My 02 XJR needed a new radiator, so i replaced that and obviously drained all the coolant, now since it will be a fresh start with coolant, which to use? The green or orange stuff? Which brands... Peak, prestone... Etc

 

probably best to replace with whatever color you drained, it's pretty hard to drain out all of the coolant unless you have a pressurized coolant flushing system

 

What type was in it? In 2002 the car would have come with Jaguar orange coolant - currently supplied from Jaguar in 5L jug.

Whatever was in it -- you will still have quite a bit remaining .....stuck in the engine and the heater piping ..unless you flushed it. I believe the system holds 11L and the 5L judge from Jaguar is more than enough to refill after a drain.

If you think it still had the OE fluid .......I would top it up with the correct fluid and distilled water and be done with it. My coolant after five years in my 02 looked very good and I had almost no sediment -- how did yours look?

This is a never ending debate on every forum with oil and transmission fluid also .... For myself it is not worth the (at max) $20.00 savings to worry about any incompatibility. The color of the coolant can't be used as a guide for compatibility .. they are all different. All orange coolant is not the same -- all green coolant is not the same ....sometimes it can be difficult to see the slightly different color.

 

Well i drained the complete system like i said, i used the prestone orange as advertised on the reservoir with the recommended part# and i bled the system with the cap off with heat on until the bubbles went away (till i got the air out) closed the cap and drove the car all day and then all of a sudden low coolant message came on and temp gauge starting going up close to the H. I shut the car off and openend the reservoir cap carefully to add fluid and got a geyser effect. I let it cool down topped it off with coolant, and drove it for 5min and temp guage started going up again but NO coolant loss. Stop it, let it cool down again and proceed to my house. Super frusterated since this is my 2nd xjr with similar problems, the only differenence was the first 98 xjr i had would over heat in 2min and would not be able to drive while this new one i got the 2002, i drove all day, could it be a bad thermostat? I mean if i didnt bleed it properly, it shouldve over heated right away. Also, both upper hoses coming from the thermostat housing were hot which tells me the thermostat is good or no? Should i be worried about that geyser effect or was that normal? While i was adding warm coolant in the reservoir, it would make a hot cracking noise from the reservoir???

 

Check these coolant return hoses labeled 2 and 3 in this image. They frequently get reversed when re-assembled, leading to problems like yours.
Vector

 

Yes, lines are 100% correct, i checked them all

 

I'm not sure what part number you are speaking of regarding the cap and Prestone ......

The overheating you have going on has nothing to do with the type of coolant used. Even if you removed all the drains you still had coolant in the system and if you flushed the system you still had a volume of plain water..... you can't drain everything out.

Also ... You needed to follow a procedure to properly fill the XJR - removing the plug on the top of the supercharger and running the supercharger pump with the engine off and refilling the system -- then reinstalling the plug - then running the engine until the thermostat opens with the reservoir cap off and the heat on "HI" and refilling to the top of the tank and reinstalling the cap. What you are doing is overfilling the system a bit and the excess will be sent to the overflow in the fender -- you only do the over fill once.

I have no idea if what you did properly filled the system and you are getting vapor lock or if you have an additional problem -- The 2002 should not have the pump or thermostat issues.

Why did you replace the radiator? Did you have this issue before? It sounds like you may have some other issue. The 1998's had both the pump and the thermostat issue as well as multiple coolant recommendations as Jaguar moved to different coolants -- some incompatible.

 

I drained my radiator on the 05 Super V8 and refilled the radiator with Prestone Dex Cool and one pint Water Wetter. Started up engine. Let it idle with the heater on. All seemed well. Started up the car a day later and noticed orange liquid on the drain pan. Noticed coolant dripping on the ground with car running. Shut down. Inpected everthing. No obvious source of leak. Coolant level was still correct. Turned off heater. Leak slowed and then stopped. Drove to store. No leak at store with engine running or off. ( Checked twice...coming and going..)Drove home. No leak. Turned heated back on. No leak. Coolant level same. WHAT GIVES?????

 

Hi Jaguars4r
Here is a weblink to another online website page "How to check for a stuck thermostat"

http://automechanics.wordpress.com/2...d-overheating/

I read in an article online: Test thermostat by turning on your heating system, no heat means that your thermostat is stuck in the open position. The thermostat might be stuck in the closed postion if the bottom (of the radiator) hose is a lot cooler than the top hose.

Another possiblity is that you might have a pinhole water pump leak.

We had this issue when our 2001 xj8 was still under jaguar warantee and the dealership did a pressure test on the water pump and found the leak.
Without the pressure test, they probably would not have found the leak.

They replace the water pump and that solved the problem.

Jim Lombardi

 

Thanks. But why would it leak when the heater is on and not leak when the heater is off?

 

The heater test is to see if the thermostat is stuck in the closed position.
It has nothing to do with any coolant leaks, it is only a test to see if the thermostat is bad.

Jim Lombardi