Hi first post so hello all.

I was gifted a 2003 54k x type recently. No issues with it. Recently started to overheat. Thursday red light came on dashboard for water temperature. This was accompanied by a burning smell.

stopped car did not notice the belt from water pump had melted and come off !

Took car to garage - they said it needs water pump, tensioner, belts labour etc 560.00 pounds.

can i ask if anyone here has had this problem ? I dont want to spend money if the engine is likely damaged and the garage could not say either way really ... none commital.

The coolant had dissappeared from the car and I did not see any leaks etc.. nor could i see were the water was being lost ... were would the coolant go ?

i would really appreciate any comment ... fix or ebay or scrap.....

Thank you

Andrew

 

It's very hard to answer your question from the distance.
Why a new tensioner?
Why a new pump?
That little pump-drive belt is cheap.
If the pump did not pump due the belt being torn, the water might have overheated & evaporated as best case scenario.
But makes me wonder, why the engine did not overheat and maybe even warp, requiring now a new head gasket as a minimum.
There should have been a "X-mas tree" lighting up on your dashboard due to the overheating after belt got torn...

swapping pump and tensioner and belt is easy, but is the problem solved after that?

 

This is what has happened ... only indication of trouble was a burning smell. The only light was the coolant warning light and the needle off the scale.
the coolant tank was now empty.
The engine starts and ticks over fine ...
I m just concerned about the possibility of fixing it all .. then the engine is bad,
I know little of car engines.... but thank you

 

By the way the fans did come on it was running like crazy ....

 

The pumps do seize, and the tensioner pulley is known for it's failures too, it's a small bearing.

It's probably a couple hours labour to install the parts, plus refill the coolant so depending on the labour rate that price doesn't seem so bad. The water pump was used on many Ford car, so you might be able to get a cheaper price by looking for the Ford application rather than Jaguar. Anything with a Duratech engine will have the same pump. In North America that was the Taurus and Contour, not sure if a Mondeo in the UK would have the V6 or not.

For the tensioner pulley, it's the same as a Cadillac Northstar 4.6 engine. I always use Rockauto, and they will ship to the UK tax prepaid. There are many brands available for the pump. On a desktop version, if you click the part number it brings up the catalog that shows all the cars the part fits. Won't do that on a phone/tablet.

Pump: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...choice=0-0-1-1
Pulley: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...choice=0-0-1-1

For those two, you're probably looking at £100 delivered, the rest is coolant and labour.

 

Thank you can I ask if based on experience if the engine is likely to be damaged ?

i drove the car to the garage for examination - they are able to move it round the garage under its own power.
im just worried that if i pay for the pump the engine might be damaged in some way ? Hard one I know

would the car still be able to start etc if it were damaged ?

Im not sure what running out of coolant for a period will do to the v6 ?

The garage did say the v6 engines were robust .... which is good

Thanks again... 😊

 

I'd say, if you engine starts and runs that is a good sign.

I once overheated the engine of my van as there was no more coolant in there and I did not notice.
Driving like that in town did not seem to be a big issue in that condition, but when I then hit the highway, it overheated badly. I am not sure, if that would have been enough to kill the engine, but when I stopped, after finally noticing that I had no more coolant in the system, and filled cold water into the system...: That was when I killed the engine, because the rapid and uneven change in temperature warped the upper engine-block and I needed a new one. The engine did not start anymore after having filled the cold water into it. Had I waited for 1 or 2 hours, the engine might have been still fine.

As Jagboi64 wrote, water pumps can seize, That is correct. Also, the bearing of the tensioner can easily fail. I for one would not replace the complete tensioner, but just the pulley on there, but this required a little bit of experience. swapping the whole tensioner is easier.

And if the mechanics say to replace those 3 parts, it might well be justified.

So, if you do not have 2 left hands altogether, you might be able to swap pump, tensioner and that tiny belt by yourself. It's not a big deal. You would have to "shovel" your way thru to the pump, and you will have to remove some engine parts on top of it. I can't remember off hand now, what all those part will be, but the trickiest part would probably be not to damage any of the brittle plastic hoses (vacuum lines). And I can't remember off hand now, if that involves removing some of those vacuum lines, which can be removed very easily, if you know how, but you will despair, if you do not know how: There are vacuum lines, which look as if they are stuck into the metal-air-intake going thru a rubber seal: That is not a rubber seal! Pulling on the tube strong enough will probably tear it apart, because that rubber seal is in fact a cunning plastic lock-mechanism: You press it towards the metal, while you gently pull the pipe and it will come out.

Other than that: Take pictures, while you take things apart so that you know later how to put it back in again and don't forget to put the MAF-sensor connector back on.

Make sure that the replacement pump will come with the required gasket, because some pumps come without and then you have to order separately a too expensive separate gasket and wait for it, too.

Parts can be found in general on Aliexpress and ebay.

 

Appollo, part of this is going to be luck of the draw. But, if you can start the engine now and it starts with relative ease, then that is looking good. As for why you have the situation you do, it sounds like either the tensioner or the pump seized, destroying the belt, leading to loss of coolant. So, I would say to replace the water pump and the tensioner (assuming that is the bearing that seized, may not need to be replaced if it rotates freely). From there, drive and see what you have. If you want confirmation, then you are going to have to have your mechanic do a compression test and that will say yes or no. Something you can try is removing the cap off of the overflow bottle and starting the engine for a minute. Put your ear to the opening and see if you hear a chugging sound from the bottle. If so, that is the cylinder leaking into the coolant system and that is bad news. But, the compression test is going to be the true test.

 

If you're reasonably mechanically inclined, it's not a bad job to change the pump. All you need to remove is the battery to gain access. Personally, I wouldn't be running the car without a working waterpump, there is a high risk of damage to the engine.

 

Ah yeah, right, it's just the battery - as I wrote: I did not know anymore off hand. Hence, it's a real easy job to do.

 

Im not good mechanically and the garage to be fair are reasonable. I also have OA so I wont be doing the repairs.

I will ask them to do a compression test in the morning - if that is good I will ask them to complete repair.

I am sort of guessing the failing water pump would have been the source of the slow leak of coolant which also went a dark colour ....

Thank you ever so much for the kind replies and responses I am truly grateful to you all....

 

Car back on the road £358.00 parts labour and taxes. No damage caused thankfully. Water pump, tensioner caused the pump failure.

Full 12 months MOT ..Thank you to all who helped !