The pump is leaking, so replacement time. PM'ing the drive belt and tensioner as well, since I'm there.

Two questions:

1. Have you replaced the pump without removing the throttle body and thermostat housing, as the manual calls for? I've believe I've seen it done, but would appreciate confirmation so I can plan.

2. When the pump is replaced, (assuming you're not removing the thermostat housing), did you only drain coolant from the radiator, or did you have to also drain from the block?

Thanks!

Best,

Panthera

 

Whilst the actual water pump unit is quite small you've go all the secondary air intake (SAI) piping in the way as the W/P will pretty much need to come up once removed I can't see it getting past the plastic thermo stat housing . .

Out of interest when did you last replace the thermostat housing could be a good opportunity now considering it has to come off anyway.

 

Thanks, Steve. Since I'm diving in, it'll be a new AC Delco Pro pump with a metal gasket and machined gasket faces; a new thermostat; new belt, idler and tensioner from Conti. Debating whether a new plastic coolant distributor is a good idea. 15 years and 80K mi makes be think it's worth it. Jag is $250. Aftermarket ranges from $70 to $120. Which would y'all choose?

BTW I'm amazed that the Jag pump uses a paper gasket.... $12 USB borescope showed me dried coolant most of the way around the pump gasket.

 

Found that odd as well with the paper gasket however seems to do the trick I usually smear light coating of the permatex aviation on it just to be sure .

Haha yes I wouldn't be changing anything with 80k miles on it and whilst everything is off swapping it out now definitely.

I'd stick to the jaguar stuff especially when it comes to this job don't want an aftermarket part failing 6-12mnthe down the track only to have to do the job again

 

This reservoir says it fits the 07 MY XKR. Not sure there is a difference from the XK base but a quick call to them would settle it. 1-866-374-8184

https://parts.jaguarpalmbeach.com/p/.../C2P25607.html

 

I just did my '07 XKR under the blower in about 30 minutes excluding dealing with the coolant. One hose to the T-stat housing out of the way, pop the accessory belt once the pulley is loose and remove the five mounting bolts after getting the pulley the rest of the way off. Fished it up around the blower belt and other hoses. Actually surprised myself. Standing the hood up vertical made it much easier as did raising the car a foot or so.

 

Yes, they're all the same. The current one has an extra fitting for the level sensor but it makes no difference in fitment.

 

take pics or vids during the process for the rest of us

g/l

 

Wasn't able to take pics, but here's the relevant description. Use the maintenance manual, with the changes I mentioned below.

This only applies to the 4.2 NA, not the SC or the 5.0. BUT if the Jag PN is AJ88912, you can buy this:
The ONLY type to buy is the one piece, metal gasket, metal impeller, machined gasket surfaces, Oring AC Delco Professional 252-800 pump. $60 on Amazon. Look at the pics in the URL. If you have another brand built the same way, use it.

The one I pulled was a leaking POS, two piece (for extra bolts and leaks), paper gasket (for a crappy fit), not oring (how the hell do you seal the fitting without an Oring? A bucket of permatex?). Damn, the one that was on there was crap. It didn't have Jag on it, but if Jag uses a two piece without an oring, shitcan it and get something that's correctly built when replacement time comes. BTW, the Jag unit is $350 or so.

The other important thing is that the manual says to remove the throttle body and the thermostat assembly. You don't have to do this. The necessary hoses fold out of the way to give you plenty of ratchet room.

The process:

The only unusual tool is a hose clip pliers. Since you unclip a few hoses, this speeds up the job a whole lot faster than trying to use regular pliers on these things.

1. Remove the engine cover and the air intake assembly that connects to the throttle body. Uncllip the hose to the valve cover and rotate it out of the way. Fold the intake back over the engine.
2. Open the coolant reservoir cap. Drain the coolant into a clean bucket -- you can reuse it unless it's time for a change, anyway. For me, a ten liter bucket was plenty. My guess was 8-9 liters drained out. It will come out fast if you remove the plug.
3. Unclip the two large hoses at the thermostat assembly. Unclip an in-the-way hose to the EGR area and fold it back. Remove the throttle body electrical connector and fold it out of the way. You'll see what blocks access to the pump and pulley.
4. This is a nice time to replace the two large hoses, and any others you want going to the throttle body and EGR area. With the hose clip tool, replacing the hoses is very easy.
5. Break loose the three bolts on the pulley. Don't remove them.
6. You need to un-tension the belt tensioner. Needs a good long 3/8" wrench to lever it over -- it's pretty strong. Slip the belt off the tensioner pulley and release it. (I chose to replace the belt and tensioner as a PM, but you don't have to.)
7. Back to the pump. At this point, you'll have plenty of room to do the job. Put a pan under the area to catch dried coolant, dirt and remaining coolant.
8. Remove the 3 bolts on the pulley. Set the bolts and pulley aside.
9. Two piece pumps have 7 bolts: 2 10mm and 5 8MM. If you put in a one-piece pump, the 2 10MM are no longer needed, as it uses only the 5 8mm bolts. If the bolt threads are covered with dried coolant and crap, use a metal brush to clean them. Torque values assume clean threads.
10. Remove the crappy two piece pump, examine what a crappy part it is, and shitcan it. Did I say it's a crappy design? Anyway....
11. COMPLETELY CLEAN all mating surfaces, including the place where the pump inserts into the engine with the oring. Likely old Permatex all over the place from a mechanic's effort to compensate for a crappy pump design with paper gaskets. Some use Permatex on the mating surfaces, but you don't need it if you're using the metal gasket with the red sealing points (I didn't and don't recommend it with this pump). I was advised by by mechanic to put on a very light coating of silicone lube on the red sealing surfaces, plus a very light coating on the oring. Just enough "to shine them up", he said. This allows them to smoothly compress across their mating surfaces when torqued, and lets the oring slip cleanly into place. If the metal gasket is a bit distorted, gently straighten it out on a tabletop. If it is severely distorted in shipping, get a replacement. Remember, the ONLY fluid sealing points on this installed pump are the oring and the red gasket mating points on the metal gasket.
12. make sure the oring fully seats in the fitting. This is one reason for the silicone on the fitting hole..
12. The five 8MM bolts are torqued to 8NM +90 deg. Torque in an X-pattern, of course. The pulley bolts are 10nm +45 deg. Some choose to put on blue threadlock, or if you want to bust some mechanics ***** later on, red threadlock.
13. Assemble everything back. Doublecheck your work. Refill the coolant system. I didn't need to bleed mine. Make sure your air intake hose is fully seated, all around their lower connection and the throttle body. Easy mistake to make is partial seating of intake.

It's about two hours including time for a refreshing beverage of your choice. On a scale of 5, where 1 is changing your oil and 5 is rebuilding your transmission, this is a 2.

Cheers

 

realized I should upload the pump pic for when the URL goes obsolete.

 

Back when I did this same repair to my 09, this pump was not able to keep my car cool at idle. The temperature would slowly creep up and eventually start to overheat. I posted about it on my engine swap thread. But basically I had to replace it with the OEM coolant pump. I did a side by side comparison and you could see how the impeller and vanes were smaller on the ac Delco pump. Has this been working for you with no issues?

 

Hi, vince. I've been monitoring my temperature since I put the pump in. Admittedly I don't let it idle very much, I'm usually out on the highway or something.

In motion, I noticed that my temperature typically remains below 100 C with a very short occasional peak above boiling. So in motion my experience is that cooling is just as effective as the old pump.

Note that I'm here in South Florida, where the temp is healthy, and Route 95 can easily be a parking lot in the hot sun. No difficulties in cooling in this environment, though I observe that mine is a 4.2 NA.

Anyway, as to idling, I'll test it over the next week and see what happens. You recall how long you tested it at idle to see a temperature change? And do you recall what it reached to make you concerned? And were you warming it up during a cold start, or parked after a hot run? Thanks!

 

I live in Tucson Az so we see 105+ during the summer. But basically after 4-5 minutes of idle the temperature would slowly climb to 225 +. I imagine i would keep going up if I would have let it. If I would hit the accelerator and bring my rpm’s to about 1800-2000 the temp would start to decrease. I drive it around like that for about a week before I swapped it out for the OEM pump. Around town driving was fine until I would come to a red light, and then the temp would start increasing again. The length of the light would determine how high it would get, but I remember it consistently getting to 220. And then I would start driving again and within a minute or so it would be back down to 204-208.
if it hasn’t been doing anything like that then I’m sure your fine.

 

Thanks. I'll check it out and let the forum know the results. Looks like we both have 4.2 base NA's

 

Ran it for 1/2 hour, on the road and idling. Note that ambient temp is 78F (25C) here in Ft Lauderdale, so not a stressful environment. Max coolant temp was 199 F (92C) with fan at 38%, AC on.

Couldn't see any changes traveling or idling, but the low ambient sort of makes the data non-comparative to Vince's.

I'll have to wait for a hot day to test it out on I 95.

 

fwiw, mine is also a 4.2 N/A. Highest my stat has ever read is 205F that I've noticed. I didn't idle it down though as I considered it still well within normal limits (reading from OBD II gauges). Climate is Minnesota and it does get sneaky hot here in the summer, though never 105:-) several days in the 90's this summer so not a perfect bellwether. I've tested my thermostat once before doing a flush, using an infrared thermometer on either side of the stat and mine was operating correctly. @Vincesandoval718 225F is too high, assuming a normal 50/50 mix. Coolant starts to boil @ 225F For everyone's edification, thermostat and coolant temps:
Starts to open 88° C (190° F)
Fully open 95° C (203° F)
Normal operating temps for coolant systems is between 195 and 210 F

 

@GGG would you please add this to the DIY section? Panthera999's walk through is clear and concise.

 

My 2008 xk idled at 212-2015 last summer, it was 110f outside, so pretty stressful. I changed the fluid and the temps then ran 209-211, driving they would drop to high 190's.
With more normal ambient temps (85-95) during the summer the idle temps would rise to 205. Several days ago, the outside temps were in the 50's and the idle temp was @ 195f.
wj

 

Pressure cap raises the boiling point of the coolant by around 25 C/45 F

 

Added to XK/XKR - 'How To' / DIY Repair & Maintenance 'sticky':

SECTION 5 ENGINE
Water Pump Replacement - 4.2 NA

Graham