2002 X-type 5sp 3.0 80,000 miles one owner

BACKGROUND:
Just finished a 1200 mile drive from California to Colorado in 100-115° heat most of the way.
Checked all fluids before starting out and then again in Vegas because at 90° My AC started pushing out hot air. Fluids steady at Max. Dreading driving 8 hours w/o AC, I took it to Midas for a diagnosis. They said my AC and compressor was fine, but the speed enablers (?) that regulated whether the air came out cut or cold or malfunctioning and no one was going to pull out the dash to fix it. So I detoured to visit the north rim and find some cooler air during the day and noted that below 90° the AC worked just fine. Despite high speed driving and super hot temps, car drove like a dream and brought me home. Because I ones ruined my water pump, a costly experience, I watch the temp indicator light like a hawk and it never ever goes above halfway.

Went out for groceries yesterday, came home and parked. No issue. About an hour later I went back out and noticed a lot of fluid streaming under the car. At that point the reservoir was nearly empty, but the car wasn’t overly hot. Couldn’t see any coolant around the engine, It may be a few drips directly under the reservoir to the ground.

I halfway trust the grease monkey in our small town about 3 miles away downhill. I have about a quart of coolant in a bottle that I could maybe pour into the reservoir to get a better idea of the leak before taking it in. I have towing on the car, but would rather save it for if it needs towing to a Jaguar dealer because that’s 90 miles away.

Hoping it’s just hoses and not some thing internal or another water pump! I’m going out now to check the radiator cap, but I’m fairly helpless when it comes to doing stuff on the car and I have no tools except the hammer and a screwdriver!

as always, thank you for your help. You guys have been Lifesavers, especially Thermo (Chris? )

Try very meticulously checking the top of the "T" plastic coolant hose. The one that goes downward and has the thermostat at the bottom into the car. It's notoriously known to split on top and under pressure leaks. When mine went it was VERY hard to find it was that hose.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...t-loss-207203/

Second guess is the coolant reservoirs are known to split and fail or a split at the nipple.

Problem Description

The plastic coolant reservoir is prone to leak. The reservoir can mysteriously lose coolant or coolant may pool under the engine compartment. If this occurs, the coolant reservoir should be inspected for cracks. If leaks are neglected, the reservoir may fail and cause the engine to overheat.

Belle, like Dell said, there are 2 spots that are likely to develop leaks. If you can move the car into a dark area and get your hands on a black light (UV light), you can then look in the engine bay and you should see things start to glow near where your leak is. That will atleast get you into the general area. Then you will most likely need to fill up the tank, start the car and start looking again for signs of leakage. From there, the repairs become fairly obvious.

The other thing that can be done if you don't like the idea of running the engine is to get a coolant pressure tester. This can be obtained from any parts store (normally rented for free, just have to put down an initial deposit that you get back later). You then fill up the system and pressurize it. If you have a crack in a pipe, you will see it leaking out. The hardest part of the pressure tester is just finding the right cap initially. Then don't go above 15 psig.

I had this same issue, slowly losing coolant. It was a slow leak at first but got worse over time. Replaced the related hose. No more issue.

Not sure about the A/C cutting out at 90 degrees though. I'm in a hot area of Los Angeles, 90-110, and when I experienced loss of A/C once, I believe it was related to the water pump. But I could be wrong about this.

So early this morning I called all the car repair places in my little town and they are all booked solid for a week. I didn’t try grease monkey, but I may after I first try to locate the problem using one or more of the methods you all listed above.

Don’t be mad, but since I have no transportation and only a half container full of coolant, I may fill up the reservoir with water. I don’t even have distilled water but I do have a Britta filter and bottled water. I figure I’ll probably have to get a drain and fill anyway, And filling it up will both let me see hopefully we are a leak is and then possibly allow me to drive it the 3 miles to a repair place rather than getting it towed. The thing is I have free towing through my insurance but since no one in town has availability to fix I may have to use that tow to take the car to Denver (79 miles)

The 3 miles is completely downhill so I could actually keep my car in neutral and I would certainly check it for overheating minute by minute.

yesterday I checked all the hoses for splits...Didn’t see any. Things were pretty dry except for I felt some fluid on the bottom of the reservoir. I tried to take the cap off the reservoir, which I have done before with great difficulty, and though it unscrewed easily I might need a wrench to squeeze it to get it lift off. Ok....off I go!!!

I posted separately instead of as a reply that I was going to try and fill the tank and watch for leaks as a place to start, since all the car repair places in my city on her not taking reservations until next week!

it didn’t take as much coolant as I thought to fill it up to the minimum point. I gave it five minutes to check for leaks and then I put the cap back on and started the car. The level immediately drop down some but I marked the place it dropped to and it didn’t recede any further even after letting the car run for 6 minutes. There were no drips anywhere in the entire engine compartment except maybe the bottom of the reservoir itself. I now have paper towels underneath the reservoir to see if there is any dripping. I’m also going to check into ordering a new reservoir just in case I need it. Now there are two things: we do have an advanced auto and they thinking AutoZone parts store in town. They will most likely have a pressure gauge and I can probably promise them cookies if they will do the test for me. We also have a grease monkey and they say they do a pressure test when they do a drain and fill or a flush... but the coolant was flushed about three years and less than 10,000 miles ago so I’m not really due for a flash, although if they have to replace the reservoir I’m sure I’ll need some thing.

at this point I may wait until tomorrow to refill the reservoir and then slowly drive to auto parts place or grease monkey. I had the car in neutral and I didn’t have the heater on but the car temperature monitor did show the car heating up close to the 1/4 mark.

I feel ok about this, because I’m not ready to let this car go and yet I’d hate to have a plus $1000 repair.

Thank you for your help and support!

Belle, keep in mind you may need to put the cap on the tank if you have a split plastic piece. I say this because the system is designed to operate at a slight pressure to prevent boiling inside the engine under extreme situations. So, you may need to try these tests again, but with the cap on.

As for putting in water, right now, you are going to be fine. Just, when you go to refill, get some concentrate and refill with that unless you do a complete drain and refill. Keep an eye on things and as long as you keep the temp gauge in the middle, you will be fine. Sounds like atleast in the driveway, your leak is very slow. May want to try letting the car idle and get up to temp, then rev it a few times to see if you can get a squirt of fluid out. Having a second person help you with this will be helpful. But, this is where the pressure tester solves a lot of these issues as you can be at the engine bay, engine cold, and still able to apply pressure.

If you want me to talk you through a few things, send me a PM with your phone number and I will see what we can work out. I am on the east coast, so, we are going to have to work around some time differences, but we can make it happen.

Belle, I had a slow and irregular loss of coolant which I eventually traced to a hairline crack on the underside of the header tank. What made it difficult to find was that it only leaked at certain temperatures.

THE GOOD NEWS:
so I ordered a new expansion tank, and decided that as long as I checked the coolant level every morning , and only drove the car less than 10 miles while checking to make sure the thermostat Never got above midway, that the car would be fine.

The company that mailed the tank screwed up on the address, despite my spending an hour (no exaggeration) on the phone with them trying to get it right. As soon as I got the tracking number, I went to the FedEx office to confirm the correct address and was told by the manager that my part would be shipped to my PO Box, as we don’t have mail delivery in Summit County and since FedEx has a SMART POST way of mailing that is cheaper than ground and uses your PO Box. But the part never came to my PO Box and when I went back to the FedEx office, they told me that my part was at the FedEx office in Kremmling, that it was not going to my PO Box, that the manager no longer work there, and I need to call a number and give a better address. It took two weeks to finally get the package and even then, I had to retrieve it from another building.

but the GOOD NEWS is that my car seemingly healed itself and the coolant level never dropped below the level I filled it too! Got a love a car that heals itself!

But since there really is a very small leak at the bottom of the tank, I decided to replace it rather than send the part back. I thought it might be worthwhile to test the car coolant pressure now that I had a replacement, so in anticipation I was going to fill the tank to the max level and take it to AutoZone. But I couldn’t get the damn cap off… It has always given me trouble, and so I thought I would go about my day and then take it to AutoZone and let them deal with the. But stupid me didn’t tighten the Back down and when I got out of the car after driving 7 miles, there was the sound of steam escaping from the expansion tank.!!!!!!

so I’m thinking I should just replace the expansion tank and be done with it. I have found a wrench, pliers, and a screwdriver in my rental condo. It looks like this is some thing I can do, but I don’t want to screw anything up.
it looks like I can use pliers to squeeze the clips that hold the hoses on and maybe just pop out the plastic parts holding the tank itself in place. I have the proper coolant to refill once I’m done.

thermal, if you’ve read this far, I am going to message you and send you my phone number if I run into any problems and thank you for offering for me to do that!

Wish me luck!

I don’t know how to bleed the system??

I turn the car over and revved it up to 2000 RPMs for two minutes. But I can’t get the engine cover off with just a pair of pliers.

And the fan did not come on… And I now realize that I haven’t heard the fan come on in months! Even when I was driving 1500 miles through Las Vegas in 115° heat.

What is "engine cover off" mean?

Turn your a/c to the lowest cold temperature possible (w/ either manual or automatic fan), lift hood and BOTH fans should be turning at full speed. Doesn't matter the outside ambient temperature as max cool overrides everything to force both fans in max mode.
If one or both fans are not turning at max speed your FCM (fan control module) has most likely bit the dust.

Found my slow weepage today, just in time. Thought initially it was the hose.

Removing the hose caused the barb to fracture completely.

Sourced a thin wall metal tube (ball point ink refill), cleaned out and cut to size, inserting the broken barb on and then into the tank. Superglue/baking soda to rejoin the plastic barb to tank. The inner tube makes it stronger than before.

X-type 2.5L V6 2002. 190k km

I had a similar experience. The nipple on the bottom of the tank cracked. JB Weld for temporary fix. Ordered a new tank with new cap, online for about $60 through Amazon. Got it next day. Took less than 30 minutes to replace