I checked the engine coolant level this morning after having the car sit all night and it was about an 1/2-3/4 inch below the MIN line on the reservoir under the hood. The car is new to me and only driven it about 100 miles at best since getting it.

I'm guessing I should top it off to somewhere between MIN and MAX , but want to be sure I am using the correct fluid. The sticker on the reservoir is a little faded, but appears to say "Use only Long Life Engine Coolant REF : WSS-M97B44-D Coloured Orange" The fluid in the reservoir appears orange as well.

According to the prior owner records the coolant was flushed and refilled 10/2015 ( roughly 2500 miles ago from present ) by an authorized dealer, as well as ail filter, control arm bushings, lower control arm bushings etc... If now I just want to top off , what is best ? I've heard Prestone has the same Dex-cool as Jaguar sells. Is that fine ? Should I purchase the 50/50 premixed or but it straight and mix it myself ?

THANKS ALL !

 

Dex-cool is OK and use the 50/50 mix. bring up the level to the divider dam when you look into the expansion tank.

 

Jaguar does not have a proprietary type of coolant nor do they make it themselves. It's simply coolant complying with the quoted psec that's sold in relabelled jugs.

Go to any parts store and purchase coolant that complies with the spec. Brand name is irrelevant as is colour.

 

Per the service manual, "The coolant is of the Organic Acid Technology (OAT) type and must not be mixed with other types of coolant."

As you note, your vehicle states: "Use only Long Life Engine Coolant REF : WSS-M97B44-D Coloured Orange"

Prestone Dexcool meets this standard as Jagtoes notes and is an OAT type antifreeze.

Ford, who made your car states:
"- Do not mix different colors or types of coolant in your vehicle. Make sure the correct coolant is used. Mixing of engine coolants may harm your engine’s cooling system. The use of an improper coolant may harm engine and cooling system components and may void the warranty."

Now we know you're well out of warranty but the point is, there may be antifreezes that claim to meet the "wss-m97b44-d" standard but, they can still be chemically different, hence Ford has gone the extra step to denote "Orange Coloured"


You'll be fine with Prestone Dexcool.

 

Thanks all !! I wanted to be sure before mixing in the wrong stuff and having to do a full flush and fill. I'll pickup a bottle of the Prestone Dex-Cool 50/50 Prediluted Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant and top off the reservoir

 

Ford did not make his car or any other Jag.

 

^^^Exactly! I can't tell you how many people have said to me "isn't that just a Mustang?" I have stopped educating them it is so exhausting.

 

Too funny "isn't that just a Mustang?". I've never met anyone who confused my XK for a Mustang. Ford owned then, if that helps, including many Ford parts proudly stamped with FoMoCo.

British Leyland brought the brand to the brink of extinction. Ford brought it back. Ford dramatically improved the quality and reliability. Never understood why people don't want to give them credit where due.

Give this a read if you're interested. If not for Ford, the company may have ceased to exist. That said, the car was still designed by the great Ian Callum and still built in Castle Bromwich by the good people who built it predecessors, but under Ford's watchful eye and management.

http://www.autonews.com/article/2003...t-fixed-jaguar

 

That's funny. I get the opposite, what is it? Tell them it's an '07 XKR and they ask if it was from the Ford years to which I reply 'thankfully yes'.

I really wish there was more Ford in this body, especially the electronics. One odd thing is the Ford bits in this car are labelled FoMoCo, just like the OEM headlamps in my '68 Fairlane. So far, coils, satellite module by the battery and some sensors on the radiator support are all marked FoMoCo.

 

When my coolant was a bit low I just topped off the expansion tank with bottled water. The coolant is 50/50 split with water, the change in percentage over that much fluid would be irrelevant. It was maybe 8 ozs?

 

There is no Ford technology in my Jaguar.
The transmission is German
The engine in entirely Jaguar
The chassis is decidedly Jaguar
The coachmanship is unmistakably Jaguar

Ford on the other hand is using numerous Jaguar technologies they never did before.
Such as the aluminum chassis and sheetmetal in their truck which they have never done before.

Besides, Ford calling Jaguar quality garbage is hilarious. What was their pinnacle of quality, design and handling, the Lincoln Towncar? Contineltal? Ford explorer? or the joke of a car that Mustang was in the 90's and 2000's. I would take a Jaguar any day from that era over a silly towncar. And I am right, those cars are not on the road any more- the Jaguars are.

If they saved Jaguar, why did they sell it??
More importantly; Why is Jaguar doing better without Ford? It should not be possible.

I cant believe how that Ford guy was thrashing Jaguar, who do they think they are Lexus, Honda, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, GM, Subaru, Porsche, no they are way below that pack when it comes to quality.

You know what I tell folks when they ask me if Jaguar is Ford, I tell them it is, they took the technology from the Towncar and Expedition and applied to Jaguar.

 

While I only know what I can read about the 19 years Ford owned Jaguar, it seems to me that they started Jaguar down a path of success. Perhaps us current owners should be grateful that Ford provided investment and improvement that enabled the Jaguar and Land Rover brand to consolidate and then recognize that they couldn't continue down the path and sell to someone who could. Ford lost billions, all money that kept Jaguar afloat through that period, providing jobs to the locals. Perhaps this is jut my view from afar and you know something different, was Ford a capitalist ogre that raped and pillaged or were they what I perceive, a financial bridge to the current success?

Obviously Ratan Tata has pushed Jag to the next level by doubling down the investment when he was faced with global recession. An interesting article I read in the last Jaguar magazine outlined the incredible risk he took when faced with financial meltdown and decisions that had to be made during that crisis.

 

Can anyone name a keeper made by Ford USA in the 80s,90s,2000?

Seriously a car that you would invest money to bring up to showroom condition.

I cant think of one.

 

Having owned and driven a dozen or so Jaguars since 1974, I have formed the opinion that the best thing that ever happened to Jaguar was that it was acquired by Ford. Ford, in addition to pouring lots of money into the brand also infused modern quality control and systems which greatly improved the reliability of Jaguars. Tata has taken the brand much further, building on the base that Ford created during its ownership.

 

It was of mutual benefit- Ford is not in the charity business.

Ford suffered desperately from lack of creativity as all large organizations that have evolved to a certain efficiency do. They could never make a car like Jaguar or Range Rover and never have. And they need to compete with a highly creative global competition.

They are still desperate for that creativity- Truth is that Jaguar could never save Ford! Nothing can. They have created the bean-counting monster.

The proof is in the pudding; Ford has been unable to make a car that competes with the 3 series or any of the Lexus, or even Porsche SUV. Guess what the XE and Range Rover Discovery do.

 

We must see that Ford bought a bunch of failing companies only in a feeble attempt to save itself from the onslaught of competition from Germany and Japan.

Here is the point- despite all the companies they bought Saab, Volvo, too many others to name including Aston Martin. It has not been able to make a single competing car. Moreover, it never turned around a single company- all of them failed and had to be sold to Chinese, Middle East, India and so on.

The glaring reality is that the Ford Culture was toxic to these companies, and the culture of those companies could never make its way into Ford. Thats the biggest proof of who saved who.

Ford is a Walmart, it can bring incredible efficiency to a Whole Foods but its doomed to fail. No way can Whole Foods change Walmart culture.

 

The fact is that Jaguar would be gone if not for Ford and now Tata.

Ford is a different target market than Jag so not sure why so much brand comparison. Who cares about debating whether there are "show worthy rebuild" cars, they make vehicles that are affordable with mass appeal. That is not a bad thing, not everyone can afford Jaguar/LR, if they could I wouldn't want it!

I get it, people want to credit Ford for the Jaguar turnaround and that pisses you off because it is not accurate. What should really irritate you is the fact that it needed to be turned around in the first place.

 

It does not upset me in the least.
I am merely showing the other side of the logic. Its simplistic and foolhardy to believe that Ford bought several European brands for the sake of humanitarianism. And failed with all of them. It was self preservation.

It does not upset me that they needed to be turned around. Or more like bailed out. Its a small Island with limited means- she should not be in the car business at all, but such is her incredible automotive talent that it exceeds her checkbook. Do you realize that no other nation as small in GDP, labour pool has as many world competing Unique models.

 

You should care, its the core of the discussion.
If nothing Ford build in 3 decades that went by is worth saving, and everything that Lexus, BMW built in that same time frame is worth saving or still on the road, Ford has a problem.

If you acknowledge the problem, you see that Ford is equally in need of salvation.

 

Back on topic, the statement that the coolant must be orange was written at a time when the only suitable coolant(s) were indeed orange. The alternatives at that time were green just as tehy been since the last ice age.

Fast forward to today and there are coolants of almost every colour of the rainbow, not just orange and green. Some of these alternative coolants also meet the spec shown in the owner's manual and can be used.

It's what's on the label that counts, not brand name or colour.