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I changed the sway bar bushes today, driver's side was toast. It was also a PITA to get out. Afterwards I took the car for a drive. When I arrived home I noticed a distinct sweet coolant smell and I could see the trail of coolant that indicated how I backed up onto the driveway. Great, it's a big leak and I can't drive it like that.
I opened the bonnet and inspected the area I worked around of. I saw the leak. Traced it up to a plastic three way coupling for the hoses that come from the supercharger. It seems I can work around it? The top two hoses that connect to this connector are not leaking, it's the third one that runs into the radiator that is leaking. The leak seems to be at the connection of the lower hose but not the other three.
I'm not sure if I should mend it until I can afford a new hose with a new three way brass coupling and screw type hose clamps, or park the car until I can buy the hose. Or maybe I could get the hose fabricated?
Thoughts?
Last edited by giandanielxk8; 01-05-2019 at 06:20 PM.
I had a good look at the hose today and it’s not worth mending. The bottom half of the hose was rubbing on a pulley and has a deep cut on it.
Changing it seems like a PITA because one of its tributaries connects just right behind the bumper.
Any ideas on how to make this job easier? I don’t even know how this hose is called to check it on SNG’s parts catalogue. What’s the part number and where can I buy it at a good price?
Almost, but not quite. My car is an ‘04 XKR and the hose has more tributaries than that one. It seems to be part of the lower radiator hose since part of it connects to that hose.
I removed the fan shroud and most of the hose, but I am stuck at the section that connects to a smaller radiator right behind the bumper. Is there a way to get it out without removing the bonnet or the bumper?
I’ll take a better picture of the hose after I am done with lunch.
Last edited by giandanielxk8; 01-06-2019 at 12:26 PM.
Probably be easier to remove the bonnet to access the hose.
Yeah, that's the conclusion I finally came to. So, I've decided that I'm going to wait for the hose to arrive before I proceed to remove the bonnet to disconnect that hose. I already ordered a new one. In the meantime that car is staying put. I decided to also buy a new radiator drain plug because when I removed it this time a bit of it came undone.
Just as a quick reminder, there is a service position for the hood so it stays almost vertically, clearing quite a bit of room to the front area. I used it to replace the radiator, and access was never an issue. You have to use a small blade screwdriver and unlock the top or bottom part of each of the struts so the head pops off the ball attached to the hood. Once free, the hood can be maneuvered to a vertical position. This position allows you to put a bolt through a couple of holes in each of the hinges to secure everything in place.
^^ What he said. Putting the hood into the service position should give you enough room to do the job. It certainly did when I replaced the coolant outlet pipe assembly in November 2014 and again when I did the alternator refurbishment / serpentine belt replacement in July 2018 (both jobs performed on my wife's 2006 XK8)....
I tried the service position but had no luck. Even though I could get my hands and my pliers in, I could not get them on the clamp because the clamp’s wings are facing towards the radiator.
Problem solved, the Jag is back on the road. I ended up calling SNGBarrat about the hose I had bought and they said it would take two months because of the backorder. I asked Will about the genuine one and he said he could get it to me by Friday. Although pricier, I have more peace of mind with this hose than the Eurospare I had originally ordered. Now I want to do all the other hoses, including the valley hose, the octopus, and the upper radiator hose, but I will have to wait until summer. I bought the clamp tool suggested by NBCat and it arrived yesterday. I now feel confident I can tackle all those other hoses with minimal swearing.
The hose and the radiator drain plug arrived on Thursday. This morning I woke up early to finish the job. The clamp tool made the job 10x easier. I was able to get that uncomfortable clamp off in under 30 seconds and removed the hose, installed the new one, changed the plug and put the fans back on the car in about an hour. I spent another hour filling the coolant and burping the system. Then I went for a drive and noticed absolutely no coolant smell. I checked under the hood and I could not find any leaks. When the engine cools I am going to check to see if the coolant level dropped any, but I suspect it may only be a small decrease since I thoroughly burped the system.
When I read the title of this thread I thought someone was writing my life story. Anyway, it seems that you got your problem handled so Happy Motoring.
Yes, as an added bonus I also took care of the bleed hose and have nearly no leaks.... well not so fast.
Ever notice that if you replace a leaking hose, another one that was borderline starts failing? After a few days of driving I noticed a very faint almost imperceptible coolant smell and no drips on the ground. After the car cooled I checked the level and it was full. Not a drop lost.
So where did the smell come from? Some looking around and I found two hoses that attaches to the throttle body from the driver's side. One of them was weeping just a little bit. It uses a crimp style clamp. I don't know if it is the throttle body return hose or if it is called something else.
I think I will leave it be until I can buy and set aside some time for the upper radiator hose, octopus, and valley hoses. I will however pay close attention to it.
Yep, all of the original coolant hoses in every XK8 / XKR need routine monitoring at this point in time. Those owners who do not pay attention to their cooling system may eventually lose their engines....