Well, after paying 5400.00 for my 1998 beautiful XJ8L, I got to drive it about 300 mikes before I had to replace fuel filter, spark plugs and seals, one coil, valve cover gaskets.

Then, just for kicks, I got to drive it about 100 more miles then I got to replace the upper (it blew off while driving down the street at the upper clamp) & lower radiator hoses as well as that small 3 inch hose (precaution), thermostat & plastic thermostat housing (leaking, replaced with metal one) and expansion tank hose.

That got me the pleasure of driving it about 200 more miles.

Now, it started overheating, we came to the conclusion that it uses almost 1 gallon of coolant every 4 miles. There is NO indication of it coming out anywhere, or steaming anywhere, or any water or smoke out the tailpipes. Also when it is overheating, is no indication of steam anywhere or anything like gurgling sound or smell or anything indicating movement of hot water anywhere. Where the heck is the coolant going?

My mechanic, not a jag mechanic so he don't have all the specilized tools, took out the plugs and they all look great, all uniform colors. There is no misfiring or running rough that I would assume would come with a bad head gasket leaking that much coolant thru it.

He did a compression test the best he can with his tools and came up with compression at 180 on all cylinders execpt for the front drivers side, that one came up with 130, every time tested.

HELP!!!!!
Mike

 

Have you checked you oil to see if all that coolant is in the sump?

Did the car overheat when the hose blew?

Its either leaking or burning the coolant. Did the car overheat when the hose blew? What do you mean he did a compression test as best he could?

 

Like most cars Jaguars x308s have a few items that eventually go that need to be addressed.


Not sure how many miles you have - but the gaskets around the plugs do fail as do the plastic thermostat housings. Both can cause other problems when they go.

Did it overheat when the pipes went??

 

Please calm down.

A coolant leak can be easily found using one of the free or buy/return pressure testers available at some of the auto parts stores.

All your comments might lead me to suggest that the thermostat is not working correctly. A perfect example of how a $20 part could cause $5000 repair in unknowing hands.

 

you need to find a good mechanic, who can help take all your pain away...the car is a solid car if it is maintained well and you have someone good working on it...

 

No coolant in the oil. When the top radiator hose came off, it instantly overheated and was shut down and cooled off right away.

I was mistaken in my wording, he did compression test a few and got the same readings everytime. He was waiting to borrow something to test pressuresa somehow to see if there was any ylinder leaking, something to pressurize the cooling system is what I got out of it, again though, no leaking was gound.

It is going to be towed monday to a place in Va. Beach, Abacus Automotive Services, of which many on the forums here have had nothing but good things to say about them. Time to see what happens.

I am going to assume it will need head gastkets replaced, any idea what what the dealer charges for this and what a import shop might charge?

BTW, it has 81,000 miles on it.