When going to the car wash, someone mentioned the smell of antifreeze. Of course I responded something like "Not my car". Arrogant cun*. Of course the next thing I got was a low coolant message.

Checked coolant it was definitely low. Topped it off, went about my business until I could schedule an appointment. It leaked (I'm assuming even though I never see coolant on the ground) the majority of that coolant as well before taking it in for service.

The found a cracked hose and reservoir. I can't remember exactly. All good. A few weeks later, same hand car wash, same guy says, I still smell antifreeze. Goddamnit. I'm a smoker apparently my sense of smell isn't too good because I still couldn't smell it. But he was right once before.

So I check coolant level and it's all good. I'll keep an eye on it and try to return it for service to have them do a once over. Anyone else have similar issues?

2011 XJL?

 

Not yet. Have your dealer "pressure check" your cooling system for leaks. You may have a leaking water-pump, the pump on the front of the engine driven by a drive belt off the crankshaft pulley that circulates the engine coolant (anti-freeze and water) through the engine and radiator to keep the engine at the proper operating temperature.

The water-pump contains a mechanical face seal that is supposed to prevent coolant leakage around the rotating shaft of the bearing on which the pump impeller is mounted. Leakage past the mechanical face seal normally causes the adjacent water pump bearing to fail in fairly short order, and are notorious for failing at around 40,000 miles.

At first the leakage is rather small (but enough to smell if your a non-smoker), but as the failure progresses can cause substantial or even total loss of coolant.

This can cause slippage of the belt that drives your power steering pump, and thus the loss of your power steering, which could cause you to drive off a bridge, cliff, or simply into oncoming traffic.

Another effect of loss of coolant is for your engine to rapidly overheat, and actually seize-up, virtually destroying the engine internals, and thus requiring it's replacement (which costs tens of thousands of dollars on a Jaguar).

So, do not ignore this problem and take your car to your dealership immediately (after first filling your coolant to the proper level).

 

I will heed your advice thanks

 

Hi had my coolant resvoir replaced as it was leaking coolant, Only noticed because temperature needle going in red zone while idling.

 

The 5.0 engine has a few coolant issues namely the front coolant piping housing to plenum, it has 2 o rings that seal between the piping and the plenum and the piping will crack. You eventually will see coolant below on the rear passenger side of the engine puddle below. It also has a coolant return line that's rubber that runs on the bank one side under the plenum.. I have replaced several and they normally fail about 50-70k miles...

 

The water pump on the 5.0L engines is a known issue and, if not addressed promptly, can cause significant damage. Mine failed at under 30K miles and was replaced under warranty. See: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...placed-132537/

If this was helpful, please press at the bottom right.

Stuart

 

After a coolant leak it can take a couple of weeks for that old spilled coolant to dry up and the smell to go away. When my leaks were fixed and the engine was steamed clean by the dealership the smell was still there for sometime.

 

I suspect the cabin air filter, or the open foam under-hood/firewall insulation might have absorbed/contained sprayed or vaporized coolant, thus the smell. Steam cleaning the engine wouldn't have addressed these issues.

 

Just had a 45k service and cabin filter was replaced, but smell was not getting into the cabin My suspicion is that coolant leaked onto the under aero covers and that is where the smell came from until it dried out.

 

Thanks guys, it eventually aired itself out. My dealership didn't steam clean my engine. I should have requested that.

 

Your welcome. If you look back at post number 2 in this thread posted 7/6/15 you will see I stated "The water-pump contains a mechanical face seal that is supposed to prevent coolant leakage around the rotating shaft of the bearing on which the pump impeller is mounted. Leakage past the mechanical face seal normally causes the adjacent water pump bearing to fail in fairly short order, and are notorious for failing at around 40,000 miles".

Guess what? Mine failed last week at just under 42,000 miles, causing substantial loss of coolant, just short of my warranty expiring four days from today. As an engineer I guess I should have allowed a statistical tolerance of plus or minus five percent to my prediction of failure at around 40,000 miles.