The car is a 2006 S 4.2 with 82K miles. I'm the original and only driver.

Last October, I took the car in for an oil change at an independent. I
requested to look under the vehicle while on the rack. I noticed a small
leak from two metal lines that went from the tranny to the bottom of the
radiator. Not a wet leak, per se, just a little dust and dirt collecting on
the lines. Decided to moniter the situation.

Two weeks ago, took it to a Jag dealer for an oil change and requested
that they check this area. They informed me the transmission cooling
lines were leaking, and, at this point, the lines were wet and there was a
small amount of fluid that had collected in the pan that is fastened to
the bottom front part of the vehicle. The bad news? It's leaking; worse
news? About a $700 bill.

I had them save the line...it's actually two lines (both leaking) that are
sold as one unit. Unfortunately, to replace this unit, it's necessary to
drop the subframe which resulted in $462 for labor alone. The part was
$168 along with $45 for Jag's double secret snake oil tranny fluid.

The line is about 3 feet long. Most of it is metal except for a rubber
portion about 6 inches long just before it enters the cooler. The only
way I can describe the rubber portion is to say that it's "braided" rubber
that is crimped to the metal portion of the line. The lines were leaking
at the crimps. Not the best design, if you ask me. Of course the
radiator is stationary, and the engine moves in its mounts, so some
flexibility is necessary.

Now the best part: I purchased the Jaguar extended warranty...can you
see where this is going? Hoses are NOT covered, and, if one of these
lines developed a significant leak while you were driving, you would never
know it until the tranny started slipping, or, you might get some kind of
dash warning re: overheated tranny. Now, if the loss of fluid caused
damage to the tranny (and I'm willing to bet that it would) well, that's
not covered by the warranty either since "since a covered part (tranny)
was damaged by a non-covered part! Gotcha! I'll be giving you my
opinion of Jaguar's warranty in a future post; you won't like what you
hear.

Anyway guys, and ladies, keep an eye on those lines. Because of the
design, it's my opinion that it's not 'if' but 'when' the line will start leaking.
You certainly want to catch it before a significant fluid leak. I'm just
saying....

 

Cliff thank you for the heads up!

Bummer about the repair and bill...... I feel for ya'.

 

This sounds like the same leak that forum member JOsworth's 2005 3.0 S-Type is currently suffering from. He also has the extended warranty through Jaguar, and I believe he has stated that his particular Jaguar dealership's service manager (in Cleveland, Ohio) has agreed to cover his repair if and when he decides to do it. You may want to compare notes with him in order to strengthen your case for a warranty repair with your local Jaguar service department. For a long string of posts pertaining to this issue, search the S-Type section using "Exxon Valdez" as your search phrase. You'll find this thread very quickly if you do so....

 

I'll do the search.

 

Is this the correct picture?? Do the part numbers match what was replaced?? It looks like the ends of the hose are replaceable?? Not sure but look at the picture.




Thanks for the post. Good information!
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The area "3" in the photo is where the braided rubber hose attaches.
The part number the dealer used was C2Z11606 "pipe-oil cooler". I
suspect you're right; with the correct equipment, new rubber hoses
might be spliced in. It's probably easier for the dealer just to replace
the entire line which seems to be the general philosophy these days;
replace, don't fix.