I was driving around in my 09 XKR and i started hearing this weird noise that sounds like a broken fan blade. 10-15 KMs after my engine overheated and stopped. Since I was in the middle of the freeway, I let it cool for sometime and then tried starting the car to move it to the side and i saw some white steam come out of the hood vent. I did move the car to the side and then towed it back to my place since all shops were closed. I let it sit overnight and the next morning drove it to the jaguar workshop. The initial estimate is that the coolant assembly needs to be replaced and though its expensive, thats fine by me. My worry is whether I may have blown the head gasket. The workshop guy said that until they replace the coolant assembly and test drive the car, they won't check for anything else.

What do you guys think? Am I totally screwed?

 

I don't believe you need to repair the cooling system prior to diagnose of the head gasket. I would drain and check the oil first to see if there is coolant in it. Also might want to do a compression check. What concerns me more is you said the engine stopped. Also the next day you drove it to the dealer but didn't mention if you added coolant before the drive. Did the dealer tell you what had happened to the coolant system. Is it a bad water pump or a hose or just the belt breaking. If it is a broken belt then it is easy to replace and start up to see if there is other damage. Steam coming out of the vents indicates coolant leaking so either something broke or the head gasket is compromised.

 

Thank you for your quick reply. I did not add any coolant. The dealer said that the whole coolant assembly had to be changed because the pipes were compromised. So they are changing the water pump, all the hoses, including the supercharger hose, gknock sensor, radiator hose, oil cooler pipe, vaccum hose, water hose- the whole 9 yards. What could be the symptoms of a blown head gasket?

 

The easiest symptom to look for is pull your oil dipstick. If your oil looks thick and foamy like a chocolate milkshake, you have a blown head gasket. If it doesn't, you Still might have a blown head gasket. Unfortunately the best way to tell, Jaguar didn't see fit to let us have in the way of a temp guage.

 

I question the 'replace everything' part except the car is living in the desert. Similar to the buy thread, why replace new looking tires,not because of the wear but the heat damage. I suspect the cooling is the same way.

To the OP, i would have popped the hood and at least seen where the steam was coming from once it was off the road. I also ask, was the cooling fan running wide open? If not you may have a fan problem on top of the cooling system.

Good luck and post what they find.

 

I believe the 2009 MY in other then north america was change over to the 5.0L engine. I don't know if this is a 5.0L or a 4.2L . That being the case the 5.0L engine does not have a dip stick so you can't check the oil in that manner. The only way would be to either drain it or using a vacuum pump suck out an oil sample.

 

You heard a noise similar to a broken fan blade but kept driving till the engine overheated and stopped running?

 

This would concern me as no issue had been discovered. Before they would do this to me I would want them to SHOW me the cause. Also did you get an estimate of how much this would cost. I suspect you are headed for a big bill here so be prepared.
You have to ask yourself what broke that would compromise the cooling system. I don't object to having a dealer fix any car but want to go in with my eyes open and understand what needs to be done. Good luck

 

OK you caught that too Mikey. When a plastic fan blade breaks it sounds an explosion under the hood. Why you would'n't shut down the car immediately surprises me.

If I'm to believe you or the dealer, the fan blade broke loose and severed all of the cooling system components.

I suggest you tow it to another dealer and don't tell them you know what a broken fan blade sounds like, that you continued to drive the car. I also would want to see the damaged parts before they were removed.

Even if the fan blade breaks, it won't keep flying around the engine bay destroying parts.

Jagtoes is spot on. You don't need to replace the cooling system to test a blown head gasket.

How did you conclude a blown head gasket? White smoke? If you damaged your entire cooling system, white smoke will billow from everywhere.

 

I'm not sure the OP has opened the hood to look. Pretty hard to offer meaningful help under such conditions.

 

Somehow I can't buy the fan blade breaking. If it did it would be contained in the shroud and shouldn't damage components. I think the main serpentine belt broke . This caused the overheating , but I don't know why the engine STOPPED unless he turned it off. The smoke is anybodies guess so it could be a hose from over pressure or the cap blowing off or the water pump blowing.

 

From the description of the problem I think Jagtoes problem analysis is correct. The serpentine belt STARTED to shred and break which gave the fan breaking sound as pieces of the belt hit the shroud. After 10-15 minutes the belt finally broke completely which caused overheating and a hose or radiator cap let loose and steam escaped. I am surprised that it shut down and restarted later. Will these engines shut down on over temperature instead of destroying themselves? I have never heard of that on an automobile engine.

 

Also nothing was mentioned of the MIL coming on and if so what codes came up. To many open issues here.

 

I don't know, it's difficult to surmise what might have happened. Main drive belt shreds, no charging which I'm pretty sure would fault out. Blower belt shredding could take out the coolant hoses but then you'd get capacious amounts of steam and coolant leakage onto the ground. Hard to assume without more details.

 

Hello all. Thanks for all your replies. Sorry I could not reply to you earlier. I am a noob and therefore I may have f***ed up. To answer the questions- Why did I drive once I heard the sound. Well I was on a freeway and I wanted to get to the nearest exit. The cops here don't take too lightly to the fact of stopping right in the middle of the freeway. I popped the hood after the vehicle stopped and the smoke only came out just once from the hood vent when I tried to restart the car. To answer jagtoes- Yes I am headed for a big bill. They showed me the leaks and the condition of the coolant hose and its in dire straits. And the engine did shut down by itself. I did lose power before it shut down. It was 42+ degree day if that helps. I know I am not of much help and my information is all in tidbits and I apologize. I am a total noob and bought the car coz of the thrill of the drive.

 

OK we understand your problem. Please if you can when you get the car back post the list of parts that were replaced from the bill.

 

Here is the list of parts needed to be changed.

 

I see nothing unreasonable.

 

+1…… if in fact they also checked the head gasket.

 

so the fan didn't' break, nor the serpentine belt. What caused all this damage? Did they say?