All, I just got the car about two weeks ago. Yesterday I was checking the fluid levels and saw the tank was nearly empty. No overheating, no alerts from the car of being low on coolant. Started looking around the engine and found this spray only on the right air intake on the front side and little below. Not seeing any leaking on the ground or anywhere else in the engine that I can see. I have searched the forum and haven't found anything similar. Taking it to my Indy next week (first time using them). Wasn't sure if anyone else had this problem since I am not seeing the same symptoms so I can be armed with a little knowledge when I take it in. Appreciate any info.

 

There are MANY threads and posts on this topic here, as well as YouTube videos:


Forums:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...hat-do-240277/

 

Thanks Valerie, I have dug through tons of them on lots of forums and youtube. In my years of driving I have never seen coolant only on the front surface (opposite side of any coolant lines) of an air intake tube with no other signs of leakage in the engine. None of the forums or videos identified this and I was looking for any similar experiences and if it is a unique F Type issue. I have seen identifying the expansion tank, the rear engine leak, pin holes in lines, etc. but none of them showed a symptom like this that may identify the issue so I don't pay $1,000 next week for the mechanic to "hunt" for the problem.

 

The coolant staining on the air intake tube tells me that coolant has sprayed out from somewhere and landed at that spot.
Probably not directly, much more likely it has sprayed onto the underside of the hood/bonnet then dripped down onto the intake.
That's what happened to my car when the infamous coolant expansion tank over-flow hose split/cracked at the other end - one of the two thin black plastic hoses which go into the cross-over pipes - the coolant sprayed out under pressure through the hairline crack on the upper surface, hit the hood/bonnet and then bounced off all over the place. That crack was on the other side (LHS) of the engine bay from your stain but such a high pressure leak can easily spray and/or bounce over to the other side.
Check the under-side of your hood/bonnet for coolant stains, if there is a big/main stain somewhere that may help pin-point the leak.

 

OzXFR, thank you for the information, very useful. The lack of spray anywhere else is what's confusing me. I checked the fan blades, under the hood, crawled all around the engine with a flashlight and can't find a drop anywhere else. But the front right air intake has a pretty good dose but only on the front side. The coolant line runs under this but more towards the engine side and would be defying the laws of physics to get where I found the spray. But you are right high pressure lines, movement of the car and who knows what else could of put it there. I've lost 3/4 of the coolant from the reservoir and would expect to see more spattering. It could of been on the engine and burned off. The only other thing I can think of is the leak was before I purchased the car. They cleaned up part of it and never refilled the reservoir but there is a faint smell of coolant at times. I'll do more digging around the expansion tank again and check the lines I was driving it a bit vigorously maybe increased pressure in the lines.

Thanks again for the insight and ideas.

 

I just had a very similar leak that showed coolant at the same location. It was the plastic y pipe under the supercharger. I replaced both the y and crossover pipe with aluminum.

 

Sovande, thanks for the insight. I was worried it may be the Y pipe but helps with the preparation in taking it to my indy. I know pulling the supercharger is a sizeable repair. I suppose it gets that issue out of the way. Really appreciate the response.

 

I think it's one of those things you just need to bite the bullet on. My mechanic said he has done "dozens" of these repairs on JLR vehicles and was impressed enough with the quality of the (cheap) aluminum pipes I provided that he bought sets to have in stock at his shop. The job isn't a hard one, just takes a good deal of time - cost me about $2000 including new hoses to the overflow tank and some other odds and ends.

 

When I was doing my research on the F Type and this year of car I saw this was a potential problem and something you have to accept as part of ownership. It's a weekend car for me so not stopping my daily life because of it. I was hoping to get more than a couple weeks into ownership but she was going in for fluid change anyway. It's not a $40k engine rebuild on a Porsche which is what I was looking at before I bought this car. Glad for many reasons I went with the F Type. Thanks again for the info, armed with a little more knowledge when I take it in next week.

 

So an update to this issue. I topped off the coolant and cleaned up the spray I found. I took the car out for a few runs, some spirited drives and some long cruising runs. The level never changed. Then I took it to an Indy for service and asked for a pressure test on the coolant system and they found no leaks, So the only conclusion I can come to is a prior leak that was repaired and not entirely cleaned up and the coolant wasn't refilled. However, after the Indy that did the service I now have the dreaded battery low please start the car message. So, what happened there raises issues about the coolant test since they disregarded my questions about the OBD disconnect process and system hard restart. But doesn't seem to be a leak... yet!