well Bob i guess you could say you are making progress and so far no radiator needed for good news....when I replaced my dccv, I came in thru the passenger wheel well...it helped with getting the spring clamps off with pliers...at that time I did not have the special tool, but I think it would have worked...I took off the inner plastic shield, but it is tight in there as you know and I only lost a small amount of skin...by the way, that human hoist is slick...thanks for sharing...if we did not live on opposite sides of the country, we could go in halves

 

Yet my 35 year old Maserati Biturbo with very similar but apparently superior components and 70k+miles hasn't had any such problem. Quality matters.

 

on the oil leak, I just recently changed my oil and found one also....6 oil pan bolts loose...i know I checked them 6 months ago at that oil change...i am talking finger loose...I have a slight weep at an engine oil cooler line, but that can wait until october when it cools off again.....already replaced the rubber on the trans lines...they are still bone dry....again, good luck....

 

So I took some things apart and yes it has been weeping on that fitting. I can see a puddle blow in the frame. I cleaned everything off with a slight pressure wash of Simple green and then water followwed by copressed air.

Added the dye and filled it up. Then let it warm up for 15 minutes.

Tank dropped precipitously, much faster than when driving. It really does vary ...

Took a look and not a single drop on that fitting. Zip Zero Nada. Nothing anywhere except at the rear of the belly pan. I can't spot anything at all from above with my bore scope.

Wonderful. None of the tools I bought are helping to identify the problem yet.

I'm too GD angry at this car now to work on it.

I can't have it up on jacks stands for weeks in my driveway either - Home Owner's Association.

Oh and did I mention that while on our trip we did the global open to get the heat out, drove off and the headliner came loose!

So after a couple of weeks parked perhaps I can have a look with it up on jack stands and perhaps spot the REAL leak. The other must be a very slow weeping leak and then there's the coolant reservoir which has always leaked.

I think the oil leak is the defective NAPA oil filter again. At least I hope so. I had to tighten it once before and it looks like it's doing it again so I'll throw all of those out and go back to WIX. Supposedly WIX makes these for NAPA but they don't work for me ...

What a fragile thing.

This car hates me ... it's mutual.

 

Did you use the pressure tester this go-around? No mention of it. Running at idle puts virtually no stress on the cooling system. I'd guess that pressure only builds slightly, just a fraction of what you would see when the engine is working hard. If you haven't done so already, fully stress the system by manually pumping up the cooling system to the maximum pressure listed on the cap. This should help find leaks that don't appear at idle in driveway.

 

I can't even get it to 16 lbs but 13 is possible. Doesn't hold and falls to zero in about 3 minutes. No leak at the hose connection spot that had all the coolant puddled but 3/4 of gallon left the tank for somewhere anyway.
Clearly I haven't found the main leak yet.

There wasn't even any trace of dye on that spot yet it WAS wet before, had been leaking for a while and dribbled down over the intercooler pump and created a puddle in a part of the frame.It's bone dry now.

So I have that intermittent leak and another big one.

It did this on the road as well. I'd go 75 miles with very little loss and then go 10 and be down 1/2 to 3/4 or a gallon. VERY ODD.

Gremlins ...

 

Huge clue there. Perhaps you haven't found the main leak because it is internal, not external?

Before going down that route, make sure your tester is good. Plug the hose and pump up the tester by itself. Make sure it reaches 16 PSI and will hold it.

If the tester is good, make sure the connection to the car is leaktight. Reconnect the tester and spray some soapy water around the area. Look for bubbles.

Don't forget that when the engine is off, any system leaks above the coolant level may only leak air, not liquid. You may have to check with soapy water.

Next is the possibility of an internal leak. Several ways to check for this. At the cap neck, check for combustion byproducts using an exhaust sniffer, but that will require taking the car to a shop. Or check using that chemical test fluid as previously described.

If a combustion leak is pressurizing the cooling system, you can find this with your pressure tester. Connect it but do NOT pump it up. Start the engine and watch the needle. You must be VERY careful because the cap is normally the overpressure protection. You are now that protection, and must quickly turn off the engine and manually vent the tester if the pressure starts to exceed 16 PSI. If all is good internally, you might see the pressure slowly reach 3 or 4 PSI at idle once the engine warms up. If the pressure rapidly climbs, that is a combustion leak.

If any of the escaping coolant reaches the crankcase, the oil will turn into a frothy brown milkshake. Check the dipstick and the inside of the filler cap.

 

I've been doing this for about 40, years ... so all of that has already gone though my brain. I've had two cars will exhaust gas intrusion into the coolant that is a one way thing. One I drive every day with an open to atmosphere cooling system. Have for quite some time.

If it is that the car is DOA. No way I'd get involved putting another engine in this car. I might send it to the wreckers just for the under the SC hose leak. That's why I'm letting it sit for a while. I've gone the extra mile for this car several times already. No mas.

My wife looks at it philosophically, we've had a beautiful, comfortable car to drive for almost 10 years for about $3K a year. But that doesn't include all of my time, frustration and angst over repeated failures and other than the braking system it is not an easy car to work on.

It's failed twice now on pleasure trips. Interestingly both were to the same event several years apart and both involved the cooling system. So we spent this last one constantly worrying if was going to totally fail and should we cancel the trip and have it towed home or worse ... I'm glad we soldiered on and didn't lose the entire trip.

When we decided to do a southern road trip one spring we rented a Lincoln instead of driving this car.

I have zero confidence in it now. Hopefully this can be fixed reasonably but what's clear is it needs to leave my garage one way or the other because IT WILL bite me again. No matter how good care I take of it.

There's a very good reason these cars have disappeared from the road so fast. Horrid engineering and construction plus very expensive to work on.

I'd still like to be able to spot the leak WO tearing it all apart but neither the dye or the bore scope have been helpful from above with wheels still on the ground. So after a pause it goes up on jack stands for a look see from below. So far I have two leaks. One very intermittent and perhaps minor the other drops a gallon pretty quickly. The prognosis ain't good for this vehicle.

 

I feel for you Bob....I would be of the same frame of mind if the same had happened to me..bottom line. .you are the guy wrenching on it and when you've had enough, you've had enough....a break will do you good ...love hate relationship huh

 

i would still be inclined to complete the troubleshooting. Whether you choose to fix the fault is another story.

For all you know, the engine internals may be fine, despite what you may have convinced yourself. Watching the pressure tester while running the engine will tell you lots.

 

Not really, it doesn't develop pressure while running.

But I need to find the location of the leak and I'm not terribly interested in tearing it all apart to find it. So hopefully it will become obvious from underneath. If it was the under the supercharger hose I would have thought I'd have seen something with my bore scope probes because 3/4 gallon is a lot of coolant to lose in 15 minutes.

 

You may be in a Catch-22 situation if you've got more than one active leak.

Let's say the cooling system was intact except for a single leak from one of the combustion chambers. This high pressure leak should quickly overpressurize the cooling system and vent through the cap.

But if you've got an additional leak, that's where the cooling system will vent. If you run the engine with the tester connected, you won't see any pressure buildup. In that scenario, it's pressure in (from the combustion chamber leak) and then right back out through the other leak. You won't get the normal pressure rise due to heat from the engine, as that only works on an intact closed system.

Such behavior isn't proof of a leak from a combustion chamber, though. Even just a single ordinary leak (loose hose clamp, for example) will prevent the normal pressure rise you should see when a closed system is heated up.

FWIW, some coolant leaks can be frustratingly difficult to isolate. Several years ago, my son was borrowing my pickup when a heater hose fitting (under the hood) failed. Apparently everything quickly blew downwards, as he saw no steam nor smelled any coolant. The engine soon started running roughly and he pulled over to call me. When I got there about thirty minutes later, there was no evidence of coolant leakage. The hot coolant had evaporated very quickly. This was a 5/8" heater hose that failed, so it was probably the equivalent of spraying a garden hose under the hood. But it left virtually no trace.

That's why I recommend a pressure test while cold. Yours is obviously failing if it won't hold pressure. The only question is where. Not sure what to suggest if you've reached the point of frustration. You did check the gauge by itself, right?

 

The tester is fine. The problem is that there's a constant leak so the system builds no or very little pressure. I don't think there's an injection of combustion gasses causing this.

Next step is to get it up on jack stands and have a look. Doing that where I live isn't straight forward. It's a touchy issue with the HOA. I've gotten a pass thus far and the car has had extended stays on the jack stands the last 4 years running. I don't make a mess and I cover the car when I'm not working on it.

1. Coolant hose replacements, DCCV, coolant reservoir.
2. Oil cooler and trans cooler hoses.
3. Transmission fluid exchange.
4. Front suspension bushing boots, new rotors and pads.

So now it needs this and whatever the oil leak is about, probably just those defective NAPA filters and I need 4 new suspension links in the rear.

 

NAPA oil filter is loose again ... what a POS. This allows oil to leak and it blows all over the place. So back to WIX filters.

So ok ... after getting it up on jack stands in the front and the belly pan off I found a dead mouse (PHOTOS LATER!) and after starting the car I think I found the leak.
A considerable one is coming down the end of the bell housing on the drivers side so there you have it ... it's the old under the supercharger hose leak.

BTW none of this was observable from the top with a bore scope so I Guess everything is very buried. The GM dye kit was absolutely useless with a black light flashlight so don't waste your time on that.

 

Yep usual leak location, like I mentioned with post #4 Lots of instructions on this site for fixing it. Enjoy

 

Yeah that's just the problem ... there are too many threads and going through them all and finding out the errors, missing information etc. is quite the task. I remember the original Twottes(sp?) one and can find that but his car didn't end up well because he attempted to upgrade his supercharger at the same time.That's not a mistake I'll make. These cars are way too fragile to think about hot roding them. You just look at any plastic part and it breaks ...

I beleive he finally just unloaded the car broken? I'd rather just unload it now than find out part way through that this is going to cost $5K or something or that doing it in my driveway on jack stands is damn near impossible.

1. I remember reading that this is a good time to service the oil in the supercharger. Are there any other VERY good time to while you're at it issues?

2. Is there a definitive spot on here with an accurate list of parts?

3. Is there best thread on this service item?

I already see that the style of hose has changed. It appears to be a one piece molded thing now. Has that eliminated the issue?

Thanks.

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...r-29343/page2/

This is one that I remember. There are many more. Looks like you have chimed in on most. I remember that during one thread I think T Bird attached a complete parts list. Can't find it now.
Maybe send him a PM. There are other hoses that run near the top of the motor that are easier changed with SC removed. Best to do them at that time. The hose did change to a new style. New knock sensors might be a good idea. can only change them with SC off. EGR as wll

 

Well Bob, I would say good news on finding the leak, but you might fly out here to CA and slap me ....so I will say good luck ..no experience on that hose myself, so no help here except good thoughts

 

Yes I've been going through that one that got closed. That was a shame. I don't remember most of those posts looks like I should have heeded my own advice and unloaded this car last year ... Oh well.
I waited a week and it helped but I have no doubt I'll get very pissed again on this project. The troublesome thing is that the car is deteriorating so much just from age. For some reason the rubber and plastic on this car doesn't hold up nearly as well as my Italian cars. I would have thought the exact opposite would be case?

I'm toying (just barely) with idea of a solid pipe using copper nickle alloy tubing such as is used for brake lines. It's easy to form and given the routing it should expand an contract adequately along with the engine.