Milky brown coolant after leak
#21
03-15-2021, 07:23 PM
Veteran Member
I was originally thinking radiator/transmission problem, but since it was a new radiator it seemed unlikely. Guess again. You need to do multiple changes of the transmission fluid or better yet, have it towed to a garage that can do a transmission flush. Definitely do not try to drive it, or even start it unless there is no alternative. The torque converter holds a significant portion of the fluid and does not empty when you drain the transmission, so drain and fill does not work.
The best choice would be to remove the transmission and tear down and clean everything, but unless your "expert" mechanic volunteers to do it without charge, that is an expensive option.
The best choice would be to remove the transmission and tear down and clean everything, but unless your "expert" mechanic volunteers to do it without charge, that is an expensive option.
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St. Stephen (03-18-2021)
#22
03-16-2021, 05:23 AM
Senior Member
None of us are rich Jag collectors, so you are in good company! if we were, we wouldn't be on this forum looking for help and advice.
In fairness to your comment about mixing oil and water in one container, that's exactly what an engine is - lots of oil and water in close proximity throughout the car. You'd need to find an air-cooled car to avoid that completely.
In terms of what to do next, that's a marginal one on the benefit of doing several trans oil changes versus having the box professionally power-flushed. Three oil changes will run to several hundred in fluids plus a filter, whereas a powerflush by a trans specialist may only be a hundered or so more. You may be lucky if the leak between the oil and water chambers was slight because fluid will really only flow from the higher pressure side to the lower one - with a cold engine one would expect the trans fluid to be at higher pressure than the coolant, but it all depends on how hot the car got and how much pressure built up in the coolant. Plus, it sounds as though you have low trans fluid now, from your description.
However, one thing that you must do is find a new meechanic - anyone who advises you to drive a car with a coolant leak is a buffoon.
In fairness to your comment about mixing oil and water in one container, that's exactly what an engine is - lots of oil and water in close proximity throughout the car. You'd need to find an air-cooled car to avoid that completely.
In terms of what to do next, that's a marginal one on the benefit of doing several trans oil changes versus having the box professionally power-flushed. Three oil changes will run to several hundred in fluids plus a filter, whereas a powerflush by a trans specialist may only be a hundered or so more. You may be lucky if the leak between the oil and water chambers was slight because fluid will really only flow from the higher pressure side to the lower one - with a cold engine one would expect the trans fluid to be at higher pressure than the coolant, but it all depends on how hot the car got and how much pressure built up in the coolant. Plus, it sounds as though you have low trans fluid now, from your description.
However, one thing that you must do is find a new meechanic - anyone who advises you to drive a car with a coolant leak is a buffoon.
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#23
03-18-2021, 09:16 AM
As a Jag mechanic, I would never let a customer leave with a coolant leak. My mother in law took h Mercury to the dealer after I had tuned it to have it checked for a miss. I was on a different job at that time. The retuned the car and told the 85 yr old to watch her engine lights. It was an injector which replaced. To tell an old lady to watch her engine was plain unethical. They also quoted her $800 to cange an injector I replaced for $40. So, be careful of your mechanic on these Jags. They can overheat amd pop a gasket faster than anything.
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St. Stephen (03-18-2021)
#24
03-18-2021, 09:55 AM
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St. Stephen (03-18-2021)
#25
03-18-2021, 10:05 AM
Trans cooler leak
Well, that was my original thought also. So, your transmission has a pump. That’s how it works, and part of your flow runs through the cooler lines. I’d disconnect them, and you could flush the system using them, like the trans flush guys do. In the states pentosin atf1 is 15.00 a quart, so it’s not a cheap proposition. Oil floats on water so the water is in the bottom of the pan, being sucked up into the pump and converter. The most cost effective thing to do is drain the pan I guess, then cycle fluid though the cooler in line. I don’t believe jaguar converters have a drain point, some other cars do, but if there’s water in that converter that’s where the flushing 3x times helps. Wish there was a way you could filter the water out in a collector of sorts using the cooler lines and a separator .
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St. Stephen (03-18-2021)
#26
03-18-2021, 11:13 AM
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When something goes sideways, my electronics engineering prof said to always go back to the last thing that was changed in a system, network or machine. I thought it good advice and follow that rather than introduce new problems as I sort out the root source of the issue. Best of luck. You'll get it figured out.
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St. Stephen (03-18-2021)
#27
03-18-2021, 01:41 PM
Thank you everyone for all your support and advice, great group of people on here.
I took the radiator out and,as it stands my neighbour is a mechanic and thinks the same as Stephjac. The lines are now open and we can use those to flush the system with clean oil. Managed to find 20 litre barrel of Mobile/Esso LT7 1141 ATF and at a good bulk price.
I was thinking this morning that it would probably be a good idea to actually change the filter and drain any water sitting in the bottom of the pan too as it could prove to be difficult to shift if it's sitting undeneath all the oil.
I took the radiator out and,as it stands my neighbour is a mechanic and thinks the same as Stephjac. The lines are now open and we can use those to flush the system with clean oil. Managed to find 20 litre barrel of Mobile/Esso LT7 1141 ATF and at a good bulk price.
I was thinking this morning that it would probably be a good idea to actually change the filter and drain any water sitting in the bottom of the pan too as it could prove to be difficult to shift if it's sitting undeneath all the oil.
#28
03-18-2021, 01:56 PM
No sense in mixing fresh oil with the residue in the bottom of the pan or the possible consequences of a contaminated filter. You're nearly there with this phase so make sure to "do it once and do it right" on the fluid change and draw a line under this issue.
Graham
#29
03-19-2021, 09:30 AM
Veteran Member
Update
Turns out this is probably a faulty new radiator which has an internal crack or break resulting in a mixing of the transmission oil with the coolant.
I say new raditor because it was new but part damaged as it had a few slightly bent fins therefore sold as damaged new stock on E-bay. Upon installation we notcied a couple of mounting brackets were sheared or broken off. Me not knowing that transmission oil was flowing through a raditor as well as coolant said, ok, we can still use it by fabricating new mounting brackets which we did at the mechanic's shop.
Now, please be gentle here. One of the reasons I bought this car was because I knew nothing about cars so I bought a cheap non runner off e-bay. In that time I have repaired more things wrong with it that I care to mention BUT I must confess in my niavity I thought a radiator had one job and that was to cool down the engine coolant not do 2 jobs at once by cool down the engine coolant and the transmissin oil too. Had I known that I never would have risked putting a part damaged radiator into my car and run the risk of mixing oil and water. That much I do know.
Ok, so this is where I am now, tough lesson but I will overcome, somehow. I am neither rich like some members on this forum with multiple Jags or as some others, a history of many previous Jags. Don't tell me to get the transmission rebuilt by a pro in Scotland or elsewhere. Think Apollo 13. I have a ball of string and some tape. How do I get this car to drive again, bad analogy I know but not too far off.
I am poor working class so I am looking to do everything on this car as cheaply as possible and for the last 18 months have managed to do so very successfully. To that end the first job I did on this car was brain surgury to the ECU with a blown capacitor by taking it to a TV repair man to solder in new capaicitors.
About £50.00 for that job compared to £300.00 to £1000.00 elsewhere depending on who does it.
If your going to tell me I'm in the wrong type of car DO NOT REPLY to this message and move on, it's not helpful.
I need to flush this transmission or do a 3 time fill and refill. Whatever is the cheapest and best option please. I will deal with the coolant issue first after I take out this damaged radiator and put my old one back in.
Who the hell thought mixing oil and water in one container would be a good idea? No chance that can go wrong is there. pissed off.
Turns out this is probably a faulty new radiator which has an internal crack or break resulting in a mixing of the transmission oil with the coolant.
I say new raditor because it was new but part damaged as it had a few slightly bent fins therefore sold as damaged new stock on E-bay. Upon installation we notcied a couple of mounting brackets were sheared or broken off. Me not knowing that transmission oil was flowing through a raditor as well as coolant said, ok, we can still use it by fabricating new mounting brackets which we did at the mechanic's shop.
Now, please be gentle here. One of the reasons I bought this car was because I knew nothing about cars so I bought a cheap non runner off e-bay. In that time I have repaired more things wrong with it that I care to mention BUT I must confess in my niavity I thought a radiator had one job and that was to cool down the engine coolant not do 2 jobs at once by cool down the engine coolant and the transmissin oil too. Had I known that I never would have risked putting a part damaged radiator into my car and run the risk of mixing oil and water. That much I do know.
Ok, so this is where I am now, tough lesson but I will overcome, somehow. I am neither rich like some members on this forum with multiple Jags or as some others, a history of many previous Jags. Don't tell me to get the transmission rebuilt by a pro in Scotland or elsewhere. Think Apollo 13. I have a ball of string and some tape. How do I get this car to drive again, bad analogy I know but not too far off.
I am poor working class so I am looking to do everything on this car as cheaply as possible and for the last 18 months have managed to do so very successfully. To that end the first job I did on this car was brain surgury to the ECU with a blown capacitor by taking it to a TV repair man to solder in new capaicitors.
About £50.00 for that job compared to £300.00 to £1000.00 elsewhere depending on who does it.
If your going to tell me I'm in the wrong type of car DO NOT REPLY to this message and move on, it's not helpful.
I need to flush this transmission or do a 3 time fill and refill. Whatever is the cheapest and best option please. I will deal with the coolant issue first after I take out this damaged radiator and put my old one back in.
Who the hell thought mixing oil and water in one container would be a good idea? No chance that can go wrong is there. pissed off.
My problem was that the fittings that take the trans fluid from the hoses, on the face of the rad, are poorly braised onto the tank inside of the rad and can't bee seen IF there is an issue. I installed the coolant lines and most likely broke the 20yo fitting off (ended up being hairline cuz I SMASHED the rad open after to take revenge) when nipping it up.
Anyways. Trans FILLED with coolant.
I flush and flushed and flushed - Maxx Life Valvoline thru the system and today it is cherry red and no issues.
I never drove it though...
Sorry, I got ahead of myself after reading your discovery post and started typing....
I'll go back and finish the thread.
My fear for you is that that JUMP you felt did something bad.
Water is not compressible, which can cause problems.
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DavidYau (03-20-2021)
#30
03-19-2021, 12:06 PM
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Speaking of difficult times I took my 1996 xk8 to the mechanic to have him install a new radiator.
St. Stephen: you are making headway. Did the eBay seller address 'returns'? I may have missed that, but damaged, new stock could have been the Klaxon horn for you.
Keep at it. This is why we have the Forums.
#31
03-19-2021, 12:45 PM
Once again, thanks chaps for your help. The seller on E-bay actually gave me a refund because it wasn't described as having a couple broken brakets. No big deal as we found a work around to mount it at the garage but not the way it was described in the e-bay listing so they gave a me a refund no questions and thankfully didn't want the old one back or there could have been an arguement about it's condition of return.
#32
04-24-2021, 12:53 PM
Ok, follow up and great result. My neighbour who is a mechanic and always willing to help out managed to flush both the cooling system and the transmission. We used the 2 oil cooler pipes to flush with new oil until it ran clear and topped it up with the fill hole in the trans oil pan. I have also just changed the coolant expansion tank yesterday to clean out the original and just keep switching them out after each clean as the oil seams to collect there. After driving it about 50 miles yesterday their was no oil in the expansion tank today so result plus shifting flawlessly.
I will be doing a full oil dump, filter and pan gasket change probably next weekend just to be safe. All in all, a good result for what could have been much worse.
Thanks everybody for your imput and advice.
Kind Regards
S. Degenkolb
I will be doing a full oil dump, filter and pan gasket change probably next weekend just to be safe. All in all, a good result for what could have been much worse.
Thanks everybody for your imput and advice.
Kind Regards
S. Degenkolb
Last edited by St. Stephen; 04-24-2021 at 12:55 PM.
#33
04-24-2021, 01:16 PM
Veteran Member
Ok, follow up and great result. My neighbour who is a mechanic and always willing to help out managed to flush both the cooling system and the transmission. We used the 2 oil cooler pipes to flush with new oil until it ran clear and topped it up with the fill hole in the trans oil pan. I have also just changed the coolant expansion tank yesterday to clean out the original and just keep switching them out after each clean as the oil seams to collect there. After driving it about 50 miles yesterday their was no oil in the expansion tank today so result plus shifting flawlessly.
I will be doing a full oil dump, filter and pan gasket change probably next weekend just to be safe. All in all, a good result for what could have been much worse.
Thanks everybody for your imput and advice.
Kind Regards
S. Degenkolb
I will be doing a full oil dump, filter and pan gasket change probably next weekend just to be safe. All in all, a good result for what could have been much worse.
Thanks everybody for your imput and advice.
Kind Regards
S. Degenkolb
🥂
#34
04-24-2021, 02:48 PM
Veteran Member
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