This plastic tee is on a 2004 Jaguar X350 XJ8. all my antifreeze just leaked out of the bottom of it. What is it? Is there a roadside fix or do I need to call a wrecker?

 

Please take another photo from further back.

If that is the front of the engine, it's most likely the water outlet, which is plastic.

There is no roadside bodge repair that can be performed.

 

That's what I was afraid of. It is currently on the wrecker so I'll take another picture when I get it home. It is at the center front of the engine so I'm sure that's the outlet. Thank you for the quick response.

 

 

After working on American muscle cars for the past 40 years I can honestly say that I've never seen such a stupid design in all my life. All the pressure from the radiator is directed toward a flat plug in the plastic water outlet assembly (plug on right side has blown out). Luckily i caught it the second she blew. Was able to order a new part from Jaguar for $189. It's easy to replace with just 4 8mm bolts holding it on.

 

The plastic parts almost seem designed to cause a major malfunction.

 

Well I replaced the part and refilled it up with antifreeze but it now had me in restricted mode and the temp gauge says it's overheating when it's not. I have a hand held temp gun and the max temp that i have found is 212F. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to remove the restricted mode? I have tried unplugging the battery and touching the battery cables together and it didn't do anything. Thanks.

 

What temperature does your code reader say ???

 

Did you purchase the water outlet with the thermostat installed?

Did you bleed the cooling system to remove air pockets?

DO NOT rely on the instrument cluster gauge to determine the coolant temperature. The gauge does not change between 95 C and 128 C, which is too late for an overheating condition to be noticed. Use a smart phone with the Torque app to connect to the vehicle's PCM via the OBD port with a Bluetooth interface to read system values in real time.

 

Yes i purchased the whole assembly from Jaguar with the thermostat and temp sending unit included.

Yes I bled the system. It took much longer than anticipated.

I used a hand held laser temperature reader to check basic engine temp in several places while I was doing this repair. The highest temp recorded with the laser was 212F. My son had borrowed my reader so I had to get that back so I could proceed.

After I got my reader, I was able to determine what the problem was. The car was registering a temp too low fault which led me to the temp sending unit. There was a small piece of yellow plastic broken off inside the electrical plug that was keeping the plug from connecting properly. It looks like it was some sort of safety catch on the plug that is no longer functioning. I removed the plastic piece, plugged in the wire and was able to reset the error codes. She is back on the road this morning. My live data engine coolant temperature is running at 198F.

Thanks to everyone for their help getting through the nuances of Jaguar ownership. It seems like I learn something new with each passing day. Most of the time it's trying to figure out why everything Jaguar did was ridiculously complicated and over engineered.

 

do you have a part number? I might want to change mine b4 it fails .

 

It's part number 1 on the attached diagram.

 

Must be contagious. Got a low coolant red light this morning. Made it home, slow leak. Seems to be on back, passenger side, dripping off the belly pan. Close getting it up and looking for source of leaks.
Looked hard around supercharger and all I saw was dry. Hope that means something. Leak is low volume. Steady drip with engine running.

 

Running down back of engine leak is possible valley hose leak................sorry.

 

Might have lucked on that. Once the belly pan was dropped the front of engine was worse. Tried to look around the water pump and it seemed dry up high. With wire bundles, hoses and crossmembers it is hard to find source. But entire sump had coolant on it. Worse on passenger side.
Took about a quart to fill. Need to run some more and check if it drops after cooling. Starting and watching for source. Was not visible from top or bottom. Will pull the intake tomorrow to better see around the water pump.

 

The leak is definitely coming down the back of engine around the bellhousing. The DREADED VALLEY HOSE failure it appears.
The area around the water pump looks dry. Pulled the air intake off to get a better view. Ran it for five minutes and looked again. Only see a steady drip from the back. BTW, the intake has to be stuck back on to get air flow through the MAF.
Feel sick. I hoped for water pump. Got to move the decimal point to the right for valley hose.

 

I haven't experienced the leaking valley hose. Isn't it simply just removing the clips/band from either side and replacing? Should i sell now before i have to deal with this? I'm at 140k miles and I'm thinking LS swap before i have to experience the valley of the dead?

 

Hi Gregory'
Don't panic. If I can remove and refit a supercharger, anyone can. It's a bit involved, but there are a number of posts on here that guide you through the process. Two tools are essential: A remote cable operated spring hose clamp tool, and a 1/4' drive torque wrench. A good small socket set is an advantage. So is a big cushion to lie on top of the engine to work on the bits at the back.
By the way, this isn't a car that you can easily do an LS swap on. Maybe on a 1984 XJ6, but not an X350. The whole car is an integrated network of computer processors and you can't just rip out the ECU and stick a lump in its place.
Regards
Pete M

Lying down on the job

 

The best method to identify the location of a coolant leak is with a cooling system pressure tester following a cold soak overnight.

Pressurise the cold system to 1 bar and look to see if the gauge on the pressure tester begins to drop. If the gauge begins to show a pressure loss after five minutes, begin looking around the engine bay for signs of leaks or seepage.

Common places are the hose under the supercharger and the outlet pipe at the front of the engine. The EGR feed hoses on the normally aspirated engine are also common failure points.

 

Found leak I think. Coolant is seeping out on top of engine in back on passenger side. It is directly below a hose for the windshield washer. Looks like the valley hose screws in there.
I am no master mechanic, but might be able to swap. Got a garage for it to sit in. Twenty five hours shop time or twenty five weeks my time.
Got a recommendation from a Master Tech on an independent Jag shop in Houston area. Waiting to hear back from them.
If I get brave after getting ballpark quote for parts and labor will start a thread.