Hey all!

Pulled the Smoke Screen Option last night on I-476 in PA. Dusted all the crops with a healthy fog of anti-freeze smoke. When I pulled over I could not find a leak at all! Realized it was only really gushing out on acceleration, not idle.

At first I couldn't figure out where in the heck the coolant leak was. Was afraid of head gasket maybe at first but realized smoke not coming out of exhaust. Reason I thought head gasket was engine kept bogging down under acceleration. I believe bogging down was happening because of the huge puddle of coolant collecting around the left rear spark plug wire and bubbling up like crazy. Shorting the cylinder I suppose.

After lots of investigation it turns out to be a smallish diameter hose that appears to be going from engine towards firewall. At idle I pushed down on suspect hose with long screw driver handle and it gushed all over. Let it go and it stopped, almost. Thinking maybe heater core feed hose? Looks like a bear to get to as I can barely see the hose and can't even reach the hose with my hand. Assuming everything above it must come off? Too cold for that crap right now!

Any help on what it really is and best way to tackle it?

BTW, I am apparently on the "Hose installment plan". This will be hose #3 replaced since purchase in July. Yes, should have replace them all at once but time, cash, life, etc...you know. Considering I put this baby into play as my daily driver and only replaced one alternator (myself for total cost of $85 and 3 hoses at $20 each, not too bad..

Thanks heaps in advance! Until then it sits in the driveway under it's cover until temps get into double digits and the new foot of snow melts.

 

Going from memory (others will chime in) there's a hose from the RH water rail to the heater valve, another from the heater valve to the heater core nipple that come thru the fire. Then a third hose that goes from the *other* heater core nipple to the loooooong aluminum pipe that eventually terminates at the radiator.

All can be difficult to reach.

Long screwdrivers help, or small sockets on a long extension, as does removing the 1" diameter 'balance tube' at the rear of the engine.

Get the hoses you need first and then *cut* the old hoses off, especially the ones to the heater. You don't wanna do a lot of twisting to get the hose off ----you could distort or even break the nipples.....and that would be a sad thing.

If you remove the balance tube you might break the little sections of joiner hose (one at each end of the tube) so you might as well order those as well.

Clean and lightly lubricate your hose clamps so they're easy to contend with on installation of the new hoses. It'll be awkward enough without fighting the hose clamps.

Don't forget to properly bleed the system afterwards

Cheers
DD

 

Yep. That's the heater hose. That was the first hose to go on my 1st XJS too...and with identical smoke screen results. Of all the hoses, it seems to be the weakest link, because of how it goes over the top of the cam cover, and is exposed to heat rising from the hot motor. It's a PITA to replace with the intakes in place, and you will likely lose wrenches and srewdrivers to the abyss that exists around the motor/firewall/transmission area.

I strongly suggest that you buy a complete set of hoses, and just replace them all at once. It will be a big job, and you should plan on a full weekend under the best conditions. Much longer if you've never done the job before.
If your cam covers leak, especially the half moon seals at the rear, this would be the perfect time to just pull the intakes/fuel rail as a whole unit, and replace the half moons with either the aluminum plugs, or just well siliconed rubber seals, and replace the stock paper gaskets with the later Gortex gaskets Part Numbers EBC 9627 & EBC 9628.

Captain Jaguar, out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, sells a hose kit about as inexpensively as anywhere you're likely to find. I've bought a few of them over the years, and the hoses are always good quality, and a good fit.

Here is his website: Jaguar parts and Land rover parts new used and remanufactured

and here is his ebay listing of the hose kit:
Jaguar Coolant Water Hose Kit XJS HK8293S | eBay

 

I bought the Captain Jaguar hose kit and was quite pleased. Good price on a complete set of moulded hoses. Before I got it though I'd had that same hose leak. Its a standard heater hose, 5/8ths, iirc. But if you're going to try and replace it with the intakes on I'd highly recommend the moulded hose. It'll help. This might be a case where taking all the stuff off will take less time than fighting it with everything in place.

 

you need hose no, C43999 click on the no. and it should take you to the page
you will be best to remove the whole r.h. air cleaner, its quite doable though
you don't need 2 as stated (its wrong) I got mine via amazon at 50% of their price

 

same one that busted on mine, its the heater hose like everyone is saying.

just buy a whole kit. Even a cheap kit is better than old OEM hoses. I think URO ones are around 90 dollars.

 

I have just completed an identical operation on my 85 HE and the pipe that burst was exactly the same one. It is definitely a heater hose, it runs just besides the brake servo / throttle linkage to connect between the right water rail and heater valve.
The good news is that it looks a lot harder to reach than it actually is, you can do it in situ without stripping anything back. I found that soaking the hoses in boiling water prior to fitting (with plenty of lube on the connections) was a massive help. The hardest thing will be lining up all the hose clamps in a way that makes them easy to tighten, I got round this by tightening them all up to be just snug on the hose prior to slipping them on to stop them turning on themselves.


If I were you, as others have said buy a kit and do the lot. The worst were the three crossover piper hoses just be sure to move the compressor and crankcase breather when you do them to give yourself some room and for the love of god don't drop a flange bolt into your water pump as I did (thanks to Doug and Greg for pulling me out of the fire).
Come to think of it, it would be an ideal time for you to pull the rad, do the belts and replace the fan while the system is empty - its what I ended up doing

 

not trying to steal the thread.. but anyone have captain jaguars contact info? the website.. well goes to an underconstruction website..

 

Phone: 918-664-4206
email: parts@captainjaguarscatchouse.com