It seems I have a leak in what Jaguar calls the "octopus hose". The leak is coming down from just above the transmission next to the ujoint for the steering column. (I just changed out the rack and pinion column). It is not coming from a hose so it must be the joint in the octopus hose just where it sits on the top middle of the bell part of the transmission. How hard is this to DIY? Jag has to order the hose (245 dollars) and says it is difficult to change out or about an hour and a half of labor. It looks doable from the top but do I need any special tools?





2002 Super 8 (supercharged Vanden Plas) 107k miles in Sarasota, Fl

 

The octopus hose is a significant replacement project. Releasing the Norma connectors on both sides of the engine is a large part of that repair. There is a Jaguar tool that facilitates that release. There has been a post on the TSB identifying that tool that I cannot find at the moment.

 

Well that sux. I hate when there are special tools. My understanding is that if order the new octupus it comes with the compression parts necessary. So, if I can remove the old hose cleanly, I'm ok, right? If not, where can I get that tool. Looking at the hose, it does not look that hard to do. I can get to all the pieces/parts but can I remove them?k


2002 super 8, 105k Sarasota, Fl

 

I just cut the old ones off- I had so much corrosion removing them nicely was not an option- it worked out fine.

 

I think you may have to remove the supercharger to replace the octopus hose on your car.

If that is the case, it is far from a simple job. Most guys say it takes a weekend mechanic a full day to remove and another day to put it back.

Good luck with the repair however it turns out.
Vectpr

 

Here is a link to a link to TSB 303-17 that identifies the tool. Simple enough, probably made out of plastic.

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...00/#post751497

 

I spoke with a Jaguar Tech who told me that this is an hour to an hour and a half job if you only do the octopus hose. This came with the caveat that when that hose goes the others usually follow. If you have to replace the heater hoses you have to pull the S/C which makes it a much bigger deal. Changing out all the hoses is billed at about 9hours of labor by Jaguar.
I do not see a hose leak anywhere along the hose so I am pretty sure it is the connection at the middle of the octopus hose just above the tranny. I am thinking that we pulled it or cracked it while replacing the rack and pinion. the hose runs near the U-joint of the steering column. If this is the case, the hose is not bad, but instead the joint. It looks like this could be replace but Jag says there is no fix, it's the whole hose that needs to be replaced. So, rather than getting into a full hose replacement job I want to just replace the octopus hose for starters. Has anyone done this? It looks manageable and the main lines that go into the heater hoses actually clamp to the metal part of the heater hose which runs under the S/C. As long as I don't bend these metal hoses taking off the old hose clamp aren't I going to be ok?
I have attached a picture of the clamp that I am concerned about. There are two and they come with the new hose. IF I can get these off cleanly, I believe I am in good shape. Has anyone tackled this job?

 

The Norma connectors are a common source of difficult to find leaks. They drip slowly onto the cats which vaporizes into the unpleasant coolant smell. Many an owner has cut them out with a hacksaw blade in a holder and replaced with heater hose and clamps, 5/8" I believe.

 

Here is forum thread that deals with replacing the octopus hose (includes photos and instructions):

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-repair-93451/

Jim Lombardi

 

I did the Octopus hose on the wifes car a couple of years ago. If the dealer quoted you 1.5 hours labor JUMP ON THAT DEAL!!!!!!

I only frequent this board to learn and share things I experience on the wifes VPD. When it breaks, I fix it. The Oct hose took me 8 hours to replace because I took my time, made notes and removed items to facilitate extraction easier. Then I cut the dams thing apart to make it even easier to get the clamps off. Most just crumbled.

If I only had to pay $300 (guess of 1.5 hours labor) I would go that route. Some jobs are worth paying for.

 

Thank you all for your responses. It was a mixed batch but I gave it a shot anyhow. I'll precede this with the fact that I am not a mechanic nor do I have much experience tearing anything apart. I was able to change out the octopus hose in a super 8 (supercharger) without much of a problem. I did not have to remove anything other than the breather tube which attaches to the top of the throttle body, the coolant tank and the motor below the coolant tank. I only had to remove the screws from that last two so the hoses could be easily accessed on them. I did need two more hands at some points but overall it was surprisingly easy to do. I did not have any special tools and it ended up costing me the price of the hose ($270) from Jaguar.


2002 Vanden Plas Super 8 Sarasota, Fl 110,000 miles.

 

It sounds like you are a better mechanic than you thought you were.

 

Hi Curtis. I'm doing a similar thing. Just how do you disconnect the heater feed pipe from the push and seal norma connector?

 

When you look at the new octopus you'll see how the norma connector works. It's a circle of plastic fingers that grip onto the ridge of the metal heater connector coming from under the supercharger, then the black part of the norma connector slides up over it and locks the fingers down. To disconnect, I just backed off that black piece to expose the fingers and it came right off. It was quite easy.

 

Curtiss, I had a hard time following your directions, so I hope you don’t mind me putting a few pictures to the solution. I had what I thought was corrosion preventing me from moving anything, so I cut the connector off, since I was replacing the hose to begin with.
Here is what it looked like in the XK8:




You may not recognize it yet, but the retaining tab is at the top of the picture above.

Here are the new and old, side by side, notice the gap, when the locking ring is slid forward:





So to remove the hose in the car, one must depress the finger button, the tab with the three vertical ribs above, and lift the hook with a small screw driver, like this:





What you see is my old connector after I cleaned it up. It was a bear to get the ring to move and what I ended up doing was using some adjustable pliers to squeeze the ring back in:





As I worked my way around the ring, I discovered the reason for the funny colored “corrosion”, there was a crack and it had been leaking!





I hope this helps those of us that are trying to solve leaks, or trying to be proactive and replacing the hoses before we get stranded on the side of the road. Happy motoring!

 

Bumping an old thread, but I can't seem to get a straight answer to this. I've replaced the octopus hose on my 2000 xjr, but with the norma connector I can't the locking ring to slide over the green clip. Every time I try the green clip falls out. The connector seems secure on the hose without the green clip, but I remember the old hose had the green clip in place. Do I need this green clip????

 

You can discard the green clip. It is a retaining clip to prevent you from accidentally sliding the front locking collar of the Norma forward because it is a little tricky if you need to release the locking collar and move it back. View a previous post for instructions to unlock the connector.

In your attached photo, you do not appear to have inserted the gripping fingers of the connector far enough into the metal pipe; the fingers should be on top of the raised ridge on the pipe and gripping it. You also have not slid the front part of the Norma forward over the locking fingers to depress on them to lock onto the pipe.

Post a new photo to show you've done things right.

 

I know that it seems like its locked in pace fine without the green clip so it makes sense that its not needed, but I keep coming back to the fact that the hose I removed had the green clip there and I had to remove it to get the old hose off.

Here are some other pics of the hose over the ridge and then with the locking ring slid forward, you can see what happens to the green clip:

 

Looks like you have done it right.I

In your last posted photo, the green clip is almost being completely pushed out of the way and not doing any locking. The turquoise band is also exposed to confirm the lock.

If you still have the Norma intact on your replaced Octopus, maybe you can try to put the green clip on it with the collar in the extended/locked position and see if it prevents you from sliding the collar back after depressing the little collar-releasing tab with 3 ridges. That may be the reason why you had to take the green clip off before you can unlock the Norma.

 

Unfortunately, on the old hose the norma connection is broken so there is nothing to compare. And I'm just not buying the suggestion that the clip is to prevent you accidentally locking the collar forward because I can easily slide the collar forward and back by hand. So again I'm left with the conclusion that this clip must be involved in locking the collar, but I'm still at a loss as to how.