Hello, I have a coolant leak.

Background: Just bought a beauty, 87' XJ6, I'm happy to join the Jaguar brotherhood. Yesterday the low coolant light flashes on, after a brief "oh no" moment I calm and drive to the nearest auto parts store to take a look -- the car had not overheated. Coolant was quite low, I noticed coolant was slowly pooling almost directly under the brown plastic coolant tank but couldn't see a drip.

Unfortunately, I was in a hurry that couldn't wait (girlfriend's uncle's wedding rehearsal), so I refilled the coolant and drove about 200 highway miles, I was nervous that I was making a seriously stupid mistake, but she rode like a champ, no issues, I'm lucky.

I got home late, quite dark, so I didn't have energy or ability to trace the leak.

This morning I went out to find another small pool in the same spot, almost directly under the brown plastic tank, but couldn't find an obvious cause for the leak. The coolant was down again, about a quart and a half to bring the tank back up to the neck.

I'm going to take her into the shop this week, but I'm hoping somebody would be generous enough to take a good guess at what I'm looking at -- I'm young and not yet mechanically inclined (looking forward to learning).

Thank you very much.

Matt Lowe

Should I fire her up and look for the leak? probably? Thanks again.

 

I'd take the tank out for a good look-see. Possibly cracked? or perhaps the grommet that seals the low coolant sensor is leaking?

The shop can pressure test the system....shouldn;t be too hard to find the leak

Cheers
DD

 

+1 on the above. 23 year old plastic can become brittle and crack, but you might not be able to see it once it starts to cool down.

If you do take the tank to the garage rather than the whole car, don't forget to take the cap with you.

If you do need to change the tank you can get in touch with Ken at Motorcars LTD our Forum sponsor.

You will see his link at the bottom of the main Forum home page. His prices look to be very competitive.