2017 XF35. 50001 miles.

Driving. Generally a conservative driver., but went to about 5500 rpm to get on the freeway. Was at 5500 for about 60 seconds.
About 10 miles later, the "Low Coolant" light comes on. Engine temp stays at middle of dial.
Get home, reservoir is 2/3 low. I refill reservoir.
Drive 20 miles to work; coolant reservoir is again 2/3 low.

Take to independent shop who conducts a pressure test that reveals no problems. They say that the coolant is leaking out of the right front (facing the car) corner of the timing cover. As they told me from the start, they would look at the car and if it was anything other than a quick fix they'd bow out.

Still under original warranty, going to dealer tomorrow.

1. What causes this? Wear and tear or design flaw?
2. Dealer does not have loaner cars available; I've asked the to cover the cost of a rental. Is this a reasonable request?
3. The engine does not overheat with "low coolant" light on. Is this because there's fluid in the system, circulating around?
4. I have one short errand and a 40 mile drive to the dealer; given #3 above is it save to drive if I ensure the coolant is at max prior to driving?

I've done some reading here, but so many posters don't provide enough information or disappear it's rare to read about an outcome.

Thanks

 

Nothing excessive or abusive. A minute to merge onto the freeway and it or you didn't shift up?

If it was a design flaw we'd see/hear more of these failures. At 50K miles it isn't wear and tear. Who knows? Weak spot in gasket or sealant?

Yes, but they may not honor it.

Most likely.
If you dropped down 2/3 after a 20 mile run you may empty the reservoir. Take some coolant with you for the trip.


How about a picture of where it's leaking from.......

 

I've not been able to actually visualize the leak. The indy shop gave me a print out of schematic; they used that to show me, roughly, where the leak was coming from.

I lifted the rubber/plastic cover and can't see a leak.

The soonest the dealer can look at it is 5-7 days away. That's a long time to rent a car.........before they've even assessed the problem. I spoke to the SA just now re: them paying for the rental. He was, of course, flaky. I offered to pay for the rental if they'd reimburse me. He continued to be flaky. Do I escalate to corporate now or wait until they firmly/finally flake out on the rental?

My experience with JLR service since 2017 has been poor, hence my pessimism.

 

If you lost 2/3 of your reservoir coolant in 20 miles you should be able to see something. Which cover? Picture of it?

Escalate to the dealer management first. I'm not sure but I think loaner policy it up to the dealer, not JLR. Does anyone know?

 

Recurring theme..
Exact same car, engine, year and mileage.

My res tank loses about an inch every 60 days.
My annual oil visit is 21 days away; earliest they could schedule. No other JLR for 100 miles.

No guarantee of loaners; especially now during Covid.

I already had res tank pipe replaced a year ago but coolant loss persists. We do have the older, known to leak water pumps that have been updated since.
New pump part# is AJ813909.
(It supercedes 7 previous iterations, LOL)

TOPIX Technical Bulletins denote a range of causes..
Alas, if I didn't love driving a Jag so much, I'd complain.

 

As much as I love the car (this is my second XF) I am not a fan of recurring problems, particularly with a car that will be out of warranty in about 5 months.

 

Slow/low leaks can be dangerous. My wife's BMW was leaking less than that, requiring top up every 6 months. No indication anywhere of a leak, wet or dry (corrosion/mineral deposit). Passed the pressure test. One day it spilled its' coolant from a split return hose to the reservoir. I still don't see a failure pattern with the X260 coolant system .... but I'm not in the business and forums aren't the best source of information even though that's all you get.

 

It could be coming from multiple areas. I would try and check the coolant manifold on rear of engine and check to see if there is any coolant pooling in the valley of the engine. Those are the two most likely places.

 

Jaguar Annapolis said that the earliest they could look at it was 10/21. No loaner cars, and no real interest in reimbursing for a rental.

A much further away dealer had appointments open today; so towed the car there. Car was dropped off at 1030 local time, and no followup phonecall from them by CoB today.

Will follow up tomorrow with them.

Will update.

 

Called dealer today; they are undergoing construction on their lot and nearby roads with everything that entails. They'll peek at it tomorrow, and I'll raise the loaner/rental car issue with them.

 

Dealer called to say car was ready 10/7. Pick up car, skim invoice and it looks like they replaced about 6 parts that are coolant related. Decide to read it more thoroughly later.

Get 9.5 miles down the road; steam from the engine, bad smell, and low coolant warning.

Dealer responds with a tow truck and with many apologies provides a very nice loaner car.

I am not typically a screamer/desk pounder, so none of that from me.

There is a sense of sadness, and that 3 of 3 JLR service departments I've dealt all "function" at about the same level.

 

Please keep us informed. I'm curious about what parts they shotgunned that didn't fix it as well as the parts that will finally do the job.

 

Will do; I was wrapped up in getting towed/loaner car I didn't bother to grab or take a picture of the invoice. It was a substantial list of replaced parts. Begs the question......with all those parts replaced, how is it STILL not fixed?

10am local time here and still no call or "your cars ready."

 

Got a VM from the Service Advisor. The car is ready; apparently a fastener hadn't been tightened properly. They took it for a "good test drive" and everything is fine.

 

They delivered it to my house today. They put 1/2 tank of fuel and replaced the keyfob.

Parts replaced:
Cap
Tube
Pipe-Outlet
Gasket-Induction
Gasket
Tank-Expansion.

Car has been driven about 75 miles and all seems good. Very slight smell of antifreeze; hopefully that's just residual burnoff from the leak.

 

"Gasket-Induction" sounds like they removed the supercharger and replaced the infamous plastic "Pipe-Outlet" underneath it. My theory (although I haven't actually seen one) is if you live where it gets really cold the temperature extremes on the plastic make it brittle and prone to fracture. I seem to remember somewhere reading that someone replaced it with one they made from metal piping.

 

5000 miles later. Now getting a burning coolant smell from the engine and losing some fluid. Have scheduled another appointment. Am hoping/assuming that a connection worked loose.

This will be the second/third time getting this "fixed."