Howdy all,

2000 4.0 78k
Car sat for 3 years without being driven (estate sale)

Hang on long story, bought car in Arkansas and drove it back to Albuquerque. No issues other than no heat. While driving around town commented to wife that the fan runs full blast all the time? Replaced the DCCM did the bleed and now have great heat. Handed the wheel over to the wife (its for her) within 3 days it overheated in the drive through. Go fetch the car with truck and trailer didn't want her driving it. Hummm no fan running, order the owners manual and dig into the wiring. Now it gets weird. The PO (previous owner) had cut into the wiring harness and installed an after market relay to the fan. When it came on it went full blast. He used undersized wiring to the fan and it over heated the connector and partially melted it on the harness side. So my spidey sense says the fan controller died and he was to cheap to replace it. Go to ebay order up another fan controller and wiring harness. Install the fan controller rip out all the b/s wiring he did and installed the new harness. Humph still no fan. Figured that it was time to make sure the cooling was good so did the water pump and thermostat. After looking at the wiring in the manual I could see the temp sensor feeds the pcm and the pcm feeds the control module and gauge. Sooo IF I disconnect the temp sensor it should go into fail safe and run full blast. Yup it did, so I replace the temp sensor and the fans kick on like they should! Woohoo I'm thinkin I'm done.

Three days later she calls from a parking lot and says its got whiffs of steam coming out again. Grrrr so I go get the car and this time hook up my scanner to it and monitor the temp in real time. The gauge starts to move at 125F then it hits center at 180F but the temp keeps on going up to around 210. The gauge never moves off of center. Its between 40 and 50 degrees here in Albuquerque I would not think this car should run that hot. The fans do change in speed when the car heats up. But it seems to be on the hairy edge of over heating. It gets up to a hi of 216 and a low of about 205. You can smell coolant when it gets up hi but I never seem to be low.

So if your not warn out....the real question. Can an overflow bottle that's not holding pressure cause it to run this warm? I see lots of people have problems with them and I'm not afraid to change it out. I guess I just want some confirmation before spending the money. Oh and I found a place that sells a two core rad for this, maybe I need a new one?

One final note...after I turn the car off no matter how hot it is the fans never stay running?

Any and all help appreciated.

Dan,

 

Ok so I went back and reread my own blog. I missed a very basic part. I didnt do a system pressure test. So i pulled out the tester and the system held 20psi for 5 min no problem. Then I tested the cap....humph the darn thing would NOT even hold 5 psi! figures. So I installed a new cap and went for a 40 mile drive. Never over heated never had any whiffs of coolant. Sat in a parting lot for 10 min still nothing. BUT the scanner said I was still getting to 212 at times and I could hear the fan come on hi. It would come right down and so would the fan. Is this a normal temp for this car? Im old school hot rodder, im used to if you put a 180F thermostat in with a good rad it should run at 180F. I know newer cars like to run hotter for emisions. Am I just expecting to much?

Dan,

 

Oh....and the fans still dont run after I turn the car off. Anyone know the trigger temp so the fans stay running after engine shut down?

dan,

 

Hi Dan. The 212 temp. is normal during normal operation and the temp. guage should read with the needle smack middle. Jaguar runs these motors hot.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Jaguar

The temperature gauge is known to be programmed to stay smack in the middle and then shoot into the red. This is "by design". Just so you know.

 

I think JTIS (free download) has the figures for normal temps and their ranges. Yes, they run hot - it's more efficient that way. Should be pressurised due to the heat and that lets it run hotter since it prevents boiling.

 

I bought a copy of the JTIS off of the net. Funny thing i had to build a computer from all my old parts to be compatible with it. Everything else in the house was to new! lol I will root around the program and see if I can find the trigger temp for the fans after shut down. Im a little worried about this summer. Even though were at 6000 feet it gets up over a 100 here. Im thinking about that two core rad. It maybe over kill but thats ok. Momma loves her air conditioning.

Im impressed with this cars performance. My mom had an Lincoln LS and it moved good. But in sport mod this car really kicks. Im used to the brutal performance from say my hemi car or sixpack. But this thing fools you, you nail it and look down....hummm im really going that fast? I have to keep setting the cruise, this car just loves to fly.

Dan,

 

Glad you now enjoy your 02 4.0 S-Type Dan. Though a small displacement V8, the 4.0 was blessed with Jaguar's excellent flowing cylinder heads and high compression (10.5:1). 2003-2008 S-Types recieved the updated 310 chp 4.2.