Just bought this car on Friday from a dealer, looks great runs great only 47,000 miles. Today on the way to work it blows a head gasket, or that's what they think it is without getting into it yet. It's under a 30 day bumper to bumper warranty and once it's fixed I still have a couple of day to back out of the deal. Is this common with these engines? I'm new to Jags and could use a little input from you guys that have experience with these engines. I really like the car but is this a bad omen. Thanks

 

These 04 Jag 4.2s are imho "bulllet proof". My vote is that your engine was seriously over heated or regularly abused. Bummer!

Were it me, and I could get out of the deal, I would do so.

 

I agree, I have rarely heard of a head gasket failure on the 4.2. As Mr Cracker says, it was probably run on low coolant. The temp guage on these cars doesn't go to the red zone until serious overheating is occurring. I have learned, if any guage moves into the red, stop the car immediately, not later, not a few miles down the road, but right the heck now! Probably not a good car to mess with. Overheating can cause problems that will dog you long after the 30 day warranty.

 

I'll know more when the dealership calls back later today. I have a pretty complete history of the work done on it as the previous owner seemed to only use them for any maintenance even down to changing the wiper blades. Their's no hint of any overheating issues in the history so it will be interesting to find out just what the problem is.

 

Turns out the service righter had his head up his you know what. The PCV valve failed and was sucking oil. An easy fix what a relief. I was seriously thinking of cancelling the deal. How do you mistake coolant smell for oil?