I don't know when the last guy did this (uh, if ever, knowing what I know about "Mr. Genius" from what this poor cat needs done)... so it's likely he mixed 75 different types and colors of antifreeze. "Ooooo... look at this hole... I can pour all kinds of stuff down it."

Well, I'm flushing them all out! It's the car maintenance equivalent of (sing along with me!) "I'm gonna wash that !$%#@ previous owner right out of this car... I'm gonna wash that !$%#@ guy right out of this car..."

Heck, if I could have the guy's DNA removed, I'd do it. He didn't deserve this car. Perhaps a Yugo, not a Jag.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Anyway... how much antifreeze do I need to buy for this? Just a gallon? I'd mix 50-50 with distilled water.

Thanks, gents!

SirJag

 

Look for "coolant capacity" in the specifications table. For 50/50, you will need half.

BTW, why did you buy the car if it was so badly maintained? If you knew the condition and got a good price, well ...

 

Hi SirJag
As you know last week we had a 100,000 maintenance done on 2001 XJ8.
Here is a JPEG file of the coolant and steering fluid I purcased from Advance Auto Parts with a big discount (3 gallons of coolant - use a little over 2 gallons of it). This discount code A123 is only good through April 15th.



Jim Lombardi

 

The Jaguar coolant is sold in a 5L jug - my dealer charged me $26.00 a few weeks ago. To properly fill the system (10L) you mix the coolant with equal parts of distilled water.

The power steering system is filled with Mobil ATF 320 (1L bottle) - Its is a dexIII formula. About $17.00 online.

The capacities are listed in the manual -- if you do a water flush -- you will need to add the coolant full strength based on the capacity and then top up.


Have fun!

 

Hi
It was only $8.91 per gallon for Preston Dexcool at Advance Auto Parts with promotion code.

See the previous posting.

Also the ATF fluid for the Power Steering was only $6.07 per quart.
Our mechanic used the 50/50 coolant to do the flush. Apparently he felt the use of the full concentate was not necessary.

Alldata information about Coolant capacity is 10 liters (10.6 quarts). Our mechanic used a little more than 2 gallons of 50/50 to flush and refill the cooling system.

Power Steering Fluid capacity is 1 quart. Alldata shows type as Mobil ATF to Dexron 3 Specification.
Our mechanic used 2 quarts to flush and refill.

Jim Lombardi

 

Hi yeldogt
Your Jag dealer's price of $26 for 5 liter jug is a good price considering the usually high markups they put on parts.
That is about $20 per gallon for the concentate (5 liters equals about 1.33 gallons) or about $10 price compared to the 50/50 coolant.

Only 10% higher than the Advanced Auto Parts price for Preston Dexcool.
It is a good deal. I like to know what the other Jag Dealers are charging for it.
Also you have to buy the Distilled Water probably about $1 or more per gallon and it just adds some more time to getting the flush completed. The cost difference on the coolant is low ($10 or so)for the 4 gallons needed to do the flush.

The price of the 1 liter bottle of ATF fluid at $17 versus the $6 per quart price is almost 3 times the price of Advance Auto Parts price. For the flush is 2 quarts times the price difference of $11 per bottle. That is a just about $22 more to do the Power Steering fluid flush.

I am only trying to point out the price disparity between the various places to buy this stuff.

Jim Lombardi

 

We can get into endless discussions regarding the proper fluids to use -- and as cars age the necessity to provide another 5 or 10 years of life to a system becomes questionable.

I am blessed with many fine old cars and a few new ones and I can tell you endless stories of incompatible fluids - all installed by mechanics and owners who "knew better than the engineers" who built them.

I have no idea how long I am going to have my XJR -- but I know what fluids the factory put in the car and I know what I put in the car and I try to keep it the same. This is my personal way of doing it. I don't see the point in trying to save $10.00 on a fluid.

As to concentrate/ premixed. Lexus made a coolant formula change starting around 2002 - they changed the color of the fluid so you could tell the difference. They also went to a premixed formula. The premixed formula is great for a normal fluid change. The dealers don't flush they "refresh" - they just drain out what they can. The premixed also assures that the water used to dilute the concentrate is distilled and not tap as many mechanics end up using. The problem encountered when using the premixed coolant after a flush is that the premixed fluid becomes further diluted by the water stranded in the cooling system. Lexus had enough of a problem that they went with a higher cost product to try and solve it.

 

Hi yeldogt
I was not to trying to get into a debate. I am not a Jag dealer fan anymore. I will not bring our Jaguar to a Jaguar dealer unless I cannot find a repair shop who can actually fix the problem at a reasonable cost.

I did buy my Air Cleaner Filter ($45) at our local Jag dealer about 20 miles away.

Members can made up their own minds on what parts, service, etc and where they want to go to purchase them.

I am just giving my own opinions and preferences here along with any help I can be with tech instructions and illustrations from the Alldata and the JTIS CD.

I also have a 1990 Acura Legend and I only use Honda Coolant from the Honda Dealership (closer to us) or from the Acura Dealership (18 miles away but a better price). Also I only use Honda Power Steering fluid.
I have been maintaining it for the last 14 years. It has 146,000 miles on it. The only major maintainance item is the timing belt/water pump that I replace every 4 years (I buy these parts from an Acura dealer online in Arizona). We never had any kind of engine failure or any other breakdown with this Acura.

Jim Lombardi

 

I happen to have a nice relationship with my local Jaguar dealer and my Mercedes dealer as well. I have been going to both for years and for a lot of stuff like brakes parts and any parts that obviously must be bought form a dealer I go to them. The Mercedes dealer goes so far that they give me wholesale parts prices when I have service performed.

I don't buy a ton of stuff .....but they know me. Some places just don't work that way ...I understand and it forces one to find alternatives. It is also unusual for dealers to be competitive on things like spark plugs and common failure parts that import supply houses can import in volume. Every make is a bit different on this.

Buying a 10 year old 120k mile Jaguar that you may keep a year or two is a different animal than a 5 year old one with 25k that you plan on having for another 5 years. The interesting thing about Jaguars is that you still see extremely well maintained examples available for sale -- so if you bought one of these the easiest thing to do is a simple refresh with the correct fluid. I understand the OP may not be in that situation with his particular vehicle.

The european Mobil ATF that is used in the PS system is reported to have some additional additives and is used at the dealers. I use it for top ups and partial changes. I'm sure its overkill and if I did a total rebuild or flush I may look for something else. But, I'm neurotic ......plus I bottle lasts for years. One thing about MB - the factory fluid costs are very reasonable.

 

Jim -- The air filter is a perfect example of what one would think is an over priced part. The factory part is a large well made filter -- but $50.00!

The same general size and quality filter from MB is $25.00. The $45 dollar filter for my old MB 560 is constructed like it was going to be blasted into space.

Jaguar made a big fuss in one of the original sales literature about the special designed full flow long life Air filter -- but it looks standard to me. But who knows? I have only bought one.

With many makes ........ and a little knowledge you can order parts from places like Autohaus that are the exact part from the original supplier at 1/2 the price. That is how the forums really help out.

 

Yes -- I will look into using Autohaus for future purchases.
Thanks for the info.

Jim Lombardi

 

I did not buy the Jaguar filter from Autohaus - I bought it from my local dealer. Less $50.00 -- but I forget what I actually paid .......but it was overpriced. The full retail price was crazyfor what it was.

The availability of parts on the secondary market is limited for Jaguar -- so unless someone buys a part and reports it being identical -- its hard to know.

With the wide availability of parts for all the German makes from Autohaus - it is far easier to obtain the exact parts or at least understand what you are getting for a reduced price.

I also use Rockauto -- ordered cabin filters and plugs for a few of my company fleet vehicles.

 

At least the PO did change the antifreeze! On a similar note, how was it determined that several different antifreezes were used? Shouldn't someone who is going to service their car well know (from the manual) how much coolant to put in it?

 

Hi SirJag

I have this information in post #5, but there has been so many posts in this thread that you might not be able to find it.

Therefore I put it into the title of this post.

Alldata information about Coolant capacity is 10 liters (10.6 quarts). Our mechanic used a little more than 2 gallons of 50/50 to flush and refill the cooling system. I bought 3 gallons.

Jim Lombardi

 

thats how i got mine 2k engine and supercharger at less then 9k lol sometimes the good stuff is broken and thats okay