So last year while i was removing my supercharger and fuel rail, I decided to replace the water pump as a preventative measure. Easy access at that point and only a few extra minutes of labor.

When I purchased the aftermarket water pump, I noticed the mating surface was not machined and left 'as cast'. They do this to save money by avoiding an extra manufacturing step. To prevent leaking at the mating surface, they give you a paper gasket and tell you to 'RTV' the gasket into place. Reluctantly, I trusted the product design and installed it.

Should have known better. Recently I developed a leak at 2 different locations: one of the hoses at the supercharger, and a mystery leak at the front of the engine.
Here is a snapshot from the front when I did my last oil change, and a boroscope pic just below the water pump:


So now I need to replace the water pump again. This time I went for an OEM type, machined mating surface. Pep Boys sells this one:

It comes with a metal gasket. Check the raised surface of the gasket all around. If it is flat in any location, don't use it. There were 2 flat spots in the aftermarket gasket, so I decided to use the OEM once I had laying around.

The workshop manual says you can do the job without having to remove the coolant manifold, but I don't see how. I tried pushing the new pump down in there from the top, and it seemed impossible without removing the manifold. You also have much more room to clean the matting surface on the block once the manifold is removed.

So here are the steps I took:
1. Put hood in service mode
2. Drain coolant:
3. Disconnect this hose but be careful it will still have coolant in it:

4. Disconnect all [4] coolant connections at the intercoolers
5. Disconnect the coolant temp sensor, knock sensor connector and the connector right next to it
6. Disconnect the wiring harness on top of the coolant manifold
7. You can push the intercooler hose under the coolant manifold to get it out of the way, or if you plan on replacing the thermostat, you can split the manifold in half then move the hose out of the way
8. Disconnect the other coolant hoses from the manifold
9. Remove all [4] torx screws from the manifold (note: the manual says to remove the supercharger belt to get access to one of the bolts, but this is not needed. Feel for the bolt with your fingers then guide a bit in there)
10. Rotate the manifold to expose the last connected hose:

11. If you can access the clip holding the fat, short hose connected to the cylinder block, then remove it and the hose. This will make it easier when re-installing. It has been removed in the photo above.
12. Disconnect the final hose from the manifold and carefully remove the manifold. Discard the r-ring seals.
13. If available, use a syringe to drain the remaining coolant from the cylinder block
14. Remove the main belt from the water pump pulley
15. Remove the [3] water pump pulley bolts, then the pulley
16. Remove the [5] water pump housing bolts, then the water pump
17. Clean the mating surfaces

18. Re-install and torque to spec per the repair manual
19. Re-fill coolant

Here is the leak evidence on the block and the pump gasket:





There it is, cheap mating surface design, bad gasket, poor installation instructions, or combo of all 3?

Not sure but I will be demanding my money back since the part is covered under warranty and less than 1 year old.

 

Good job well done

 

Thanks.

Advance Auto ended up giving me a full refund so aside from some coolant, o-rings, and a few hours on the weekend ... not too expensive.

 

What was the remedy to the leak? Can you suggest what water pump to get ? I'm thinking just doing OEM ,. Also how much time you would estimate for the job?

 

Nice write up.

 

Thanks!

Root cause of the leak was coolant forcing itself through a weak spot in the paper gasket/RTV. The instructions don't mention how much RTV to apply and I didn't want to over do it for fear of contaminating the coolant.

Corrective action was to use a pump with a machined mating surface like the one pictured above, along with an OEM metal gasket. No RTV or guesswork needed. Just check to make sure the gasket you use has no 'flat spots' around it. The raised groove in the gasket should deform
and crate a a tight seal as you torque the pump back in. Areas with 'flat spots' may cause a leak.

I actually checked last night as I had the bumper off and no signs of leaking anywhere.

Job took about 4 hours maybe? I like to take my time.

 

Nice write-up... On another note did you ever work out your issues using the 15mm spacers?

 

Ugh no. I'm currently working through a Park Brake fault as well as trying to get my 01 Cherokee to start. So the spacers are at the bottom of the list right now lol.

 

Thank you for sharing. Sometimes it's tempting to buy the less expensive part but I've learned "buy once, cry once".

Can you explain putting the hood in service position? I would assume that means removing the hood but would like to learn more.

 

Yeah the funny thing is they were both about the same price. Still much less than OEM. However I would go with the OEM gasket, only 15$ and worth it.

Service mode is when you unclamp the bottom of each strut and then you can move the hood into a full vertical position. Slide an 8mm allen wrench or bolt through the holes in the hood hinges to keep it propped up vertically.

This gives you a lot more room to work.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Great post! Always appreciate anyone willing to write up a DIY with pictures.
Just wanted to chime in here on one thing, you don’t need to remove the manifold to get the water pump out. I know, it sure looks like you do and when I did mine, it looked like I was gonna hafta, but, I finally figured out the magic sequence of how to angle it around. See my post here:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...120768/page12/

It’s down around post #225.

 

Can anyone shed light on how the pipe connector shown in "Item 3" above, in this post,

disconnects?


I have removed the retaining clip and tried to disconnect the rigid connector from the coolant manifold. I have wiggled and pulled and pried - the thing doesn't want to come off. Is it just a really strong pull down on the rubber hose beneath the plastic union ? Sorry for the mundane question, but honestly, I have spent over thrirty minutes on three or four separate visits to the vehicle, I can't get it to release.

 

There’s a heavy wire bale that has to be pried out about a centimeter before that coupling will release. You did that, right?

Then it should pull apart.

 

I did remove the clip (wire bale).
Maybe it's just because it's a 2009 and like many of the other rubber hoses I have removed, it has "heat bonded". By that, I mean, every single rubber hose I removed in the process of getting to the supercharger removal (for the valley hose replacement) took significant co-ercing to release on the metal union, the heat cycles and the pressure from the retaining clips made the rubber seem like it had bonded to the metal unions.
So, with your comment, making sure I removed the metal retaining "bale", I will go and use more force to pull the plastic union from the coolant manifold.

 

I don't own an XK anymore but before you start applying more force, can you use a sharp razor knife to lightly score the rubber hose? I have found that this helps to release some of the tension.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. This part is different to the other rubber hoses, it is actually a plastic union that has the rubber hose crimped to it (just visible on the underside of the circled part of the photo). So, it's not possible to score it.
I will scour the forum posts for a photo of the coolant manifold out of the vehicle, it may give me a clue as to where to try and release the plastic.

 

Just wanted to post an update, in case any other DIY'ers get the same problem.
As Fritzthecat said, once the retaining clip is removed, there is nothing left to hold the plastic union captive. In my case, I took a small hammer and a piece of wood to tap on the top of the plastic union, trying to break whatever bond/seal had formed. After a couple of gentle taps, she released. I attach a pic of the coolant manifold, just for future users to see (and believe).
Now I only have the EGR valve, two lower elbow bolts and the throttle breather tube to release/remove. So, four bolts and one breather connector, maybe five or six hours