Me too! I was fully hoping to spend the near-future car budget addressing some trim items, not substantial mechanical repair.

No leaks yesterday, no leaks this morning. I'll keep my eye on the level over the next few days, and probably continue to be that weirdo that pops his hood for an inspection after every drive, but high hopes this matter is solved. It'd be great if a bargain XJR needed only $2 in silicone hose and a couple drops of Permatex to be reliable!

 

Engel Imports/Denooyer Jaguar/Terry's Jaguar parts offers great discounts for internet and phone customers. They are also on ebay as britishpartsplace. I used to run their ebay site. Good prices, and knowledgeable salespeople.

 

Thanks for the tips! I've been a little surprised that my normal go-to places for European parts have nothing useful for Jaguar, so I'm forced to assemble a list of new ones.

I think the R has stopped leaking - there is positively nothing obvious anywhere, and in fact Dexcool Creek in the valley is now drying up and burning off. However, coolant was down 4.5mm (yes, I measured with a digital caliper :lol in the reservoir last night versus the same time Monday night. My understanding is these cars tend to trap air in their cooling systems so it may still be burping a little? In any case, a few mm of lost coolant after 40 miles is a substantial improvement over losing an inch after less than 20. I'll keep checking up on it over the next few days and see if it stabilizes.

 

Nope, still leaking - but at least not from where it was leaking.

I can't see or feel the failure, but its a sloooow leak from somewhere under the throttle body. Water is collecting on top of the bell housing and then rolling off either side. It's so slight that it's virtually entirely burning off while running - the only way I found it was 15psi in a cold cooling system.

I thought at first it was that octopus hose, but that doesn't. Seem to be the case. Waterdragon, does this sound like the hoses under the s/c you referred to earlier?

I am going to get the inspection camera down there later on today, maybe it will reveal something.

 

I think I know what your problem is and have a solution, and MUCH easier to access/fix than the heater hoses.:

See photos:

These coolant tubes that press fit into the TB on the back sometimes are slightly loose, this is most likely your slow leak, given your description.

What I did was wrap the tube with a grippy plastic thing (used to open stubborn food jars) to protect it from the jaws of the carefully clamped a vise grip I used to grip it.
I found it rotated a little too easily so I backed it out about 1/4-3/8", then applied JB weld, then twisted and tapped it back in with a rubber mallet, then added a little more around the seam. No more leaks.

In the photos you can see where I added the JB weld. It is a little obscured because I later used some high temp paint to paint the TB silver, the line is where I had used painters tape over the tube to protect it from getting painted, but you can clearly see the JB weld poking out.

The TB is not too difficult to remove. If you think you have enough space to work you *might*? be able to do it in place without removing it.

 

These other photos were added just to show off my sexy now 82mm TB

 

I *think* the leak is further forwards than that. I can get by finger around the bottom of those two nipples and they are dry.

On the passenger side of the car one leg of that octopus cable meets up with a metal pipe that snakes down under the supercharger. I believe it's somewhere in there - in the vicinity of that metal pipe - that my leak is.

I'm going to go move the car into the shade and see what the camera can reveal. My hands are just too big to get down in there and feel around without risking breaking something plastic and expensive.

 

That is not good news. Maybe you could try wrapping that area with a paper towel to be sure because if it is there and small, it is an easy fix. If it is under the super charger, that is a whole day of *#%%@##!!



Looking into the crystal ball

I see....

I see....... a super charger removal in your near future...

 

Look through this DIY heater hose PDF - it has a bunch of photos showing the various heater hoses under the intake manifold:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5qj2pzjh6i...er%20hoses.pdf

Jim Lombardi

 

Thanks!

I have looked everywhere with the camera and found nothing under there, zero leaks. I can see a pool forming by the hose I mentioned, but I don't think it's that hose. I can get the camera pointed directly at it, and even with pressure dropping and the pool swirling, there is zero moisture from that hose.

After about 30 minutes of spying around and contorting in all sorts of unnatural ways, I heard air escaping from somewhere. I trace it back to a small hose attached to the front thermostat housing/crossover pipe. It's a little s-shaped rubber hose that was connected to a brass fitting sort of wedged under the driver's side intercooler. When I removed the hose, it was dry inside.

I am pretty darned sure what I've got is not factory! The plastic hose from the side of the coolant header tank runs down the intercooler terminates in a brass compression fitting that is attached to a brass hose barb. A rubber hose connects it to the crossover pipe. I think someone broke that plastic pipe and fixed it. Remarkably/happily the leak is at the hose barb rather than the compression fitting. I think whoever did this ran out of steam on the repair, because the hose is *clearly* the wrong side.

I just picked up some fittings better suited for this repair and am going to tackle it now. If this is the source of the current leak, it might explain why I can't find the source of the pooling at the back. I'm thinking the pressure tester forced all the coolant out of that area (it's at the top) and it ran to the back of the motor. Eventually it ran dry I was able to hear the air escaping.

One other detail about this current leak effort: I had the nose of the car up in the air this morning and could see traces of coolant going down both sides of the bell housing, and splatter from airflow all over the heat shielding around the cats & transmission. If the leak is indeed at the front, that might explain why I've got trailed down both sides of the bellhousing. The only thing that gives me pause is that there is a big snotty drip of Dexcool literally hanging off the driver's side O2 sensor. It seems in order for that to form, there'd need to be a leak right above it. It could be remnants from the other leaks, though, but I find it somewhere hard to believe the giant Dexcool stalagtite would survive for very long. I'll try and snap a picture of it, as it's quite impressive.

 

Maybe solved. It's been 22 minutes and it's now holding 15psi in the system. Joy.

Some pics:

First is my revised hose mender. It's compression fitting to NPT adapter, then an NPT to hose barb. Whoever installed this used a 1/8" NPT to 1/4" hose barb, while the opposite end is a solid 3/8" nipple. Rather than stretch a 1/4" hose over the 3/8" nipple, he (I'm guessing) used a 3/8" hose and tried to clamp it to the 1/4" hose barb. Um. Now it's 1/4" NPT to 3/8" hose barb and some 3/8" silicone hose with Permatex thread sealant for good measure. Ain't perfect, but it's functional. I think I will probably add the correct hose to my ever-growing shopping list, but at least I'm not leaking.



After I fixed that, I repressurized the system and had yet another leak, albeit even slower than the last. Water was pooling in the same place, so I kept looking at the front of the motor. If you look down into the recess there, you'll see a conventional hose clamp - clearly not factory. Also clearly not tight. Underside of that hose (which I could feel by reaching through the belt/pulley area) was damp. I loosened the clamp, rotated into the accessible position you see now, and tightened it back up. I *hate* these cheap parts store hose clamps, and can't believe anyone would use them in 2013. They are criminal! Once I get past the critical fixes I will go back and either replace these with either the proper spring clamps or at least quality ABA (etc.) ones that won't massacre the hoses.



One I got that situated, I pressurized the system again, and it's holding steady. I guess it took me about 20 minutes to type all this out, so we're now at 40 minutes holding pressure. I'm keeping it there for an hour, then calling it good.

FWIW, this is the main area where the water *was* pooling. This is on the passenger side of the bellhousing. The cloth you see is the EGR tube. I sucked the water out with a syringe... and no more water replaced it.



I suspect that someone replaced the thermostat at some point, and in the process broke that plastic hose & fixed it with a compression fitting, and ditched all the spring clamps and replaced them with crap Autozone hose clamps.

I know for a fact the throttle body was replaced recently with a rebuilt, and that would explain why that tee at the back of the motor was broken and the small hose connected to it was damaged.

I still can't begin to explain why the fitting on the driver's side intercooler backed out, but at this point it seems it will remain a mystery. Based on the quality of these other repairs, it could just be bad wrenching. What's killing me to know is which mechanic(s) did these - the local dealer, an indy in Walnut Creek, or the previous owner of the car. I'm know for certain all of them took tools to this car...

 

Excellent, happy to hear you've got it fixed. the proper hoses from the dealer are not too expensive, seems like the past owner was just way too lazy.

 

Just for the record, as the owner of New and Used Jaguar Parts for XJ6, XJS, XJ8, XK8, S-TYPE and X-TYPE, I personally smacked my warehouse guy for making the mistake of sending aftermarket hoses to Justin whn he paid for OEM hoses. I also refunded Justin $100 for the price difference and Justin was a satisfied customer. Sometimes it gets very busy in the warehouse and every now and then a mistake happens but as always we fix it immediately. Just wanted to let everyone know the conclusion of this error.

 

I will vouch for Jagbits. Having worked in Jaguar parts, I've done business with them and can say that they are a top-notch business.

I hope you smacked your warehouse guy good.

Do you still have the black XKR you had in Kalamazoo? That car was sweet!

 

No I just bought a 2013 XKR white coupe! I will post pictures soon. Thanks for the positive review Chad. Good luck with the XJR let me know if I can help in any way.

 

I can't wait to see the pics. I love the coupes!

I'll definitely be using Jagbits from time to time. I'm using Denooyer/Engel as well, because I used to work there, and Rick has me set up with a pretty good discount.

Having contacts is VERY important when you own a Jag...

 

I should have followed up on this and forgot - jagbits promptly took care of the ordering issue. All is well!

 

I'm ba-a-a-a-a-ck!

Car is still leaking, but sooooooooo slowly it's almost imperceptible. If I didn't have scientific measuring tools I'd probably not notice. During the big push a couple weeks ago I saw a damp spot, but I couldn't replicate the leak and figured water had been blown there by airflow. Since I'm still losing coolant - maybe an ounce every 60 miles - I pumped the system up to 20psi yesterday and let it sit for three hours. After I did that that spot reappeared, and I'm not surprised it needs attention. I think with the other leaks fixed this weak link in the chain is finally giving it up.

The wet spot is on a tiny flat of the transmission, driver's side. After several hours at 20psi it was dime-sized or smaller. It appears to be directly under where two hoses disappear into the firewall, presumably these are the heater core hoses? Anyone happen to have a picture of this area?

I'm gonna crawl under the car in the next couple days, but if someone knows what I'm talking about and can supply a part name or number, I'll order it up and have it in before I start (along with that plastic tee - my repaired one is still holding great, though!).

 

Okay, well, my initial theory is now seeming highly unlikely. After crawling all over the place and referencing pictures of the octopus hose the spot where I assumed coolant was passed to the heater core was *way* off. Looking at this picture:



from the right side, the first tee splits and sends two hoses across the transmission. The forward-most hose has a coupling (perhaps a restrictor or something?), and the rear is unbroken. On that rear hose, where the part number label is in the picture, is directly above my small wet spot. Seeing as there is no joint there anywhere near there, my leak is coming from somewhere else.

I felt all around the tee in that areas, the tee where the heat-shielded hose joins up. Bone dry, not a trace of dampness. At that restrictor there looks to be a little orange spot, but it could just be a paint mark for all I know. Moreover, the wet spot I made yesterday has not reappeared today after almost three hours under pressure from 10-20psi.

My next best guess is maybe something in or near the coolant header tank that is dripping on the body seam and then running backwards and dripping down. Happily, during my work I mis-connected the pressure tester fitting and it blew off, spraying water everywhere so I can't tell what is leaking and what's spray. Duh. I dried everything that I could reach up, but there are some metal tubes almost directly above the driver's side cat and they are sopping wet as a result of my mishap, so if there is new water showing up there I can't tell. Fark.

An hour ago I pumped the system up to 20 psi and it's at 19.5 now, with no sign of a leak. I've spent this time with some engine cleaner and shop towels cleaning up old leak evidence so if a new one shows up it'll be easier to spot. However, given that I can see *nothing* new at this point, I'm running low on possibilities. I may just ignore it for a few weeks and see what happens. Not sure what else to do...

... except take the car to someone with an exhaust gas sniffer. I certainly can't rule out the possibility that the leak is in the head gasket, and the water is going out the exhaust. I'd just prefer not to think that way. :|

... or maybe I will buy some dye and make some UV-reactive trails. That sounds like fun.

 

I don't know if it's possible for you, but you could always drain the system and use smoke instead. You'll find it then