Howdy all, long time lurker first time poster here. Been enjoying my 2018MY V6 340HP F-type for a bit over 3 months as my daily driver. Unfortunately, it's already been in and out of the shop about 3 times for a litany of minor issues (broken AC, plastic tubes/hoses cracking, weather stripping dry rotted, power steering is starting to fail, haven't got that fixed yet). It had 50k miles on it when I purchased it, and had a fantastically clean interior and exterior, almost brand new. I can only assume that the previous owner stopped driving it after some point and let it sit in his hot Texas garage for a year before deciding to sell it, as almost every issue I've encountered thus far has been due to plastic deterioration.

And just my luck, but yesterday, after a mildly spirited drive down to the parents' for Thanksgiving dinner, I noticed a strong smell of anti-freeze. Popped the hood to find myself sprayed with a decent bit of hot pink fluid! The overflow hose connecting the reservoir tank to the top Y pipe had broken / melted away, severing the connection and draining about half my reservoir onto their driveway. In a desperate pinch, my grandfather (an experienced home mechanic with many years of jury-rigging experience) agreed that simply taping the hose back on and refilling my coolant would be enough to get me safely home, where I could park her in my garage until the replacement part arrives. His advice seems to have worked, and I was able to make the 20 mile drive back home without any major coolant loss, until about the final half a mile when the tape sprung a leak and once again emptied my reservoir, albeit into my neighborhood this time.

At no point did the engine overheat; temperatures stayed right in the middle of the gauge (which I've read is perhaps not that reliable? It's an average and not a direct temperature read?) and I was able to get home and safely disconnect the overflow hose.

Once I get the part in hand (a surprisingly cheap $35!) I plan on replacing this myself, as it seems like a great introduction to DIY repair, something I have never once done save for changing a headlight or two. With that said, are there any major concerns with replacing this part myself? Is there anything else that could have potentially been damaged that would warrant a trip to my mechanic? Do I need to drain the entire coolant system before / after making this replacement? It does appear that there may have been some plastic remaining where the hose connects to the top Y-pipe, where the hose broke / rotted / melted off, so perhaps some tweezers may be needed to extract the dead tissue. But other than that, is it really as simple as unclipping the old one, sharing a few choice words with it, clipping the new one on, refilling my coolant, and letting it ride until the next inevitable plastic rot elsewhere?

The part in question



Made it home safely. For now.

Thanks to all who read this and wish me the best of luck.

 

Yep, it really is simply a case of unclipping the old hose and fitting the new one, see this recent thread as well: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...-front-285596/
And yes you may need to dig out broken bits of the old connectors with some pliers/tweezers.
No need to drain the coolant, at most extract some from the expansion tank with a syringe or turkey baster.

 

Duh, how silly of me, didn't even see that thread! Looks super simple. Appreciate the response!

 

You may also want to clean/ flush/wash the engine compartment where coolant may have pooled. It is corrosive and can mess with other parts like the injectors. Do some searches on this forum to see/read what other owners have experienced with a coolant leak.
Best wishes for a successful repair!

 

Thanks for the help folks. New part arrived in less than 24 hours (Godspeed to UPS in the holiday season), and after about an hour and a half of fiddling with the old hose before deciding to just snap it apart, we got the new one on. Easy as pie, forget about the ridiculous 2 week wait at my local JLR shop!

 

I just had this exact issue last week.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...-front-285596/

Why in the heck was I charged $98.32 for the same freaking part by JLR?

 

Great post and that's not a part I had thought was likely to go. Good to know and thanks for updating the thread.

 

The dealer tax strikes again Not to promote any specific site but I got mine on Partsgeek for $35 plus $10 shipping, and it arrived the next day