1992 Sovereign

My Jag started emptying its water/coolant every time I drive uphill after I stop. My gauges all read normal. I can't see any hoses it is coming from (at least not from looking at the top). Any suggestions?

 

Welcome to the forum Debbie,

I've moved your question from General Tech Help to XJ40 forum. Members here with the same model will be able to help.

Graham

 

Hi lovemy92jag,

Welcome to the forum!

We may need more detail to be of any assistance. If you cooling system is actually losing coolant, you need to find and repair the leak asap.

If the water you describe is spilling into the front footwells, a very common issue with XJ40s is clogged Air Conditioning drain tubes. The tubes run from below the evaporator in the center part of the dash down along each side of the center tunnel and through the floorpan to drain condensation. The climate control vents and ductwork are insulated with foam rubber that deteriorates over time and crumbles. The crumbled foam clogs the drain tubes, so the condensed water that collects below the evaporator coil spills out into the footwells when you drive uphill, start from a standing stop, or go around corners. You can see the drain tubes by pulling back the carpet near the accellerator pedal and on the opposite side of the center tunnel in the passenger footwell. Separate the tube at the corrugated gaiter and run a thin coathanger wire or piece of stiff nylon string-trimmer line up through the drain into the dash and work it around to loosen the clog. Then run your wire or line through the tube that runs down through the floorpan. Search this forum for other suggested cleaning methods.

Please keep us informed.

Cheers,

Don

 

How are you determining it's losing it's water/coolant?

Are you seeing a warning indicator or are you seeing fluid on the ground?

Where (as specifically as you can determine) is the water dripping from at its lowest point...the front/center, the middle/center, off to one side?

Does the fluid have a color and/or smell?

Do you hear a hissing, bubbling or see any steam?

If you do not drive on a hill, is the vehicle completely fine until you put it under load?

 

yes it is coolant. My light does come on when it dumps it. When I'm driving on level land, it still leaks when I stop and shut off engine, but when I drive uphill and stop, shut off engine, it pours all the coolant out. I was able to watch it Thursday and it was coming from the middle, but just a bit over to the passenger side. Probably about a 12-18" in front of tires. So its not coming out of front of car.

 

no hissing or bubbling noises. Came coolant loss is green in color.

 

Hi lovemy92jag,

It's a mystery to me why the coolant would leak out more rapidly when you drive uphill. Since the system is under pressure while the engine is running at normal operating temperature, we'd assume the coolant should be forced out of any leak at a fairly constant rate.

If your car is a U.S.-spec Left Hand Drive model, then the passenger side is the right side of the engine as viewed from the driver's seat. Off the top of my head, the only places coolant can leak on that side are from the head gasket or from one of the freeze plugs on the side of the block. The upper radiator hose connects to the upper right corner of the radiator, but I think if your leak was at that point you would consider it to be "the front of the car," but perhaps your terminology is different from mine.

I would recommend that you examine all the coolant hoses carefully, starting with the upper radiator hose that runs across the top front of the engine from the thermostat housing to the radiator. Do your inspection while the engine is cool to avoid the risk of being burned. Some of the hoses must be inspected from underneath the car, so you'll need to raise it and support it with jack stands or ramps, or take it to a shop that can raise it on a lift.

If your coolant hoses are more than 5 years old, it's probably time to replace all of them. A kit of all the hoses you need is inexpensive. Check with forum sponsors SNG Barratt and Jagbits, as well as Coventry West, Welsh Enterprises, Terry's Jaguar, Motorcars Ltd., Rock Auto, Parts Geek, etc. The only challenge is that one or more of the hoses you need to replace are obstructed by, or hidden under the intake manifold, and it's nearly impossible to replace one of them without disconnecting the intake manifold from the cylinder head (which isn't as difficult or time consuming as it sounds).

If you don't find the source of the leak in any of the coolant hoses, check around the radiator for leaks at all fittings and around the perimieter at all the seams and end tanks. To inspect the back side of the fins for damage you'd need to remove the cooling fan(s), and to inspect the front side you'd have to remove the radiator from the car. In general the XJ40 radiators have held up pretty well, but on our '93 the upper hose fitting corroded away and eventually there wasn't enough to clamp the hose to.

The water pump will leak from its weep hole as the seal fails, but I can't imagine that a leak at the pump would worsen when driving uphill unless there was a lot of end play on the pump shaft and driving uphill causes the shaft to move in a way that opens up the leak to a greater degree.

If your heater core was leaking you'd have coolant in the passenger compartment.

Sounds to me like you need a thorough, exhaustive examination of the entire cooling system to track down the leak. It may be easier to find by putting the car on a lift and tracking the coolant trails back to their source.

Please keep us informed!

Cheers,

Don

 

Could the fluid be coming from a cracked hose at the header tank or a cracked header tank?

Just guessing here btw

Larry

 

Hi Larry,

OP says the coolant seems to be coming from the passenger side of what I presume is a U.S. LHD car; the header tank is all the way to the left above the driver's side fender. Can you think of any place in the cooling system that could leak more when going uphill? That's the symptom that's mystifying to me.

Cheers,

Don

 

Don, I missed that bit! (passenger side)

I think he needs to have a good look underneath with a light!

Larry

 

Thank you Don, Larry and ServicemasterD. We found it, it was a fairly large crack in a hose coming off the back of the thermastat housing. We are replacing most of the hoses! Many of them were old and swollen.
Thanks again! I will have more questions as my journey with my '92 continues.

 

Good job. You just saved yourself a bunch of money.

You might want to take the time and replace the coolant. It's one of the most overlooked maintenance issues on those vehicles.

 

Congratulations lovemy92jag!

That hose is a very common culprit. Since it's on the driver's side of a LHD car, your suspicion that the leak was on the passenger side may have slowed down the diagnosis a little, but since the coolant tends to drip down and pool on top of the suspension subframe/crossmember, it winds up going everywhere. I'm wondering if that may explain why you noticed the coolant leaking out when going uphill? Perhaps it was collecting on the subframe until you drove up an incline and it all spilled off?

Cheers,

Don