Hi All!

I’m looking for a little wisdom from the collective.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a decent looking 2009 XF at an auction. This means I don’t know any of the history of this vehicle. Since it’s not running, my wife named it Paper Weight.

I’ve done some snooping around under the hood and found at least one pressing problem. When I removed the plugs and cranked it over, water shoots out from the two center plugs on the driver’s side. This seems to indicate a blown head gasket. Fortunately, there’s no coolant in the oil.

Interestingly enough, the coolant overflow bottle had been recently replaced, with the old one sitting in the trunk…

Are head gasket failures common? Or could this be something more serious, like a cracked head? What’s the common cost for a head gasket replacement, if I don’t do it myself.

I’m trying to evaluate this project, if it’s worth fixing, or if it should simply be parted out.

Cheers

Erik

 

Hi Erik,

The coolant expansion tank probably failed and with it the engine overheated. With no temperature gauge, an all aluminum engine, and the very little time you have to shut the car off after the warning on the dash it's highly likely you bought a car with bad head gasket(s) and possibly warped heads that will require decking. Worst case is cracked heads/warped block and extensive engine damage to pistons/rings, etc

Overheating is common on these engines as many of the plastic heating system components fail and then are not shutdown fast enough to mitigate the impending damage the the engine.

You have no other option than to remove the heads if you want to repair the vehicle.

The repair cost at a dealer will likely exceed or match the value of the car. Used motors are expensive and in demand as this is now a fairly common occurrence due to the age/heat cycles the plastics have gone through and this being fairly common. As we also share these motors with Range Rover's and Land Rover's many people seek a good running motor for failures on those platforms as well.

IMO, only a lower mileage R is worth saving.

If you're in the business of buying/selling cars or parting them and value your time at any reasonable amount per hour you're better off parting the car.

Sad it may be but that's my 2 cents, spoken from a low mileage XFR owner who is currently dealing with cooling system failures.

 

+1 on the above

Before you make any decisions I'd suggest having an experienced mechanic who knows these engines take a look. As it's a 2009 (non SC model?) I assume you have the older 4.2l V8. 2010 onwards moved to the newer 5.0L

I would guess overheating and potentially warped. But could just be head gasket.

As above, if anything serious it won't be worth the rebuild cost unless it's a pet project for you doing most of the labor. And even then finding engine sub parts (and experienced advice) is hard. Search around on here for a fully documented rebuild of the 5.0 - excellent write up but will show you how involved it can be

Sadly you may be in parting out land. Hope you didn't pay too much. A non-running 12 year old luxury car of any marque is a long-shot...