Went for a drive today and got a car wash. The car wash machine sprayed under my car strong underneath the hood engine bay area (High Pressure). Car was left on during the wash, drove down a couple of streets to pickup my girlfriend. Left the car running for 5-10 minutes then drove off with her to the next stop when the dreaded Coolant Level Low Red Warning Messaged popped up on the centre gauge screen.

I have seen this message a couple times now on this car and both cases I have had coolant leak issues. I have had many coolant pipes replaced. See my Related Threads below for more info:
XF Death - Coolant Leak
Overfilled Coolant Expansion Tank

I stopped, turned off the engine and popped open the hood. Interestingly the coolant level looked at normal levels. No sign of any coolant leak. In my head I'm thinking maybe the coolant is not circulating and cooling the radiator/engine. I knew something was wrong and coolant is not an issue to play around with as I could lose the car completly. Scared to even drive further I canceled my plans to go for a nice drive and did some grocery shopping at the place the warning message came on at. Returned back after the car cooled and thought to my self that if theres coolant in the expansion tank then I should be fine to drive. Since its a Saturday, the dealership is closed I would have to tow it there and then drop the keys off get someone to pick me up...it seemed like a mission and since I have coolant in the tank I decided to take the risk also knowing that I do not live too far.
Still nervous I dropped my girlfriend to her car on the way and then drove smoothly low rpms to my house which was about 5-10 minutes away. Luckily got all green lights so was coasting a lot. AC/Heating system turned off to prevent any extra loads on the engine. Speakers completely off and was listening to the engine for any unusual sounds like knocking. Drove fine and no sounds, made it home safely.

At home I checked the expansion tank again and level seems the same. Thinking now, this low coolant message could be a faulty sensor? I will have my car parked in my garage so I will be able to tell if coolant is on the floor leaking after couple days. Is there a bobber quantity sensor in the Expansion Tank or how does this message pop up? I have not driven the car in over a week almost 2 weeks due to the quarantines/stay home initiatives so maybe the bobber got stuck?

I had taken out some coolant from the expansion tank a while back since the mechanics overfilled, as mentioned in my 2nd thread post post. I can put that back in to maybe help.

What are your thoughts? Should I tow it to the dealership or drive it? I have 3 free towing this year since i have CAA but if its not necessary then I rather drive it and avoid the hassle if it does not make sense.

Coolant Check after parking it back in the garage.

Jaguar should have included the coolant/engine temperature sensor.

Thanks for your help.

 

I had the same issue with my 2013 XF, low coolant light kept coming on. Turns out there’s a float located in the tank that sinks and decides not to float again. I replaced my coolant sensor and no luck. Replaced my coolant reservoir, never saw the message again. When the float sinks, it contacts the level sensor triggering the message. Coolant reservoir replacement took me about 20 minutes, very easy to replace. Cost me about $60 from Amazon with a 1 year warranty.

 

The sensor float in the tank can get waterlogged and stop working. Easiest fix is replacement of the whole header tank incl sensor. Not expensive and also the tanks age and can leak after a while anyway. Search on here for a few threads. Incl some people who fixed the float issue

Sounds like you were rightly v careful to ensure you weren't driving with low coolant. That can literally destroy these engines in no time...

 

As BritCars & Swilmer52 says, this is a common fault, the float stops floating. You can check this by looking in the tank and seeing if the float is resting at the bottom even though it has plenty of coolant.

 

Or

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...0/#post1605350
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...5/#post2078949

 

Had same problem, changed sensor but issue remained. Finally ended up changing the tank. 30min job with my toddler around to help ofcourse.
check this link
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xf-xfr-x250-44/2010-xf-4-2-coolant-temp-sensor-227254/#post2172671

 

I had exactly this same issue,replaced the tank bought off Ebay for 50.00 , 20 minute job no more warning !

 

Thanks guys for your comments as well as the links. I have some reading to do because looks like I will be changing the coolant expansion tank. I monitored the coolant level and it looks to have not changed. I drove it today and first drive the warning message didn’t come on, second drive it came on after 5 minutes.

I did see some videos on YouTube. It looks like the hardest thing is removing the coolant from the tank and avoid spilling in the engine bay.

What did you guys do to remove the coolant from the tank prior to replacement?

 

When you lift up tank after removing hold down bolts,put a bowl underneath and remove large hose on bottom of tank let drain into bowl,I discarded old coolant and used new coolant ...

 

I had a little pump that goes on the end of a drill and just pumped out the coolant from the tank, then I only lost a little amount from the hose when I pulled it off.

Like one of these:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clar...-powered-pump/

 

Thanks I'll see if I can remove as much coolant and avoid spillage when taking out the tank. I plan to put in new coolant in the new tank. Do you guys use Jaguar Coolant? My previous work order they put in PN JLM209723 Antifreeze.
I was going to buy this but I would prefer a premixed coolant. Do you have any recommended coolant/antifreeze to use or do you recommend the Jaguar one.

Once I change the tank and put the new coolant in, I saw in a post that they run the heaters on max and open the radiator cap. I think this is to get rid of air in the system. Is this required or recommended?

 

You need to use the orange colored long life Zerex makes it for Jag/Ford it comes in a 50/50 premix gallon,get 2 gallons,and there is a bleed screw on passenger side black plastic screw on top of an aluminum coolant pipe,be very careful with it,can break/crack easily,there should
be a you tube video showing the process !

 

dealership said I needed to replace the entire water pump and system. I ordered the reservoir tank on Amazon for about 50 bucks and replaced today and everything is good. No warning light.

 

Well done! Congrats!

Curious how that worked but very glad it did!