Whats interesting, oil coolers are usually for police cars and performance cars.

I can see the xkr having a cooler and lines, but not a XK8. Some cars these can be blocked off, and some cant, since the lines forms a complete cycle of oil circulation.

 

My right engine side oil cooler hose is leaking too. Not from a rupture but losing out all around the hose in the area where it bends. Looks like a rupture is about to happen? How the hell do you undo it from the engine side? It looks impossible to get in there?

I have heard that to have the bad section repaired by a hose maker is better than an OEM part. Is that consensus?

 

Use a mechanic's mirror for a better look into the recess. It is just one bolt. The parts diagram can give you a pretty good sense of how it is setup, it has been posted many times over. This is an instance where it looks worse than it really is...

 

MY 2001 xKR from So. Cal, lines failed at 105k, froze the motor while idling for 5 minutes.
These lines should be 100k or 10 year change out REQUIRED. The crimp is overdone, the rubber hose not high heat and when it fails its all over quickly and we all know how much heat these engines put out.
changed the ones in my 2004 as precaution, $50 bucks for both with high heat hose and reused the metal tube is the BEST insurance for the car you can get.

 

Does anyone know what the actual oil pressure in these lines is? I figure if normal oil pressure in most engines is around 80psi, then they do not need to be crimp style lines. I'm thinking of replacing mine (just the rubber section) with stainless braided oil cooler hoses from Summit Racing (and also using new O-rings) like this guy did: DIY- Crimped Hose repair/replacement (Power steering, Oil Cooler, auto trans) - R3VLimited Forums

 

check the forum, i remember a nice post with pics of doing exactly what you are contemplating, i think he removed the front fascia so the pics are excellent and this solution is a better technical solution than the @#$#@ crimped rubber design. They are big lines...

 

The TSB for replacing these inner lines mentions nothing about removing any other parts to remove these lines. The engine side lines are disconnected/loose at both ends .. what's the secret on how to wrangle them out? It's no wonder "they can't keep Jag mechanics" .. the TSB only allows 0.8 hours for the whole operation. Any hints would be greatly appreciated. 2003 XK8

 

You have to remove the black plastic undertray. It's just a bunch of screws along the whole front of the car and inside the wheel well, nothing complicated, just a bit of time. Once removed, the whole path to these lines is free for the replacement. Don't forget the o-rings...

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

I had the intention to do the slightly sweating oil cooler lines on my XK8 4.2 last year. Plan was to have new hoses crimped on the present tubes.

i aborted my efforts because of the original fittings between the tubes. while i tried to loosen the M6 screws they gave me a "springy" response telling me next step means tearing off. WD40 treatment and heating where not able to help getting the bolts out. tearing off means presumably that i have to buy new lines from jaguar.

Wondering whether and how you guys got the bolts out in one piece.

Fritz

 

Did you actually look into actually doing this? I placed a few calls locally to a handful of hydraulics shops a few months back. Bottom line was that all the rubber/aluminum transitions would have to be re-done with some other fitting (provided by the hydraulics shop), involving cutting the old fitting, then soldering new parts. Turns out the expensive Jaguar parts are actually quite competitive. Original parts lasted 15 years, so good enough for me.

I also ran across hydraulic presses fitted with a dye for garden hose-type fittings on eBay. Sold for farm irrigation equipment. Not too expensive, but I has a hard time finding the matching source of aluminum fittings (the part that compresses the hose). Lacking the actual name for these fittings makes it hard to do a proper search.

Anyway, that is my experience.

 

I have a "weep" in one hose ......not bad after 14 years and 180,000+ km. I am going to replace all four just for peace of mind. With the front plastic under tray removed it does not look like a bad job...maybe an hour or so.
Both SNG Barratt US and UK have the parts. I'm about 1/2 way between so I looked at both and the UK is cheaper ( probably due to exchange rate on the pound vs $Cdn.

Does anybody know if they still offer a discount to forum members ? ...none was mentioned

 

In fact i was about to dismantle the original lines to put them to the local hydraulic shop and get new hoses crimped on the old tubes. Does not happen because of the seized up connecting bolts.
Maybe they would have told me a similar story like you, presumeably because of the seemingly weak aluminum tubes.

Unfortunately i bought a new genuine cooler recently, mine was leaking. Should have gotten rid of that crap instead and should have replaced it with after market cooler and dash fittings.

Fritz

 

I am so Thankful to you guys for these comments. I had no idea this could happen. Brought my Sunday afternoon drive to a halt and a tow truck. Oil is everywhere! As soon as I degrease the car I will look to see if it is a hose or oil cooler that exploded. Stay tuned!

 

Happened to me a week or so ago at around 80 mph on the M5 motorway here in the UK. I now have a seized engine and am waiting for "transplant" surgery !!

From talking to various people, it would seem that there's no real "rhyme or reason" to which cars had oil coolers and which didn't. Mine - a 1997 UK spec vehicle - obviously did. Some North American cars, when the temperatures can be much higher (Florida, Arizona etc) did not. But - I would suggest that anyone with a car that's now approaching or just past 20 years of age would be well advised to ereplace these hoses - they won't lasy forever.

 

Hi David,

i am just right back from a vacation in beautiful Devon and Dorset, 2.400 kilometers with my XK8 without any problems. i'm sorry to hear your sad story.

The picture is not high res, but it seems to me that the hose is widely undamaged, it just slipped off the crimp barrel respectively off the connecting tube. Makes it not better, but is interesting, because it does not indicate the upcomming malfunction like ripped hoses would do.

Did you notice any warning signs as it happend on the M5? As far as i know there must have been at least two or three visible signs (gauge, red light, readable warning in display) and a audible warning (gong or beep). Haven't there been a few sconds of time to shut down the engine in order to prevent major damage? I'm wondering whether a normal talented driver would have been able to react. But maybe it is an illusion.

I'll kee my fingers crossed for you,

Guido

 

Hi Guido - yes - all of those !!
80 mph in middle lane on fast-moving motorway. Red light, low oil pressure warning message, on/off gauge at zero. Got into neutral but kept engine running to maintain brakes and steering to get me around and across big trucks going quite fast.
By the time I got to the (what we call) hard shoulder - safety lane - probably no more than 30 seconds or so - engine had seized.
A normal talented driver might have reacted more quickly but, I'm an abnormal untalented driver, and my underwear has now just come back to me from the laundry !!

 

is there any reason why a shop that makes up hoses would have to make 4 separate hoses, instead of just two longer ones. Might keep the cost down ???

Z

 

Hi David,
can imagine the situation and my driving skills are a good deal worse than yours. I think i would have shutdown the engine immediately.
With the result of beeing hit from behind by monster truck and than been dozed under the truck in front of me. Could have badly affected not only my underwear.

@ zray
actually there are four hoses with tubes, each two connected via fittings

Guido

 

thanks., FWIW, I do know what the stock arrangement is. I've spent enough time on my back staring at my own oil cooler hoses .

But I don't see why a competent hydraulic hose shop could not eliminate the middle connection and just fabricate one longer hose on each side. Less fittings = less chances for a leak. The hoses they use have a much higher psi rating than the stock hoses, and would likely outlast the car.

Z

 

The nice thing about forums like this is that you quickly figure out and anticipate all the things that will be going wrong at some point. I had seen the posts about bursting or leaking oil cooler lines and a guy who works in my building and used to have an XK8 told me the story about his hose bursting one day while driving. Since this was one event that had not happened to me yet, I was planning to have the local mechanic take a look at the lines at next servicing. As happens so many times, once you start thinking about what can go wrong the thing suddenly happens. I noticed a slight oil leak a few days ago and this quickly turned into a larger leak. I was luckily able to get the car to the mechanic and it was the well-known leaking where the hose fits into the ferrule. The guy said if I had driven any more there was a good chance of causing some real problems. Surprisingly the cost for the repair was very fair. Total was $342 which included about $130 or so for the hose--also changed the oil and filter at the same time.

He only replaced one hose and said the others looked perfect. The problem hose apparently has a sharp bend that puts more stress on the fitting.

Doug