Well, it finally happened to me. I skated away with replacing a reservoir hose that ran under the intake last time a leak occured but unfortunately this is the real deal.

Woke up after the hurricane and was pleasantly surprised that there was no damage to the Jag. Did not notice any coolant on the ground. Started her up, on my way to work and noticed the low coolant warning, didnt think much of it. Parked the car, went into my office, after about 5 min my partner came in and exclaimed "dude you have a river of anti-freeze coming from your car". Alas, I did. Took it to the shop that specializes in foreign autos at about 12pm. By 5pm he could not tell me the exact problem other than it was coming from under the supercharger. They are in the middle of removing the supercharger now.

I have read and heard some horror stories about this situation when I was researching my previous leak. Any advice on what I should tell them to check, how much I should expect to pay an indy for this etc., what the most common cause of the leak is? I want to be prepared when they call me back. Thanks for any input in advance.

 

Sorry to hear this Joe.
I may have pondered this in one of the other threads, but is there any reason that the hose section under the supercharger couldn't be replaced with a pipe, copper maybe?

 

The removal and replacement of the supercharger is basically a 6 hour job X $70/hr= $420 labor. I also thought a metalic pipe replacing the hose would give more assurance of a permanent fix. If not, there are sturdy silicon hoses available. Have you considered porting/polishing/smaller pulley while the supercharger is off? Mine is coming off this autumn to replace the same leaking hose. The blower will be sent out for port/polish at that juncture. Please keep us posted.

 

Thanks man, I'm going to inquire with him whether there is some other kind of material hose we can use, if that is in fact the problem (I am assuming it is that hose/connection). He is an intuitive guy so maybe we can come up with something.

I would love to mess with the SC a bit but I dont have the time to be without a car, new business, alot going on, wife takes the RX to work every day.

Is there anything more sinister I should be worried about in regards to the leak under the SC besides the hose?

 

Nothing sinister comes to mind when dealing with the leaking hose. Read the numerous and generous with info. posts on this subject. Pay attention to new gaskets, purging air from coolant limes, notching the bolt hole at rear of the blower for ease of re-install, etc. Pass this info. to mechanic. You'll do just fine.

 

Did anyone ever come up with a better replacement than this POS two piece OEM hose? Like a once piece silicone version?

This is just plain dumb.

 

As I remember this there's a short piece of hose then a solid connector and a longer piece of hose.

If there's nothing new that's s been done on this you might have your mechanic try and just replace both sections of hose with silicone material and put new clamps on it.

I know I'm going to be really pissed when this happens to me.

This should have been a recall. I've got a 25 year old Italian car with twin liquid intercoolers and a ton of hoses but no issues as dumb as this one.

Keep us posted please.

Thanks.

 

Sorry to hear about your leak, Bull. I know it will be costly, but I hope your indy shop will treat you and your wallet well....

It's a shame you couldn't get your car to Rick near Charlotte. He's wanted to tackle that STR hose repair ever since folks here started reporting how much of a hassle and expense it is....

 

It's just a bunch of hoses. Can the hose, or all hoses, not just be snaked out with a string taped on the far end as a method to pull a new hose back through?

 

I thought the same plum. ttwotees removed his blower. I'm sure he'll know if a hose could be snaked under the blower.

 

I *think* that Brutal has mentioned it in the past. And if it's good enough for him ...

 

To quote BRUTAL from the old thread,

"It is the hose under the super charger, and the one tip I can give if you DIY is this. when you take off the blower, slot the very back mounting hole so you can start that bolt and slip the blower in with the bolt already in. Its a royal pain to do if not"

Here is a pic from the same thread,


Looks like a metal pipe would be tricky, I think it would require mechanical connections at each time otherwise it would be hardly worthwhile.

 

So my car is completely in pieces, didnt have much time today to go over things with him, but he did suggest while the blower was off to replace all gaskets, he said he counted at least 6-7, and the EGR valve which looked extremely corroded to me. Last thing I want is a gasket or EGR valve to fail and have someone pull the thing out again. The leak is in fact that dreaded hose, cracked near the connection.

We are waiting on some Jag dealers in the area to get us quotes on the parts......will keep you all updated.

 

At the front or rear?

 

No pulling the old out and pulling the new in. Supercharger removal is mandatory.

I would change ALL the gaskets. None of them are listed as reusable even the metal bellows gaskets to the inter-coolers. Just compare how much time and labor you will pay and it's not money smart to reuse the old gaskets.

I have all the part numbers and hoses for my 2005 STR so if you have some trouble or questions about anything post back with what you are looking for.

Again I want to recommend Dan at Nalley Jaguar. He went thru the entire parts list with me and I still got one wrong hose that he gladly swapped for the correct one. The 15% discount does not hurt either!!
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Thanks....Yes I agree 100% that all gaskets are to be replaced, makes absolutely no sense not to if it is already out. What about the EGR, any experience with that thing? Cost, life expectancy? It looks like a rusted hunk of junk, so i'm going to replace it anyway.

 

I briefly saw the hose as it was removed so I don't know. I can find out when I HOPEFULLY pick her up tomorrow.

 

There were pictures of it on another thread and IIRC the two piece deal is because there's a size change fitting at one end?????

If you want to keep the car for any amount of time I just can't see putting the exact same known failure solution back on the car. That's why I was asking about the silicone heater hose as a possible solution. Any heavy duty double reinforced hose would probably have to be custom formed to fit in there.

This stupid job sounds like a $1K repair.

A link to the post in one thread on this:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...e2/#post221929

Here's the hose

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...leaky-hose-jpg

here's the failure point on his

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...epair-leak-jpg

I'd like to know if it's just the bulge in the larger stubby piece of hose that's failing in all of these. If it is it might be worth replacing that portion on the replacement part as it's not formed with a bunch of turns in it.

Also, maybe a nylon mesh protection cover sleeve is a good idea on this hose?

Who in the h*ll want's to re-visit this?

 

In the other thread there was a quote from a Gates Hose article about EPDM erosion. A key point was the presence of air at an expansion point. If air pockets were to form, they would most likely be at the bigger stub at the thermostat end since there is a restricted flow into a larger cross sectional area. There is also some speculation in other places that Dexcool attacks EPDM.

As for a custom piece, how about soft copper tubing. The type that is sold in coils and can be bent using spring type tubing benders. The end fittings can be hose barbs or whatever fitting might go on the thermostat end to eliminate all rubber there because it is the hidden one. Someone who is really good might be able to go copper and fittings from end to end.

 

The only thing is that you still have to have rubber hose at each end and one end is larger.

I haven't seen if there's a common spot for failure. Is it always at that short end where it gets bigger?

Dexcool - ugh. I put it back in when I changed mine last year but I have none in my GM Suburban and that did have a failure due to corrosion but I hadn't heard about it attacking hoses. More urban legend or what?