse the manufacturer for warranty cost of the failed part. After that........
Also keep a pair of vise grips in the trunk to clamp off that hose if it breaks till you can get another reservoir.

 

The way mine failed a vice grip wouldn't do much for you. The nipple broke off allowing the hose, with clamp to come free of the tank, with the other piece of the nipple still inside. Even if you clamp the hose, wont you still spew coolant out of the now broken nipple that has nothing attached? Or is that just the case when the system is under pressure. I know you can leave the cap cracked and run the system "pressureless" I guess at that point if you cap the hose, and enough coolant spills out so you dont get anymore out of the nipple hole, is the car safe to drive?

Take care,

George

 

Brought my 07 XJ8L to the local Jag indie for an oil change today. He did a visual inspection with me and this was the 1st thing he checked. He said to keep a close eye on it, most give at some point. In addition to the cheap plastic nipple the hose rattles and shakes when the car is driven (just pinch it shake and you'll see what it's doing as you drive). For owners like me who have no mechanical know-how this is an easy part to monitor to avoid the dreaded coolant explosion. Just pop the hood and it's right there under where the leaper sits, a very small hose with two 90 degree bends leading from the coolant tank. I don't think I can post pictures with my membership otherwise I'd show you a quick pic.

 

So true!!!
I doubt that any manufacturer would deliberately install a bad part just to sell a new one when it fails. That would do more damage than good to their reputation. It is bad enough unknown things will unexpectedly fail anyway.

Things break, remember the O-rings on the space ship Challenger?
And those items are the best man can design and make.