Have a 2000 xj8 308 Took the car for its mot last Friday evening and passed without any problems. The next morning went to pick up my grandaughter. I noticed when i stopped at lights very close to her house that steam was pouring out of the front of the car. I stopped just around the corner and it appears that there is some sort of leak at the drivers side (uk) Not sure if is was leaking water that was turning to steam hitting the hot engine or it was the hot coolant itself.
Some coolant has been lost, topped it up and drove back home fine a couple of miles. Water is leaking from somewhere that I cannot find. but it does not totally drain out. Its definately not the radiator. I fill up the expansion tank to top up and squeeze the pipe going to radiator and that causes water to come out of the leak where ever it is. but can not see where it is. The temperature gauge on the dash just does not move, Just stays at normal. Anybody had this problem before Regards

 

I am unsure if you have the same pump up front as I do on my SC model? But if so, there is an electric water pump down by the frame to check, behind the radiator, air box side.

 

Thank you for this. This looks to be the exact area where the water appears to be coming from. Its been raining every time i have gone to take the air box off to have a look. Again thank you for this very much appreciated. looked at the picture of your car it looks like a real smasher. I will let everyone know what I find..

 

That pump is for the intercoolers, SC cars only.

 

Hi,

Can you please specify the location? More front of the drivers side (UK) or back of the engine?
Just for my understanding - how do you know that it is actually leaking when you don't see it?

If you have a non SC car, you won't find the intercooler pump as they're SC-only, as already mentioned above. But if that's the area where it is leaking from, it's either the radiator, the radiator hose which is coming from the outlet pipe (=crossover pipe) or the crossover-pipe itself. There's not much more other in that area where coolant is running through.
Check the connectors, pipe ends, clamps and the especially the connections of the crossover pipe to the engine block. As the coolant dries, it should leave a whitish residue where it evaporates.

Forgive me please - what do you mean by "leaking water"? Rain water dripping on the engine as you open the hood? If coolant evaporates, it smells quite distinctively - you definitely would tell the difference between pure water and coolant evaporating.

 

Hi Thanks for the message. I took the air filter cover off and did not find the pump in the illustration. And of course I wouldn't its for a different model. All the same thanks for the reply highhorse. Now when the engine is off there is no leak of water at all.

When the engine is running. There is quits a substantial dripping of coolant and you are right as it evaporates it does smell distinctively.

Now because when the problem first occurred and I opened the bonnet/hood of the engine. There was this large billowing steam that appeared to be coming from the right hand side. I assumed the problem was there.

Now with the road where I am parked being now dry. I turned the engine on with the expansion tank filler cap off. And there was no leak.

I fitted the cap back and then after about a minute or so the dripping started and I still could not exactly see where it was coming from. But the water was dripping off the bottom front of the engine. And the water did not look to be coming from the radiator area, running to the front of the engine and then dripping off.

At the top of the engine on the right hand side when I took the air filter off, there was no water coming out of the top of the engine gasket and dripping down the engine.

What I am going to do tomorrow is try and get under a bit more and take a couple of pictures with my phone..

Now my assumption is that like other cars there is a sump at the bottom from where the engine oil can be drained out. Is there any additional sumps at the bottom with a gasket that water could seep out of if the gasket was gone.

Its just that looking I had a very limited view of that area laying on my back and water seemed to be gathering at a sump rim before dripping off onto the floor. But it could have been coming down the side of the engine, gathering there to run off.

With the engine being cold there would not be the strong smelling steam that I had seen. Like I said I will take a few photos and try and add them here.. I really do appreciate your replies...

Just don't believe that I got her mot'd and then the day after this happens. The mot inspectors would have seen any leaking of coolant and the car would have failed the mot.. So its something that has failed pretty quickly for this to happen..

 

That's not much of a surprise. As the engine warms up, the coolant system will be increasingly pressurized with higher coolant temperatures. Without the cap there's no pressure building up so that there's no coolant leaking. Despite the fact that you should never open the coolant system once the engine is warmed up until it's cooled down (3-4 hours), this tells us that the leak isn't severe enough to loose water when the system is not under pressure.

Well, that leaves you with the outlet pipe and its connections (2 connector flanges to the engine block, temperature sensor aperture, three hose connector nipples) and the waterpump.
Look here for getting an idea what to look for: JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource
Do not worry about the howto being for an XK8, it's exactly the same engine as in the XJ8's.
As you can inspect the crossover pipe and the adjacent thermostat tower with the hood open, it shouldn't take long to locate the culprit. The waterpump is mounted right under the crossover pipe centrally on the front engine cover and is driven by the accessory belt. You can get your head between the hood and the front of the engine to have a look for any traces of coolant running down the front engine cover.

What do you mean by engine gasket? The valve cover gasket? Yeah man, that would be a really bad sign if water would be leaking from there That's logical, because there are no more hot surfaces where the coolant can evaporate.

 

Just to let you know that its fixed. I have been really unwell due to the arthritis so it has taken me some time to be able to sort this. But I got down to where it was suggested to look. And the part that was shown in the link was in fact cracked and leaking waster as suggested. I am really glad to say that it is fixed. I am absolutely over the moon. I would never ever have got to the bottom of this with the very limited experience that I have.. You are all so far away I wish I could buy you all a pint..

 

xjr2014_de I have a restricted performance message that has come on now it is P0327 Knock sensor 1 circuit low Does that mean that this sensor is faulty or is it something else on the circuit ?

 

Most likely, ...you can do a couple of searches and review them. I would recommend... "P0327 knock sensor x308" and "X308 knock sensor" and start reading.
But to start with... https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...00-xj8-153702/ ...and if you need to know how to replace it, check post #13 in that thread.