I'm having a small leak at the radiator seam on the passenger side plastic tank and will need a replacement soon. In searching around the forum I have seen BEHR radiators mentioned but wanted to check out other alternatives. Napa seems to have a good deal and am leaning towards it. I have seen a few on ebay but am quite skeptical any thoughts? Links available below. Thanks for any feedback!

BEHR radiator
04 2004 Jaguar XJR Radiator - Cooling System - Behr - PartsGeek

NAPA
NAPA AUTO PARTS

Ebay variants
Proliance

AC Cooling

Spectra

OSC

 

Is your leak in the radiator or the overflow tank?
The overflow tank is far more likely and a known common issue. The tank is a fairly cheap and simple fix.

 

It seems to be leaking from the side of the radiator where it meets the plastic at the seam. See below, notice the white stuff from the fluid.

 

It's gotten worse! Here are a few pics of what's going on. You can see water shooting out.




I lost about half a gallon on the home last night. I'm tempted to go over to napa and buy the radiator tonight since it's my primary car. I noticed on the website it says "w/ manual transmission"
I haven't had a chance to check but does anyone know ifthe xjr have transmission lines to the radiator? Greatly appreciate any help.

 

So here's what happened this morning;
After literally waking up early from having a radiator nightmare (no joke), I decided to have a look to determine whether or not drive it to work. I used a needle nose vise grip on the leaking seem in hopes of minimizing the leak. with a now less of a leak I took off for work. Keeping a very close eye on the temp gauge I noticed the check engine light after 5 blocks. I decided to pull back and have the girlfriend drive me to work.

After looking at the radiator tonight I noticed the only radiator that will fit is the BEHR radiator from partsgeek. The reason being is that it's the only one with transmission cooler. Be aware the other radiators mentioned in my initial posting will not fit!
Hopefully the rad will get here by weekend. Riding in the girlies Focus is not the same.

 

I am glad you found out, yes, most radiators listed are Ford and do NOT fit our cars at all.
Some moron figured a Lincoln LS is the same as a Jag (NOT) and the listing keeps going and going, I have notified ebay, the sellers etc. but no-one cares they just keep listing the completely wrong part claiming it fits XJ8/XJR's

 

Thanks, I was almost tempted to find a separate transmission cooler. Got the new BEHR in today. So far it looks good. Gonna install in a bit.



shot of transmission cooler

 

Installed new radiator!

Removed front undertray and bottom radiator shroud. Flushed old stuff out using good ol water hose, engine running and heater full blast.





Disconnect hoses and removed expansion tank. Removed brackets holding radiator down. Disconnect fan and sensor cables. Slide fan shroud up and out. Made note not to forget the slide in cables back onto fan shroud.





Disconnected more hoses and transmission lines. Didn't notice much tranny fluid, probably from lifting the front end. Unscrew two bolts from rear of radiator, these hold together radiator, ac condenser and intercooler. Very little room here. Luckily I found a baby wrench, 2.5 inches long. It took a while to take the driver side one out, small turn at a time.





Wiggled and pushed radiator back to access front bolt. Using a very long extension removed front radiator bolt through bumper grille.



Slide radiator up and out. Lots of patience required here plenty of hoses and brackets just love to grab to this radiator. Pull rubber mounts from old radiator and slide unto new radiator. Slide new radiator in. Slide Ac condenser and intercooler into their respective slide brackets on radiator. Bolt radiator, ac condenser and intercooler back together. Re connect hoses and transmission lines.





Checked thermostat and housing. Still looking good and clean.



Install radiator brackets and expansion tank and everything else back.







All in all it took a couple of hours. Still have check engine light on, will wait to see if it clears, gotta buy a scanner.
On to the next one..... cleaning out heater core. Will keep you guys updated.

 

Leaks from the rad seem to be very uncommon on this Jag as far as I can tell from reading

forums.

Good pictures-thanks.

 

Great pics and writeup. You ought to go ahead and change out the expansion tank while you're at it, since that is a common issue (leaking expansion tank).

 

Check engine light went away last night. I figured the jag is now sensing constant temperatures. I did give the expansion tank a good inspecting seems to look sturdy, will keep a close eye on it.
I will give it another flush this weekend as well as backflush the heater core, and then coolant if all is well.

 

Dont forget to have tranny fluid level checked.

 

I know it's been a while, but could you clarify the pics that go with "Unscrew two bolts from rear of radiator"? I cannot make heads nor tails out of the pics that accompany this step. I don't see retaining bolts on the back of my radiator and I cannot tell which way is up or forward in your pics. Could you describe where these small bolts are? Also, one of the electrical connectors for my fan or sensor will not release. Can Is there a better pic of the smaller connector or an explanation as to how it comes apart? Thanks

 

Just from memory. Those two bolts connect a bracket to the radiator. The bracket holds the AC condenser lines.
The pictures you see (the one with the baby wrench) are ones I took lying on the floor facing up. The bolts might bolt to the side of the radiator.
Hope this helps.

As far as the connector goes, we'll, my guess is carefully squeeze and pull hard as heck.

 

BlackKat, thanks for the writeup/advice, I just changed out my radiator in my 2005 XJ8L today with your help. 220k miles and no end in sight!

BTW, I had the identical leak that you had, at the seams. Also found a tiny pinhole in the radiator very close to the seam and the upper radiator hose inlet.

 

Hello all experts,

Was going through all the write-up here for the radiator related issues. Can anyone here help with my problem.
Out-of-the-blue, got this problem of some thick paste-like substance coming out of the tank in the top, and the car heating up. Though the temp gauge was stable in the middle (except once it went to third quarter for few seconds and then returned back to half), it was smelling as if something was burning below the hood. Check the pics Can anyone identify the root cause and a solution to this.... or anything that help to bring it back to normal..

 

Yikes! My guess is car overheated causing the coolant to boil enough to overcome the Cap's pressure release.
Hopefully it's just a thermostat failure.
Did this happen at highway or standstill? Highway may rule out fan failure.
First check to make sure no engine damage. if not I would go ahead and replace thermostat and mechanical water pump since they're cheap. If you have a plastic thermostat housing it would most likely need replacing as well.

 

When I removed the car from parking, i noticed some oil leakage on the ground. On checking, from the bonnet, I did not find any oil leakage from the engine. I drove the car for approx 20kms, and when I parked my car at destination I could smell the burning odor and noticed this paste expelling from the coolant tank. All this while when driving there was no indication of COOLANT LOW on the dashboard. I let the car cool down a little so that I can open the cap to check if water was present in the radiator. It was empty. I filled it up immediately, as I had to drive back home (another 20 kms). I drove back slowly. Reaching back home, the paste was more out. and more burning smell. Even when the engine was off, the fan was still ON, as the car was heated up. It went OFF on its own as it cooled down after some time.

I took opinion of a local mech. He said that there is an [gear] oil filter connected to the radiator. That got messed and the oil of the gear and the water inside the radiator got mixed and forms this paste. The mech checked the engine oil, and found it to be OK, meaning the engine was unaffected with this (phew).

Bottom line, he said, the radiator is chocked, damaged and needs to be changed, and the entire line needs to be flushed and cleaned before putting in new coolant.

Kindly advice, if this can be right. Also give details as to what can be done, and what will be the approx cost for all.

Thanks in advance to all the experts.

 

There are transmission lines connected to the radiator. If that somehow got in the coolant you'll need to drain and refill your transmission.
It may be overdue for a drain and fill anyways.

 

Is there any way to drain and refill the transmission oil? I am told that it is completely sealed and cannot be done without opening the gearbox. confused.

So will this need to replace the radiator ? And what else, if at all, will most-likely be needed to be replaced.
Appreciate your assistance.