Forgive me if this has already been suggested, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere. There was some mention of difficult access to the lower hose connection. Instead of fighting to reach into such narrow confines, I disconnected the other end of the hose and removed it with the tank. Once fully removed, access was of course a piece of cake.

Hope this helps.

 

I hope I am reading this wrong?? Do NOT drive around with out that wire clip installed on top tank lower hose connection. When pressure builds it will blow the hose off.

We had a STR guy replace his top tank and did not get the wire clip seated properly. The hose popped off and he lost so much coolant that he burned his engine up before the car told him it was hot. Cost him over $5K for another engine.

Please check that lower connection as it's hard to get to and it's not clear when it's clipped in or not.

The problem with removing the other end of the hose on the STR is the hose is a octopus looking thing that is attached to multiple connections. You don't want to remove that unless you have to! I have replaced all my cooling hoses except the one under the super charger.
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Hi, thanks for reading and replying to my post on this tank replacement. I had no intention of driving without the clip in place. My older brother (a gear head through and through) always said things are there for a reason and if you have extra parts you messed up!
I only waited to the next day when my back wasn't sore from bending over and fiddling with that tank and when I could get a pair of longer nose pliers.
Fresh day and fresh energy and I got the clip on after three or four tries.

Thanks again.

 

Hi, thanks for the suggestion. I had thought of that as well as I was fiddling with putting the tank back. Only issue I ran into was the hose clamp was not accessible, nor could I rotate the clamp into a better position. Sooo... I just kept trying and finally got everything into its proper place.

Cheers.

 

I did this recently on my 2005 4.2. Had a devil of a time figuring out how that quick release worked. Once I did, it was a breeze. The wire retaining clip can be lifted out of the slot and (carefully) pulled away.

Putting in the new tank, the retaining clip should be put back on BEFORE inserting the new tank. It will slide up the fitting and snap in place.

 

Sometimes the problem is just that hose clamp on top of the tank. Even after replacing my tank, I had a little leak there on the top. I removed the original spring clip and substituted a regular plumbing hose clamp. Leak went away.

 

I love this site .............
The top small tube had broken right under the clamp on my 2003 S-type. Car has under 50k miles. I had to replace the tank. Local dealer was asking $169 found online for $126 shipped. Arrived in 2 days. Thanks to this site, replacing it was a 20 min. job.
Again, I thank everyone who contributed to this thread.

 

I had a coolant leak that started slow and became more problematic.

In order to analyze and fix the problem I did the following:

1) waited for the engine to cool for a couple of hours, washed the engine and refilled the reservoir tank, and then waited for the engine to dry
2) drove the s-type for 5miles and checked under the hood to see where the leak was coming from. I noticed coolant appearing in the area under the reservoir breather tube connection as many have mentioned in this post
3) went back to the house waited for the engine to cool for a couple of hours and pulled the breather tube off carefully to inspect the nipple. It felt solid but I believe there is a hair line crack at the base of the nipple.
4) I rotated the retainer clip 180 degrees to maximize the pressure I needed to press the hose against the left side of the nipple where I believe the crack was located and positioned the tube and collar as snug up to the reservoir as possible (see picture)
5) cleaned engine and refilled reservoir
6) confirmed no more leaking

I'm not sure how long this will last, but as of now, it has at least fixed my issue without purchasing a new tank. Also, I think having the retainer clip closer to the mouth of the hose makes a better seal given that the hose is more easily compressed at the end vs in the middle. Further this is a problem area of the reservoir. Having max compression in this area could prolong the life of the tank as it has in my case.

Hope it helps.

 

clsimmon

I had done the same as you did. It lasted less than 2 months & the nipple broke off under coolant pressure build up. Get ready to order a new reservoir soon.

 

The picture totalimortal 363 has of the reservoir top tank, be CAUTIOUS. The tank is plastic. After many miles and a lot of heat, the small male fitting the return hose fits on, breaks from the top reservoir body. It will break just from age and heat and some one "working in the area hitting it." The male plastic fitting is normal and has a normal widening flange at the end for the rubber tube to fit over. At first the male flange was only about 3/8" long. I tried Numerous HOSE CLAMPS and it continued to have a small leak. What I didn't realize was the 1/2" to 3/4" male flange had broke and was actually stuck farther in the rubber hose. For fear of driving to Palm Springs and doing major heat damage to my car, I had it fixed and learned about the male "nipple" or flange had broken off to a shorter length.
There are certain parts you learn to replace at certain intervals, I will now change my batteries every three years and this top reservoir about every seven years, depending on mileage or usage.
Because of the male flange or tube breaking, in the last year I've changed the top reservoir on both my 2005S and 2007 XJ (both cars have over 110,000 miles.) My 2008 XJ VPlas only has ~50,000 miles so I'm not worried about the heat affecting it yet. For my cars, this is the exact same part, even though different models and engines.

 

OK so I've gone thru 2-1 gallon things of coolant in 8 days...mm its obvious i got a leak.
How hard is it to pull out to check in the 3.0 s type?
Do I have to be wary of knocking into anything ?

 

I know how much you enjoy my replies to your posts, so here goes another.....
Hmm 8 days, seems just about the same time your mechanic broke your grill opening your stuck hood. It could be possible he hit the nipple on top the tank and cracked it. If it were truly cracked or broken there would be obvious signs of leakage on and around the top (nipple/hose).




It is not difficult to remove BUT I would NOT, as if it has not been replaced it has a very good chance of breaking. When indoubt replace, they are not that expensive and can be found on Amazon and Ebay. "Wary ofknocking" oh hell yeah, reread last 2 sentences!


Post #88 shows the picture of the nipple.


Enjoy

 

Just ordered a new OEM reservoir for my 2005 S-Type V6 and was wondering if I must empty the entire system before replacing.

I was hoping to just remove the reservoir and just loose the coolent withing the reservoir. I hate to get under the car and start removing the bottom belly pay to get to the radiator drain plug.

 

You don't want the coolant in the header tank leaking all over so many things but other than that I reckon you don't need to drain the system.

 

I didn't, it will get a bit messy, but a hose down fixes that, have a rag handy to plug the bottom hose, don't lose the spring clip.
Probably a good idea to cover the DCCV valve.

 

I am not concerned about a mess. I will have a large catch pan below. As far as antifreeze getting on the engine a little, I have purchased a can of foaming engine cleaner, which I will carefully use.

By the way, what is that screw looking valve on the top of the reservoir for? Is it to bleed off extra antifreeze if the system was accidentally over filled?

 

It's to bleed the air out of the system, you will probably need to top up and bleed two or three times.

 

How do I properly used this bleed valve to bleed out the air when the time comes?
My wife just pulled up in the car and I noticed it was leaking from the bleed screw, so I loosened it and only coolant came out. I wonder if I over filled the system.

By the way, the system had red fluid in and I put in accidentally put in about one to two cups of "Zerex G-05" phosphate free coolant, the gold container.
Did I screw up?? Or are the two compatible?

If I did, I guess I will completely flush the system.

 

Know of any videos that show the replacement process?

 

you have to drain the system to change the expansion tank..