Hello, about a month ago my s type starting leaking a bit of coolant. Took it to my mechanic and he fixed it and a couple of other minor things. I have only driven it less than 100 miles or so since and then had it covered up for a month. I drove it a short distance today (10 miles or so) and it’s losing a bit of coolant still and there was a bit of steam as I pulled up on the drive. Had the AA out to look at it and they said there is still a leak. They also said that it looks like K seal has been used.

i was wondering if I seal can cause any damage in the long term? And is it possible to flush k seal out of the system?

many thanks in advance!

 

Hi 'BornEldery, Junior Member'.
STR with 60 thousand miles sounds like a nice machine.

Some basics you need to be aware of now, which you may already know:

Need to always check the coolant level before each drive. Don't ever add cold coolant to a hot engine. Keep your eye on the temp gauge at all times. Make sure it never gets to the hot position. If it does you need to pull over and stop the engine immediately. Maybe drive for the moment without the cap in the locked position so that its not building up pressure.

Crucial you find out where the leak is coming from. Usual suspect areas are; hoses, radiator or expansion bottle.
Hopefully its one of these areas and nothing more serious.

Not sure if we have K Seal in Australia. You don't mention who's put it in there.

 

Thanks for the info. The coolant light came on when I was about 30 seconds away home. I had a mechanic check the coolant leak it had previously, it was my understanding that it was to do with the seals. I wasn’t aware of k seal being used by my mechanic until I had someone take a look at it yesterday. Evidently it’s spring another leak, my main concern is if k seal was the wrong thing to use.

 

Plan to spend some time on this forum searching as all the STR problems have long been figured out.

First you have the dreaded under the SC hose and it's probably leaking if it's not been replaced yet. It is a big job and requires the SC to be removed which is an entirely different conversation. So again search on SC removal as there is now a large body of experience from all the people that have had to do these repairs.

This leads into maintenance in general. That car has 21 or 23 coolant hoses. You need to change ALL of them! I had a 2005 STR and it was a great and reliable car. BUT once you start to get coolant leaks understand it's time to change all that out. Otherwise here is what happens. You fix one coolant leak and then another one starts. So especially if you are paying to get the work done just do it all at once because of the cost.

Now the 4.2L engine is a great one and lucky for you Jaguar did not put a lot of hard failure prone plastic coolant parts in it as they did in later cars using the 5.0L and 3.0L engines. The 4.2L has beautiful cast Aluminum thermostat housing and other pieces where the later 5.0 and 3.0 all got crappy hard plastic parts in those critical area's. Really wish Jaguar had not gone backward on this as it adds greatly to running costs of the later power trains.

Of course I always ask but can you DIY any of this? It will save you mountains of money.
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Are you having any work done by a mechanic? Reading between the lines, it sounds like you're not doing any of the work yourself.

If so, I'd suggest taking the car to your regular mechanic and asking for a coolant system pressure test. Any shop will have the test equipment. It's a handheld pump with a built-in gauge, similar to what you'd use on a bicycle tire. It connects in place of the reservoir cap. You manually pump up the system to the rated pressure and then watch the gauge. After 15 minutes, the gauge should not have dropped more than a needle's width or so.

If you have a leak, such a test will also pinpoint the location. You can't find most leaks simply by running at idle, as not much pressure is created.

If you'd prefer to do this test yourself, some auto part stores have free loaner tools.

 

Hi Guys, thanks for your responses, much appreciated. I don’t think I’m brave enough to try and work on it myself! I’ll pass your comments onto my mechanic.

thanks again!

 

hi
dont know whether your car came with any history, but at this age the valley pipes are failing
signs are coolant leaking from the back of the engine down the gearbox
valley hose is in the V of the engine buried under the supercharger
cheers
Joe