Hi all,

awhile back, I posted a solution to a burning smell at full throttle that I thought was cured by replacing the supercharger bypass valve vacuum unit that had perished, These Jags are great at throwing you red herrings as it turned out to be pure coincidence that the smell stopped after replacing the vacuum unit.

In the last couple of weeks, the burning smell returned and then driving to work the other morning, the heater started blowing out cold air. I checked for the obvious such as low coolant, air lock and a blocked heater matrix but all were fine. I noticed that the hose from the electrical heater pump to heater matrix inlet was cold and after googling the problem, checked the fuse which was ok and decided that the pump had died. I found a great guide by RaceDiagnostics on JaguarForum.com on how to replace it. The link is below.

Heater pump repair.

Be warned, this is a pig of a job to do as you have very limited access and water hoses that don't want to come off. I won't repeat his guide, look it up.

When I finally got the pump out the brushes had worn right down to the tails and one tail had worn right off the brush. This explains the burning smell as the pump was on its last legs. Some valuable tips I found are:

Buy a set of hose picks, some of the hoses will not come off by twisting or pulling.

Buy a remote hose clip tool although I managed with mole grips.

You can access the mounting bracket bottom bolts from under the car, either side of the exhaust downpipe.

My replacement pump came second hand from fleabay for £30, a huge saving compared to new. As there were no pumps for the XKR/XK8 when I looked, I got one from a saloon model and the pump is slightly different. The pump motor casing has to be swapped with the original as the mounting bracket is different and the Electrical lead has to be extended a few inches. Apart from that the pumps are identical.

Now I have a fully working heater and no burning smell!