Hi everyone,


I'm Petr and I'm new to the forum. I bought my XJ X350 4.2 7 months ago as it has always been my dream to have one. So far our relationship had been mostly unproblematic however it is suffering from the already discussed coolant leak issue. That hadn't bothered me as it was very slow and I found advice that in this case, it's just cheaper to refill coolant every once in a while. What happened recently though is that the leak suddenly became much faster. I went by a recommendation to try Jag specialist in Edzell but they didn't repair the car properly as the coolant leak prevailed, claiming that it must be a new one as they repaired one. Needless to say that I was disappointed.
I was therefore wondering if anybody knows of a decent garage in Aberdeen that might be able to look at my XJ and do a good and honest work. There is an official dealership but I guess the labour prices will be skyhigh although a friend of one of my collegues had a Jag and spoke highly of them..
What do you think I should do?


Thanks a lot

 

Hi Petr and welcome to the forum. I have to ask as there are more than one. Aberdeen Scotland I presume and not South Dakota?

Sorry I see Edzel as well and got my answer. Pardon, and sorry I can't help.

 

Hi Petr, have you tried looking in the UK forum section?

We have a listing of some recomended garages / Indys etc there.

Also, we have a few members from the Aberdeen area who you could reach out too for advice, who may be able to offer the help you need such as x300drew

 

Thanks for your replies, sorry for sounding stupid but I couldn't find a UK section. Can you please point me towards it?

 

It is not advisable to drive around with a coolant leak, just topping up occasionally. I say this based on my own experience, when I drove off one day and got a "low coolant" message. I immediately returned home, (I had only gone about 200 yards), and checked the header tank, and lo and behold the level was low ! I topped up (about 1/2 litre), and a quick look around showed a small amount of coolant near the water pump, so I immediately rang my local Jaguar independent who does the maintenance. They told me to bring the car in asap, which I did. Their chief mechanic inspected the car, showed me where the leak was, and said "you'll have to leave it with us as we have to order the part in". So I said, "can't I just come back when the part arrives". The reply was "that little leak could let go at any time, and you'll lose all the coolant and maybe the engine". So the car was left, and later the following day, it was all fixed with a new (and expensive) water rail and header tank. When taking the water rail off to replace it, the leak at the hose connection just broke off. Another leak was found at the other end of the hose at the header tank.

My car is the 3 litre V6, so different to the V8, but leaking header tanks are common on both cars. The V8 also suffers from cracking of the thermostat housing as well.

Both the parts were made of plastic, and it is an unfortunate fact of life that car manufacturers seem very fond of such material, on cost grounds I suppose, but the service life doesn't seem very long. When my problem started the car was on 82k miles; not a lot in today's motoring.

Anyway, if you can't find a local independent around Aberdeen, and I suspect there aren't enough Jaguars around to support one, you'll have to go to the main agent. They are not all bad, the one near me in Wilmslow is excellent, but of course they will cost more in labour, although not necessarily in parts. Some dealerships like my local one offer a special scheme for cars over 4 years old, with 10% off parts and 25% off labour charges. No courtesy car though !

 

Its ok, no problem, see below

UK & Eire - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum

Simply scroll down on the home page and you will see the "regional" section, within that is the UK section.

Good luck