Hi all,

While I know there are lots of threads about coolant leaks and their culprits, I am seeking your advice when it comes to preliminary thoughts before taking the car in to my local independent. I've got an appointment for an inspection and coolant system check next Monday morning but until then I'm curious if you can tell what the problem is based on these pictures.

I checked the coolant and it was full about a month ago, and I haven't experienced any reported high temps or smelled any noticeable coolant since then. Today I noticed that the coolant level was well below minimum (engine was not fully hot yet). Decided to pop the engine cover off today and this is what I saw underneath. On the underside of the engine cover and towards the front of the engine there was some serious discoloration and dried fluid that I'm assuming is coolant. No noticeable wetness anywhere.

In the third picture towards the back of the engine there was a little bit of rust/corrosion in the circled areas. Anything big to worry about? I'm choosing to keep the engine cover on for the moment as I have a RWD car with the high hood vents that allow water to splash in during a downpour.

Lastly, before I even take it in should I order an Alumin(i)um cooling system kit from EuroAmp on ebay so that it's ready to go when I inevitably replace the welded plastic y-pipes with aluminum?

Thanks!

 

Yep, all those spots you have highlighted are dried coolant but I can't tell where it is coming from.
A pressure/leak test is a good start to track it down.

 

@OzXFR Dang yeah that's what I figured. Hopefully we'll get it figured out when I drop it off next week. I've heard lots of good things about Russell at Jag Mac here in Dallas, looking forward to working with them.

I still think I might order the aluminum cooling system kit now just to have on-hand for installing in the near future.

 

Aluminum coolant pipes can be installed without removing supercharger .Our mechanic has performed this task on two F-Types & an XJ .

 

@FlipJag , can you ask your mechanic how he was able to do that? Is it similar to how @GeorgeIII 's mechanic was able to accomplish this (his post found here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...2/#post2628955). thanks!

 

Yes change them as you have the real failure prone plastic versions with those big fat seams. Interesting because it was thought that by 2017 Jaguar had started using the smooth seam plastic cooling parts?
Your running on borrowed time here!
You did not post how many miles on the car? How is your SC snout? They do tend to clunk and it would be a good time to change it out. Also the water pump maybe? Has it been changed?

I think the Aluminum parts would be a great addition to your car.
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Hey thanks @clubairth1 I will definitely order the aluminum cooling kit and get that installed just as soon as we have identified the source of the leak.

I've only owned it for about 2 months but it currently has ~38,000 miles. Not sure about the water pump, I don't see anything about it in the service history I have.

Regarding the supercharging snout, is that the clunk I hear 1-2 seconds after shutting off the engine? That's the only noticeable clunk I can identify.

 

Yes that's it. It's not a big problem and usually only makes noise. We have see the spring eat into the shaft after many miles. My 2014 XJR has had it for at least 20K miles and I have the snout waiting to be installed.

Two ways to fix. Replace the factory spring loaded coupler with a plastic solid one. Or replace the entire snout with a factory or rebuilt one. For a long time the solid option was the way to go but as time went on we started seeing people claiming problems because the factory unit provide some shock absorbing to cushion the intense forces from driving the SC. Possible shorter bearing life in the SC because of the reduced shock absorbing of the solid coupler.

But others have run the solid coupler for years with no issues. So decide how you want to approach this. The solid coupler will be a MUCH cheaper solution. I got lucky and found a reasonably priced factory unit on EBay. If fact it was such a good price others posted that I may have purchased a counterfeit part. This turned into a long but interesting discussion on how to tell real from counterfeit factory Jaguar part. Several knowledgeable members posted what to look for and I ended up posting the printed label of the part and also found out that factory parts labels are IR marked? Not totally sure this is correct as I never did check that out.

Another consideration is where do you plan to go with the car?
I have delayed replacing the snout as I plan to send the blower off for porting and possibly adding the smaller top pulley. They now offer the smaller upper pulley with GripTec treatment. This helps with the problem of belt slip because as you reduce the diameter of the top pulley you are reducing the amount of belt driving the pulley. This is very bad because at the same time you increasing boost so the SC is now harder to turn BUT you put a smaller pulley on with less surface area!

If you go with a larger crank pulley you are doing just the opposite. Increasing the surface area of the larger lower pulley which allows more torque to be transmitted by the belt to the SC. Problem on the lower is there are physical limits to what will fit!
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@clubairth1 Thanks for the great information! I’ll respond to each point later as I’m on my phone but just dropped off the car at my independent.

We discussed the aluminum cooling kit, but my mechanic expressed that he’s not currently satisfied with the fit and finish he’s seen on them (EuroAmp out of houston specifically) and he strongly recommended using the new Jaguar OEM plastic part.

Has anyone else experienced this with some hesitancy to install the aftermarket aluminum cooling pipes? From what I’ve seen on here people are quite happy with the EuroAmp kit but my Jaguar guy clearly disagrees. (Russell at JagMac in dallas, TX)

 

I have the ones from Houston and they are perfect?
Maybe something changed?

These started off at around $220 for the set now they are around $60 a set. It appears that there are a number of cheap Chinese knock offs out there now.
But even with some reports there are zero failures and/or leaks from any of the Aluminum pipes so far.

They have mentioned they hope to bring out he rear water manifold in Aluminum too and I will buy that as soon as it's released!
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I had the EuroAMP aluminum pipes installed recently and the shop was pleased with the fit and finish. They are going to offer them as an alternative to the OEM plastic parts for future customers.

 

Picked the car up today, it ended up being the coolant reservoir overflow hose. Easy and inexpensive repair!

Regarding my previous post, it was largely a misunderstanding on my part. Sadly it is too late to edit my post. We had a further discussion today about the cooler overhaul kits from EuroAmp and will likely be putting on one of their aluminum kits in the near future. He also checked out the supercharger coupler and recommended we hold off until we do the coolant pipes so we can do everything at once, likely along with some upper and lower supercharger pulleys from VAP.

Nothing but good things to say about the shop (Jag Mac, Dallas TX)

 

I had those flanged pipes replaced under warranty in March of 2022 on a MY2017 built late 2016. I subsequently bought a set of EuroAmps alum pipes for the Fs parts shelf. The JLR tech also replaced the water pump and a few other coolant related bits. Hope yours is still doing well!

 

Hey sounds like you found a very good independent repair shop too! I like how he was thinking ahead and grouping repairs together so it's only one labor charge.
That's worth a lot!
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I just had Mike at Euro Toys here in the Chicago area install my EuroAmp aluminum pipe kit. He said all the parts fit well and I can attest from inspection that the finish is nice. Total labor was 8 hours including the pulling the supercharger. I looked at another engine he had with supercharger pulled in the shop and can't imagine that the lower pipe can be installed without pulling the supercharger. Be appraised that the EuroAmp kit does not come with the small aluminum pipe that goes from the water pump to the oil cooler (and when you order that piece separately it is missing a gasket) and more importantly, the kit also does not come with the small diameter hose that runs from the crossover pipe at the back of the engine (the crossover pipe is included in the EuroAmp kit) under the supercharger to the front (another good reason to pull the supercharger).

BTW, big shout out for Mike at EuroToys in South Elgin (Compton Hills) for those of you in the Chicago area. Very knowledgeable guy.