Cooling error
 

Hi everyone,

So yesterday I had a warning/error message about my coolant being too low.. the error went away after a minute or so, but still called the garage.. they picked it up last night and today they called today that there is no coolant left in the car (after it has been serviced on December 21st).. seems something broke/cracked after which the coolant leaked out.. costs $650.. not sure what broke and why it is not covered under warranty... but what worried me was that the error message went away and that the car did not state.. STOP and park your car and call the dealer..

does it sound familiar to someone? is it a standard fault in a 2013/5L V8 engine? and did someone had this repaired under warranty?

NO coolant left in the car? I would guess you would have noticed a huge puddle of orange if the car was parked or a huge sweet smelling smoke show if it were running when the coolant leaked out.....

Did you open the hood and verify the coolant level?

Is your 2013 car still under warranty?

Water pump failure is a known defect in the 5.0L engines in all Jaguar and Land Rover models. I believe that JLR is now on the 4th version of the water pump. Search this Forum for details. The water pump in my 2013 XJ 5.0L SC was leaking and replaced under warranty.

You are fortunate that your engine was not damaged.

Never heard of the low coolant light, self correcting and if you have warranty, they should investigate this. The warning can't appear then disappear when your losing more coolant.

Also, they told you no coolant? Do you believe that? Did you see coolant everywhere under your car and did you smell any?

The only parts not likely covered under warranty would be hoses. Here where I live, the service garage are required by law to return the damaged part to you.

Inquiring minds want to know so please let us know more detail.

. I dropped my XK off at Jaguar today for losing coolant and smelling coolant after getting out of car. Service writer said its most likely water pump. Oh............I forget to mention. My car has 9,000 miles!

Sure, but you both smelled and saw lost coolant Boca, no? OP makes no mention of that. I would also think if his WP went out, that would be warranty. Am I wrong on that?

The waterpump had already been replaced
(31/08/2015 45588km Renewed Water pump 28740 Warranty)

I think it might have been one of those rubber hoses that cracked or something.. I dont know if it was completely empty, but there is usually a little puddle of liquid under my car, so I did not notice it being coolant.. (the AC here always works).. there wasn't like a big lake of liquid below it..

but pickup is Saturday.. will ask for a full report..

They probably meant no coolant in the expansion tank. I guess it's possible it can be low enough to trigger the alarm and then reset the alarm once the system gets slightly pressurized.

so small update.. as i got some info from the garage..

"The part that failed is the outlet coolant tube where the joint got separated from the lower area that is fixed to the engine.. "

not sure what that means.. but I guess tomorrow I will hear if its warranty or that I have to pay a huge bill

Once again this post identifies the need for all to at least do a weekly fluid check. We can bitch about the lack of gauges but they are not there and Jaguar will not develop an aftermarket package. That being said start to verify for yourself and check oil , coolant , brake fluid , PS fluid and washer fluid. Because of old habits I usually do this every time I take the car out for the day.

Is your car out of the factory warranty period or past the allowed miles? If you were in CPO perhaps you would pay depending on the culprit, but with full warranty this should be covered.

The OP got a low fluid warning and apparently didn't open the hood to confirm. Can't blame the car for that.

Read the original post, got warning, called garage and had it dispatched to the dealer. If the part failed while under the 4 year/50,000 mile period it should be covered.

So yes, it is the parts fault.

Here's what the OP said

Here's what the owner's manual says

"CHECKING THE COOLANT LEVEL
Running the engine without coolant will cause
serious engine damage.
If persistent coolant loss is noticed, seek
qualified assistance immediately.
The coolant level in the expansion tank should
be checked at least weekly (more frequently in
high mileage or severe operating conditions).
Always check the level when the system is
cold.
Ensure the coolant level is maintained between
the level indicator marks, as shown in the
illustration.
If the message LOW COOLANT LEVEL is
displayed in the message center, stop the
vehicle as soon as safety permits and top-up
the coolant reservoir with the recommended
antifreeze/water mix"

The OP apparently did neither.

The car already goes to service like every 8000km, which is sort of like 4x per year which is every 3 months.. while I understand that the booklet says every week, I'm quite sure almost no-one does this (except obviously all the people on this forum)...

Given the error message went away after a few minutes, I (as well as everybody else) will think it was a system glitch or at least not serious enough to stop on the side of a 6 lane highway to look in a booklet.. in my audi for example it will state STOP the vehicle if damage may occur..

anyways.. the car is repaired, under warranty ... and I can happily drive again till the next service interval or new message on the dash..

A Jag has several conditions in which stopping the car immediately is recommended. Engine overheat is one of them and would be indicated on the message panel as mentioned in the owners manual. It's best to become familiar with this document before an urgent situation arises, not during or after.

Sounds like your car (in this case) was marginally low on coolant, possibly due to a small leak when the low coolant warning light came on. It went off again as the engine warmed causing the coolant to expand which in turn extinguished the warning. SWMBO's Beemer has done this as did my Jag and Lincoln. AFAIK, all cars with coolant level sensors will do this.

After shutdown the heat soak back caused the coolant pressure to rise and apparently the leaking component failed allowing significant coolant loss.

Further use of the car in this condition might have provoked an engine overheat and the dash warning to stop the car immediately.

The OP chose not to open the hood and investigate. Had he done so the low coolant level would have been apparent. Far less drama.

I suspected this would be the outcome, glad it worked out!

Once again, I go to the common sense approach and disregard the silliness you get on the internet. Your car told you that the coolant was low and then stopped telling you, there is a very logical explanation. You were right to remain confident in the technology and what your car was telling you. The manual states that you check the expansion tank when the vehicle is COOL. Fluid expands when heated (hence the name Expansion Tank), your coolant was just on the borderline of low, when heated and the fluid expanded the error goes away as it is now above the sensor low warning threshold.

The instructions are that on a low coolant warning you check the coolant level. It doesn't say the owner has to check it, you had the dealer do it and determine why it was low, the end result that your fluid low error was caused by a leak in a part that failed prematurely within warranty period.

If an owner can't be bothered opening the hood to do simple checks and chooses to call the dealer for a tow instead, that's their prerogative. That's a lot of drama and potential expense though.

On the other hand, the OPs complaints about the event not being covered under warranty and the car lacking adequate warnings of impending issues- I gather his main reason for posting- were unfounded.

Perhaps, as was your assessment that it was his fault.

The only reason why he posted it was not covered under warranty was because he was given bad info by dealer. Can't say it was unfounded on his part, it was founded on bad information, yes, but info that he was given nonetheless. I knew it was bad info right off the bat and said so, logic dictates a car under warranty gets failed parts fixed.

What he did was in good common sense - coolant being low on this new of a car indicates an issue, car is under warranty, get it to dealer to find out why.

Anyway, we can spend all day debating what owners should do and proper procedures, in my opinion you overthink the process and you most likely think myself and the OP are cavalier in our approach. It is all good! :icon_banana: