Hi folks,

I'm planning to flush and replace the coolant on my 2005 X-Type this summer, and am looking for guidance on what coolant brands are compatible with our cars. What coolant are you using, and how long has it been since you replaced it? It would be great to understand which coolants people have been running for a long time without issues.

Thanks!

 

Matt,
I use the Jaguar brand coolant concentrate and mix it 50/50 with distilled water, because I'm **** ..But it has been proven that Prestone Dex-Cool will work just fine as it meets Jaguar/Ford's specs..Just be sure to flush out all the old coolant out before mixing in the Prestone..I'm told there could be a chemical conflict with the Jaguar coolant and the Prestone coolant..I don't know this for sure...

Anyway, I would use the pre-diluted mix if you intend on using the Prestone product, makes it simpler than mixing distilled water.

 

Thanks DPK. Do you just buy your coolant from the dealer, or have you found a source that has better pricing? I'd prefer to use the Jaguar coolant as well, but the cost makes me wince, compared to other coolant brands.

 

I only know of the dealer as a source of the Jaguar Coolant..here is a picture of it..

 

I used the Prestone Dex-Cool premix pictured above. No issues so far but only a few months experience. So maybe the jury is still out.

I put in the DexCool after an engine swap including a new radiator, new hoses, and new reservoir tank. I backflushed the heater core with water and then pushed DexCool mix in the core to displace the water. Like I said, so far so good.

 

Thanks a lot guys - I appreciate the insight, and will look into both options!

 

The important consideration is to use the right specification - brand is down to personal preference.

The cooling system should be filled or replenished with a mixture of 50 per cent water and 50 per cent anti-freeze. Jaguar recommendation for your MY is:

Specification: WSS M97B44 Extended Life Coolant (usually coloured orange)
Concentration: 50%
Frost Protection: -40°C (-40°F)
Change Interval: 5 years or 156,000 miles

Mixing different brands is not recommended. In addition, using distilled or de-ionised water is preferable to tap water.

The first thing I do when I get a new (to me) vehicle is to change Oil and Coolant. You never really know what's in there and this gives a baseline for future servicing.

Graham

 

Thanks Graham, that's super-helpful. Can you confirm whether the 2005 X-Type specification is: WSS M97B44-D or WSS M97B44-A?

It looks like the Prestone DexCool that DPK suggested clearly meets the M97B44-D spec. http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=672816_0_0_

There also seems to be a Ford (Motorcraft) coolant that meets the same spec. Actually, the Ford site is instructive. it explicitly says not to use the A spec coolant in D spec systems and vice versa: http://www.fordparts.com/Products/Ch...-Coolants.aspx. The green coolant is A spec. They do have an orange coolant that meets the D spec, so I'm guessing that's the one I'd need. in some ways, I'd feel safer going with the Ford coolant over the Prestone, since it's likely the exact same fluid that's offered in the Jaguar bottle at much higher cost.

 

Matt,

JTIS lists the A type in the Cooling System specs:



Several sources across the Internet suggesting the A type and others that it should be the D type!

Graham

 

Thanks Graham. I think it may also vary by model year. From what I've been able to discern, the A is green (and anecdotally it seems like pre-2003 models came with green coolant) and the D is orange (later models, including mine, came with orange coolant).

There's no sticker or label near my coolant reservoir that indicates what the coolant spec should be. If I don't end up going with the Jaguar coolant, I'm thinking to be safe, I'm going to drain the coolant, then refill and flush the system with just plain distilled water, then re-fill with the orange spec D Prestone or Ford coolant. My owner's manual just says "WSS M97B44", without specifying a letter.

In case it helps anyone, I do have a 1 liter bottle of the Jaguar spec (orange) coolant at home which I used for minor top-ups. It doesn't indicate the spec anywhere. It just says "Passes ASTM D3306" and "Contains: Monoethylene Glycol". I'll check the ingredients in the Prestone or Ford products to see if they're Monoethylene Glycol based.

 

I've been using Prestone long life fluid. It's silicate free, certified for aluminum engines and generally regarded as being an excellent replacement for most forms of antifreeze.

It's a pale green color. Not the bright green of normal Prestone.

 

I believe Monoethylene Glycol and Ethylene Glycol are one and the same. It's the main component of antifreeze.

 

Matt,

If you have orange (OAT - Organic Acid Technology) coolant in the vehicle, the later D is the one.

I have a 5 Litre Jaguar Antifreeze (Part No JLM209723) here and it has exactly the same markings as your top-up container.



Given the cost of the fuel to get to reach the 5 years or 156K miles coolant change interval, I don't worry about saving a few £'s on coolant and just buy it from my Jaguar Dealer.

Graham

 

Note that except for the the method used by AlfaVeloce of displacing the residual water, it is impossible to achieve a reasonable strength when filling with 50/50 premix. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to achieve 50/50 when starting with full strength antifreeze if the system has the usual amount of plain water in it from flushing.

 

If you are in doubt about the Antifreeze/Water mix..go to an auto-parts store and ask them to measure your coolant with a hydrometer, or buy one, they are pretty cheap.

This way you'll know if you need to strengthen the mix..

Video: How to Test Antifreeze | eHow

 

Ok guys, I'm ready to drain and replace the coolant on my 2005 X-Type 3.0. A couple of final questions I'm hoping you can help me with:

1. What's the coolant capacity on the X-Type 3.0? It's not listed in the owner's manual, and I'm trying to estimate how much coolant and distilled water I'll need. Is 4 gallons of coolant + 4 gallons of distilled water (to achieve a 50/50 mix enough)?

2. Is there only one drain plug? I seem to recall a reference to a second drain plug somewhere to get the coolant out of the engine block and heater core. Does anyone know?

Thanks in advance! As an aside, I just realized today that there's no radiator cap on the X-Type - this car surprises me everytime I work on it.

 

For future reference, digging through some old threads, it looks like some forum members have indicated that the car takes 2 gallons (8 quarts) of coolant mix in total. Draining it usually results in getting 6 or 7 quarts of old coolant out. The theory is that the rest is still stuck in the heater core or engine block. I think I have two options:

Option 1. Drain the coolant, refill with distilled water, run the engine for 5 minutes to circulate everything, then drain it again and re-fill with the proper coolant mix ratio

Option 2. Drain the coolant, refill with the proper coolant mix ratio

The downside of 1 is that it's harder to get the final ratio to exactly 50/50, since you'll end up with mostly water in the residual volume that's left behind after the flushing step. The upside of 2 is that you can maintain a 50/50 ratio throughout the process. The downside of 2 that you end up "wasting" a gallon of coolant during the flushing process, but it's probably worth it if you're switching coolant brands. With both approaches, you should end up with the same trace amount of coolant left in the system.

I'm going to go with Option 2. Since I'm switching the system to Dex-Cool, I'll plan to change the coolant one more time in a few weeks to flush more of the old coolant out. Mathematically, assuming that 1/8th of the original coolant is left in the system after the first flush (i.e., 1 quart out of the total 8 quart capacity), flushing and refilling a second time should bring that down to 1/64th (or 1.56% of the original coolant left in the system). If I flushed the system one more time, I could get that down to 0.2%.

3 gallons of Dex Cool are about as expensive as using one gallon of the factory coolant, but going forward, coolant changes should be less expensive.

 

Matt..I think that your approach in the last part of your plans you mentioned above is the best...you'll be fine in the end..

go for it!

 

Thanks for the encouraging words, DPK!

 

The cap on top of the Coolant Reservoir tank is actually the Pressure Cap for the system...It really don't matter where it is, as long as it relieves pressure during operation and allows venting inward while during cool down....Land Rovers has it the same way...perhaps it's a Euro car thing