My car has only recently (maybe 3-4 months ago) started to blow bigger than normal puffs of white smoke on start ups. I have no Check Engine Light, no misfires, the car runs perfectly fine. Sitting at about 109K miles now.. had the spark plugs replaced about 20-25k miles ago. My coolant tank is slowly going down, have to top it off every 2-3 weeks. I don't notice any "chocolate milk" in the coolant tank, haven't drained the oil yet though..

Took it to an independent shop to see what they thought. After a hefty bill ($2K), they concluded: the injectors are fine, the spark plugs are fine and not running rich, they fixed small coolant leaks I had in the back of the engine (crossover pipe), they did an engine block test (tube with a blue liquid that goes in the coolant tank to check for head gasket leaks) and that came out "inconclusive" according to the shop owner (saying the liquid stayed a blue-green color). They did a couple other tests, but all came out normal. After all this, they tightened the engine head bolts and the car stopped the smoke for about a week or two, but now it's back. I'm at a lost as to what it could be or if its just normal 100K+ miles jag stuff... Even after the coolant leaks being fixed, the coolant tank is still slowly going down. My fear is a blown head gasket but I haven't had the car overheat unless it got super close and the temp gauge just never spiked up?

I've attached a small clip of a start up. Any thoughts and help is much appreciated!
Thanks,
Chris

 

This is funny because I just watched this on YouTube and he diagnoses an F-Type with white smoke also, and it looks like it's the fuel pumps, worth taking a look at that:

 

Hey Robc,
That does look a lot like the smoke I'm getting, but mine doesn't smell like fuel nor do I have any codes being thrown. Good to keep in mind tho, first I'm hearing about fuel pumps rather than just the injectors!

 

I understand the shop did the test, but "inconclusive" does not inspire confidence. You are losing coolant on a regular basis. Sure does seem like a head gasket problem. Tightening would crank it down, but if the gasket is blown, the problem would return as you said it did. This link is for other Jaguars, but perhaps some of the discussion may help.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...t-gone-103603/

 

Here's what happens you fix one coolant leak then because it has more pressure now it weakens the other pipes now you have multiple leaks ,in other words the rest of other plastic pipes needs replacing
watch the Video and they show the parts you need

 

Those were my thoughts exactly, I'm just currently in denial hahaha. Can't remember if the shop did any compression testing, will have to give them a call. They did say head gasket failures on F-types are pretty uncommon hence why they didn't think it was it.

 

Do you see bubbling in the coolant tank

 

Seems like a blown head gasket to me, but surely if it was the "blue liquid turning yellow" test would confirm it so I struggle to see how that test was "inconclusive".
Maybe they didn't do that test right?
OP - easy enough to buy one of those tester kits and DIY.

 

No theres no bubbling in the tank, Ive let the car get up to temp and on cold starts.. no bubbles.

 

Funny enough, I did do the same test before I took it to the shop. Just wanted to see what they thought. My guess is their "inconclusive" came from it being a green color like this rather than bight yellow? This is what I got when I did the test.
I just know the car didn't overheat, which is why I'm iffy on it being the head gasket but if thats the case..

 

That sure looks yellow enough to me to be evidence of CO2 in the coolant!
Maybe not a lot but some, so a small gasket breach not a big one, which would also explain the slow coolant loss and lack of overheating.
But still a big expensive job to replace the head gaskets, with the probable good news that that is all that needs doing and neither the head(s) or the block are warped so the engine can be saved.

 

That makes sense. Welp, its gonna be an expensive one

 

My AJ133 smoked at startup, changing the PCV diaphragms fixed it. Easy and cheap to try. Available on Amazon

 

Could be it.
And the good news is the V6 has only one PCV diaphragm.

 

Where is the PCV diaphragm located in the engine?

 

This is what it looks like:

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/jag...3-kit-c2d60163

Passenger side towards the back. I changed the ones on my 4.2 XF and it was a pain even without the supercharger in the way. Yes, you will break the plastic caps trying to remove them.

 

Did your car show anything else besides smoke too?

 

It's OK for a little bit of time to be in denial... we've all been there. However, bad news never gets any better. You could do the PCV change, see what happens. Otherwise, buckle up and git 'er done before you really have to pay out the big money. As for the shop's thinking about the head gasket.. OK, but the car's still not right. Perhaps go back to them with your paid invoice and work something out.

 

Agreed. Just spoke to the shop. Owner said he'd comp me for part of the head gasket job, he just wanted to rule everything else out before doing a big and expensive job.

 

Not on that engine, it had been rebuilt.