LONG POST:
I’m new to these forums & I’m really hoping someone could possibly give me a little bit of insight! I don’t know anything about cars at all (I do know to take it to a mechanic if too serious) but I have a 2011 Jaguar XF R, the super charged version. I recently had a bad coolant leak to the point where I would have to fill it before driving & fill it while driving due to the light popping on & it being close to empty in the reservoir so I took it to the shop & they replaced the whole water pump, along with a hose attachment for it & a hose attachment that was completely garbage, causing me to leak the coolant. I’m not sure the exact part numbers or job that was done off the top of my head so I’d have to look at the paperwork in the car but it’s been about a month tops now. The car was running phenomenal with no leaks or issues at all, until I got into it the other day, looked at the coolant level to be sure I had no issues & it was a little above the minimum fill line so I figured I was good to go. I got to the gas station down the road from my house to fill up & I smelt that dreaded sweet coolant smell coming through my vents so I popped the hood & saw that there was a little bit of white smoke coming from behind the engine bay, nothing too crazy like it wasn’t a lot & it wasn’t thick nor was it coming out of my exhaust but the coolant had rose to a little over the max fill line. I keep thinking it’s the head gasket blown maybe or some air bubbles/pockets in the system?? Is this all normal behavior & I’m just over thinking it because of past experience or am I in deep??? I hope someone can help me out, thank you in advance!!!

 

First.
Do NOT Drive the Car.
Period.
Park it.
It's not going to get better, nor can you rely on 'topping it up' before taking it out...you're possibly at a $1500-2000 repair tab right now. Don't futz with it and increase your exposure (unless you like gambling).

Second, I doubt you roached the head gasket (a leak down or vapor test of the coolant will tell you), but, that being said...

There are two black plastic (why in the world, but there you are...) coolant cross-over pipes that frequently go bad. Without going into armchair diagnosis mode, 5 will get you 50 that one of these (there is one at the front, one at the rear) or the coolant manifold tower in the front is pooched. If not those (may be good to change them at this point, 15 years down the road, anyway), it could be other coolant hoses that infest the top end of the engine. It will require figuring out. But, again, until it is, park that bad boy and have it towed to the wrench's place to figure it out.

Just my suggestion, ok? Others will chime in, I'm sure.

 

I just put about $1,300 worth of work into it not even a month ago, you’re telling me i’m looking at even more now ?? 😩 that would be just my luck.

edit: these are the parts they put on: heater pipe AJ814056, engine intake gasket MS97530, water pump 144-2060 & coolant elbow.

 

Hate to say it...1300 is nothing if the PO pended maintenance or didn't keep up with it. I just had to replace a rear hub...somewhere along the way, a monkey with a big wrench pulled a wheel stud out of the rear hub (ie snapped it off) and just knocked back the head thru the hub and spot welded what was left back in its place (badly). So...since the OEM lug nuts have a tendency to corrode under the chrome finishing cover, I didn't know until trying to swap out for 1-piece plated nuts until the (badly) repaired stud pulled out...and since the lugs have no part number call-out...a new hub, bearing (figure, while I'm there) and 2.5 hours later...880 USD out of the checkbook. (photo below is the one the shop owner's wife sent me when they discovered it...) Oh, yeah, while in there...found rear brakes are 2 mm from having the sensors set the light off...and the lower track arm rubber gaiters need refreshing.

You have to love these things to put up with them...At this point (and I've been wrenching on brit iron (and fibreglass) since 1980), owners that care end up dealing with the sins of previous botched and 'just get it running' hack jobs.



Remains of broken stud that was hack-welded into the rear hub rather than doing the job properly and replacing the hub when the jackass wrench broke it.

 

A couple of suggestion's?

All wheel lugs are available in the after market. Forget Jaguar. Just get the measurements of the wheel stud and go shopping. I have replaced several Jaguar wheel studs and each time I was told the entire hub must be swapped out. Well maybe but I never have?

If you suspect head gaskets you can check this quickly. There are fluid test kits that can check the coolant for combustion gases. Even Harbor Freight has a kit. About $30-$50. You can DIY it as it's a simple test.

Yes the SS caps on the lug nuts are a well known and are a VERY long winded problem. They have used these types of lug nuts for over 20 years. They are an accident waiting to happen and the first thing I do with a Jaguar is replace all of them with solid versions. SS is the best but the solid metal ones last too. If you doubt this please do some searches as we have dozens of threads about their failures.

At least this is one Jaguar problem that can be fixed permanently.
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No doubt; I have the size, but the hub was butchered by the previous attempt to weld the remains of the snapped stud back in. I have the old hub and put a nut on the end and pushed out a stud, so I can source and keep a few on hand.

This all started because I bought a nice new set of triple chrome solid nuts to put on ALL the wheels. Shipwright's disease...the 'welded stud' was, believe or not, the LAST one that we were working on replacing. What I did notice is that the OEM lug wrench to take the original nuts is not even close to a good fit, so I went to my local parts store and picked up a deep 3/4" impact socket and 30" breaker bar (I have a selection but don't want to use something from my roll cab), wrapped it in foam and put in the spare wheel well. Problem solved (at least for now). I'll take the stud I bashed out of the old hub and try and source if I have to go down this road again.

I know why they think they have to use impact guns to put wheels on, but there is a torque value, and it doesn't take that much longer to spin the nuts on by hand, then torque to spec, and move on. Over-torquing breaks bolts...which I can almost say is what some previous wrench monkey did and then tried to cover up. Problem fixed, on to the next (gremlins in the map lights...) crisis.

The next owner will have a sorted ride, that's for sure...lol.

 

I hear you on the impact guns! I also got a better fitting lug wrench when I replaced the lug nuts.
At least my Discount Tire uses Torque sticks to help prevent over tightening.
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