1986 XJS. 7 weeks new to me. Sorting out several issues. I have a coolant leak coming from under the radiator. The bottom cross member is collecting the coolant and the filler foam is soaked with coolant. The coolant will drip off from both ends of the cross member. I checked all lines and hoses and can't locate the leak. The leak occurs after the car has been running and slows to almost no leak or none as the car cools off. I am thinking it is a leaky radiator. Something easy I may be missing or time for pressure test/removal?

 

There are a couple things that can be leaking: the radiator itself or one of the hoses. if it ain't one, it's the other :-)

Unless your XJS is the rare exception it would probably benefit from a good preofessional radiator cleaning, leaking or not!

Cheers
DD

 

Remove it! Not a bad job, hood off (undo grille, undo four bolts on hinges, undo rams, get friend to help lift it off), top panel off (four bolts), undo hoses (bottom hose a pain to get to but will come off), get same friend to help pull the rad straight up. You may have to undo the rad shroud (six more small nuts, and lots of skinned knuckles).

Then you can clean out all the muck from the oil cooler, rad fins, aircon cooler fins etc etc, and get the rad pressure tested and recored! All new hoses and the cooling is done. Maybe an electric main fan while you are at it and get rid of a belt and pulley? Certainly wax protect the inside of the crossmember and protect the outside too.

Some say you do not have to remove the hood, which is true, but much easier access if you do, say I, anyway.

Greg

 

It's really not a bad job. I just pulled the radiaton on my '87 last weekend. To me the worst part was dealing with the nutty drain and cleaning up all the coolanat that went everywhere despite my attmpts to get a tube around the outlet.

I didn't pull the hood, just propped it up nearly straight up-and-down. Wear some work gloves, be liberal with WD40, and even if no help is available you can lift it out by yourself (I'm not a big guy and I did).

The radiator shop just reported back that it's "not in good shape". So, $450 for a recore vs. $600 for new, but $150 is $150 and he's going to put a drain **** at the bottom of it so I won't have to take a bath (literally) next time I drain it.

I'm going to put dual electric fans in, as my engine driven fan has a crack. I'll have to fabricate a new shroud, but with the old one handy I have all the dimensions I need.

Good luck with it!

John
1987 XJS V12, 62000 miles

 

It will be a good opportunity to clean up all the wiring, relays and connectors that are hidden up there whilst the radiator is out.

 

agreed, pulling the radiator takes only about an hour depending on how much you take your time. its no big deal.

 

I said please don't tell me. I'm not afraid of the work to pull it but this car has already stretched my budget. I just want to get it on the road. I haven't even plated it yet. You all have told me what I expected. I was hoping for something cheaper, easier, quicker but I am learning that this probably isn't happening with an XJS.

 

Try to not get too discouraged! Any older car you buy that has not been on the road for a while will have issues that need to be sorted out. There is usually a reason they were not on the road. Once you do get it sorted the Jags are wonderful cars and operating costs(fuel aside) are not out of line with most other cars. I bought my 88 for 800.00. It was beat to death. I spent the first year mostly fixing the poor repairs the last owner had done. That being said, other than tires and the radiator, I spent no more than 1500/year in repairs/ maint. The radiator was my fault. I ignored the cracked yellow fan and while I was leaving the gas station in a particularly cool way i.e. sideways to impress some young Mustang owners there was a very loud bang, followed by the loos of all my coolant. The Mustang kids were not impressed. Go figure. So at that time I upgraded to an aluminum radiator, new stock cooling fan and new hoses and belts. The other major mechanical upgrade was a conversion kit to install a GM 1 wire alternator from Johns Cars. This was a HUGE improvement over Lucas. I have owned my 90 for about 6 months now and it too has been very easy to live with.

Hang in there!

 

Agreed, I have a 1996 XJS. I use it as a daily driver. It's great. Once you get past the initial "updates" the rest of the car will be fine.

 

I noticed the same thing; coolant leak after radiator is hot, not so much when cold. I couldn't see anything obvious until I removed the underside of the air dam and found the lower rad hose spewed coolant (when hot). I couldn't it easily see the leak as it was on the upper side of the hose. Maybe it is a hose leak.