Even though our XF 4.2 has only 38,000 miles on it, it is 10 years old, and I know that cooling system parts will "age out" due to heat cycles, mileage notwithstanding. Therefore I'm replacing many of the cooing system components. I replaced the t'stat housing/crossover pipe last fall, and I'm going to replace the hoses within the next week or two.

I bought all new hoses, and they come with new "spring clamps" in place. The clamps are held in an "open" position by plastic pieces, with an "eye hook" on one end. It appears that these pieces are there simply to prevent the clamps from crushing the hoses, prior to installation. I just want to make sure that's the case, and they have to be removed, prior to installing the hoses. They don't look like something that would help spread the clamps, that last little bit, before installing the hoses.

Thanks!

 

Actually, I believe the purpose of the plastic pieces with the eye hooks on brand new OEM hoses are to allow you to install the pipe without any kind of tools - the plastic piece holds the clamp in the open position, you slide the hose onto the outlet it's supposed to go onto in the right place, pull the eye hook and it will clamp onto the outlet and you can then discard the plastic piece.

 

Correct!
Leave them in place until the hose is installed. Then remove.
Be aware they need to be oriented or clocked correctly and that's another reason Jaguar attaches them the way they do.

I am impressed because they are thinking of the guy installing the part for once!
Service/repair is rarely considered.
.
.
.

 

OK, that sounds logical, and I thought that might be a possibility. I wasn't sure, though, and I didn't want to plow on blindly, and damage something. When I was fiddling around with one of the clips (which I managed to dislodge, of course!), I noticed that they have a fair amount of tension on them, from spreading the metal clamps to an "open" position. And if what you're saying is indeed how they're supposed to function, that's cool. I didn't want to damage the various plastic inlet/outlet nipples, by exerting too much pressure on them, either by forcing the hoses on, with the plastic clips in place, if they shouldn't be, or by pulling against them to remove them, if they should have been removed beforehand.

Thanks!!

 

I'm bringing this discussion back to life, for a couple of reasons. First, when I purchased "all" of the hoses from my dealer, they provided me with the "hose in the valley", that sits under the intake manifold. At first, I didn't realize where this hose went, as it's "invisible" when the engine is assembled, but it was in the box of hoses that I got. I then found out that I'll have to remove the intake manifold to replace it, so the entire job is going to take a bit longer than originally thought.

This brings up a question, one that falls into the "while I'm in there" sort of questions. I've read that this hose is the one that usually fails first, due to A) when the engine is running, it's constantly circulating hot coolant; and B) due to it's location, right over the valley cover of the engine, it has heat radiating upward from the cover, whenever the engine is running. This gave me an idea.....

There are several companies that make self-sticking, thermal heatshield material, that's about 1/8" thick. I've seen it used on the bottom of intake manifolds, in an effort to keep the inlet air temp as cool as possible, and this got me wondering in a piece of this material, attached to the valley cover would both shield the "valley hose" from added heat, as well as possibly also shield the underside of the intake manifold, from excessive heat.

Thoughts?

 

Here's an update......The air temperatures in my region finally warmed up enough to allow the garage to be hospitable for automotive work, so I finally tackled the coolant hose replacement. As someone who has been working on his own cars for just about 50 years, I can safely say that this job wasn't exactly the easiest job I've ever tackled, but it's not all that hard. If I had to find a term to describe the job, I'd have to say that "tedious" would be right at the top of the list.

The fact that the engine compartment of an XF, as well as pretty much any modern car is packed tight with componentry, certainly doesn't make the job easy. At times, you're working strictly by feel, as your hands are crammed into tight spaces, either disconnecting or reconnecting hoses, and your hands are actually blocking your ability to see what you're doing. In a couple of places, the hose clamps are oriented such that you cannot get a pair of plies on them, in order to disconnect them. This is weird!

To be more specific, I don't know if the coolant is circulated around the oil filter to cool the engine oil, or to warm it in cold weather, or possibly both, but there are two hoses that branch off the "lower" radiator hose, and connect to the oil filter housing. Even with the oil filter removed, I could not orient a pair of pliers on either of the hose clamps, to release them. As much as I hate to destroy the parts that I'm removing, just in case, if you know what I mean, I had to get out my Dremel tool, and use a cutting wheel, to cut the clamps off. Also, underneath the reservoir tank, there's a junction of 2-3 hoses, that also connect to some type of "booster pump", and here, too, the clamps were pointing in the "wrong direction". I found it easier to unplug, electrically, both this pump, as well as the coolant level sensor, from the tank, and remove this as a complete assembly, and swap out these hoses on the workbench, then re-install everything as a single unit.

I have to confess, I don't work as rapidly as I used to, especially when going into an unfamiliar project, such as this, I've learned over time, to err on the side of caution. I probably could have gone a little quicker, but what's the point? I'm retired, and have the time to spare. There's no sense in breaking/damaging stuff needlessly, just to hopefully save a few minutes. I started working this past Monday morning, and finished yesterday afternoon. Removing the intake manifold, and replacing that pesky, hidden hose, and re-installing the manifold, took pretty much all of Monday. The "lower hose", the one with the two "legs" to the oil filter housing, took most of Tuesday, primarily because I was initially reluctant to get out the cutting tools. I spent quite a while trying to figure out a "non-destructive" way to remove the hose, without success. With that hose out of the way, the rest of the job was completed yesterday.

My reason for proceeding slowly, and not destroying old parts, may sound silly, but I have a reason. In the past, I've had experiences where I purchased what were supposed to be "direct replacement parts", disassembled my car, only to find that the new parts didn't exactly fit, possibly because they weren't made correctly, or there was a "running change" somewhere in the model year, and the parts I had, didn't fit my version of the car. Therefore, I could at least put the old parts back on, keeping the car drivable, until I could get the proper part for my application.

As a side note, with respect to the heat shielding that I had mentioned earlier in this discussion....After going through this job, and seeing how the engine is configured, I don't think it would work. There are a couple of "raised areas" on the engine's valley cover that wouldn't allow anything to easily sit in there. Turns out it was just a wild thought...

 

If nothing else, at least you learned that a $12 tool would have made your life a million times easier:



Always get the right tool for the job!

 

Not necessarily......while I'll readily admit that I'm unfamiliar with that particular tool, I highly doubt that it would be possible to have engaged it in the clamps that I was referring to, given their orientation on the engine. One must remember that the powertrain is assembled as a unit, on an assembly stand, before it's installed in the car. The orientation of the various fasteners is usually optimized for the assembly process, not for those who unfortunately have to deal with them in the field, when maintenance/repairs are required.

 

I did them all with that tool, on 2 XFs, so there you go!

 

And yours are 2011s, which means they have the 5.0 engine, correct?


Mine isn't...