Hey everyone,

again I come to the halls of this great forum in times of need.

After having only two very short drives (100m) in recent days, this morning my 2001 X308 3.2L (250k kilometers) refused to start.

It started briefly and then died within one second. The starts afterwards were not working. I tried four times and then opened the engine bay. There was a fizzling noise at the engine like it was under pressure.

Then I noticed quite a coolant leak right on top of the engine. I opened the coolant tank and noticed that ~1L of coolant was missing. I added the 1L of coolant but the engine is stilll not starting.

Please see pictures where this problem occurs.

Does anybody have any ideas? Are these two issues related?

Thank you very much,
bfx

 

Roadside assistance was there, it seems the engine just had too much fluid (gasoline) in it and basically pressing on the gas while starting it worked. So it was kind of stupid to call them but luckily there is no lasting damage to the engine.

No to the coolant I was told it might be coming from the thermastat housing. Does anybody have experience with this kind of coolant leak? Is this a common problem at 250k kilometers?

 

I did some further digging around in the forums and from the locations it seems to be the gaskets of the thermostat housing to be leaking.

 

I've now decided to replace the seals on the thermostat housing.

I will buy thermostat seal number NCA2246BA and the bottom seal number NCA2269CA to do this job.

 

If I were you, I’d see if replacing just the thermostat gasket all by itself would fix the issue. The base gasket that’s held down by 4 bolts can be a tedious chore to replace.

 

Sorry, stupid question. When looking up the parts online at https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/ I only find thermostat sealing rings. But in some sets I also see thermostat gaskets.

Do thermostat gaskets really exist? Should I replace both gaskets and sealing rings?

And why are thermostat gaskets not listed in the image?

Thank you

 

I re-checked everything and it seems to me that for the X308 there are only seal rings in the thermostat. For X300 there have been real gaskets. So I will go ahead and replace seal rings but not buy any gaskets (because there aren't any).

 

It’s #5 in that diagram. It mounts around the thermostat itself. I know that when you purchase a new aluminum thermostat assembly, they come with both the rubber o rings and paper gaskets. I have not once had any success with those paper gaskets so I’d advise to not use them if you’re searching for them.

When you get it apart, make sure you clean and dry off the aluminum mating surfaces, reinstall the thermostat with the new seal. I use a little bit of rtv on the thermostat cover prior to installing it.

 

Yes, I bought #5 and #7 in that diagram.

What do you mean with "RTV"? Is this some high-temperature silicon?

 

Okay, so I replaced the seals but noticed that the existing paper gaskets were totally wrecked. So I removed the paper gaskets...

I didn't have replacement paper gaskets for the thermostat housing so I used high-temp silicone.

Now obviously it leaks a bit, so I'll either have to replace the paper gasket or buy a new thermostat assembly... what a mess.

Does anybody know the # for the paper gaskets? I'm unable to find them for 3.2L X308. Closest I have come is EBC8331 but there is no website saying it fits the x308.

Thank you