@ Sean- Nope. They did not say anything.

What they said is that it is probably just the coolant leak and that should be it but they will take it for a test drive after the repair. They won't even touch the head gasket until they replace the coolant assembly apparently. I think its just a way of leeching more money out of me!

 

If you had a rupture in the line and fluid was leaking on to the fan blades it would have made quite a racket. Perhaps even sound like the fan is coming apart.

 

There could have been a catastrophic failure of the water pump, which might also explain the noise he heard.

 

We really should be even more generous and circumspect in giving the other the benefit of doubt. And not assume he is to be discounted for not pulling over after he heard a noise in the desert. Even if he had, all he could do is get back on the road till the engine shutdown, since he would not have known the cause.

Question the diagnosis, don't question competency.

The moral is a real need for monitoring heat- its the one thing the car needs.

Incidentally, I can attest to pulling over off the road in the neighboring desert. It was a sandstorm, I could not see and pulled over. What ensued was a nightmare. A local pulls over behind me. When the storm passes, he cant get out, he is stuck, police and he blame me for pulling over in a less than appropriate area- since he was only doing what I did. Monies had to be paid and I had to wait till the tow truck arrived for him.

Water pump failure- in the DOD they use early failure analysis to detect these things. So a cheap gyroscope is mounted locally. (your $100 phone has 3). A baseline for the vibration is established, sensor notifies when the vibrations increase beyond a threshold. Food for thought.

 

 

Hello all! Sorry for the late reply. I was traveling. The update is the car is still at the dealers but all the spare parts have arrived and the work will begin tomorrow at the earnest. After the work of changing all the pipes and coolers, they will test drive it 2 times for around 50-100 km each time to see if the engine overheating occurs. I just spoke to the head mechanic and he thinks its just coolant leak and everything else look ok. Stay tuned. I appreciate all your help in this matter. I know I have done some stupid things but hopefully everything will be ok after this and I don't need to sell my unborn child for any more issues.

 

Not stupid. Safety of self comes before the car. Had a cop remind me of that after walking out in traffic to pick up a hub cap after an accident many years ago.

I spent a week during the liberation celebrations in Kuwait back in early '96 thanks to the US Navy. Great people who were still really thankful to be free again. Made me proud to be part of that team even though I was in boot camp the week the battle went down. Bahrainian's and Saudi's didn't seem to care about us but the Kuwaiti's sure did.

 

I agree with Ranchero. Not stupid at all. We just had incomplete information. Since stopping on the freeway where you live is frowned upon by the authorities, you did what you needed to. Here's to hoping it all works out.

 

I took the OPs post to mean that he had initially stopped in the middle of a freeway and only later restarted the engine to move the car to the shoulder. Don't know of any place on earth where stopping in the middle of a freeway is considered as a safe thing to do.

Putting safety aside, I'd sooner pay a traffic ticket than have to foot the bill for a new engine @$10K or more.

 

I think you guys are keying on the wrong part of this story, the portion that was found to be "stupid" was driving the car 10-15km's after there was a sound like his fan was breaking apart in the engine bay. Most felt that this would be the time to take pause. But now we know that even if he had managed to pull over and evaluate the fan, it was intact, so most likely he would have continued wondering what is making the racket and resumed his journey. Maybe there would have been coolant coming out to see underneath, regardless your car making an unexpected sounds like stuff is breaking apart is a sure fired warning sign that should not be ignored.

Not sure why he didn't coast the car onto the shoulder when it stalled in the first place, personally there is no way I would come to a complete stop in the middle of the road. Maybe there were other cars around him that he couldn't get over, that part I don't judge as there could be a valid reason.

 

I must be missing something here. If I'm on a thruway/freeway and cruising along at 70-80mph and I hear a bang then regardless of which lane I'm in I would put on the hazard warning light and slow down and pull over to the right or center and it would most likely take 1-2 minutes to do. Stop and shut it down , wait until it's clear and pop the hood. If you have any type of cooling issue it would show itself by either smoke , smell or both. Then again that is what I would do.

 

Yes the poster means he was in between point A and B of a freeway in the desert. Not in the middle lane.

As you know its not always wise to pull over in the desert, thus the cops frowning on it too.

Plus, if you are not mechanically inclined as most luxury car buyers seem to be, pulling over to check the engine is pointless and death defying.

 

Sorry Q&C but I disagree. I don't care where you are you stop and find out the problem or call for emergency service. If the cops frown on it then he would be discovered by them and they would get help. Don't stay on the road just pull off on the shoulder. As it is he still did not get to his destination before the engine blew. So he either should park it when he heard the noise or he eventually parked it when it blew. I think towing is cheaper then a blown engine. Just my take.

 

You are right Jagtoes. I went back an reread the puzzler, he says he did not pull over and he is mechanically savvy enough to know that overheating results in blown head gasket.

You are further right that the choice here was, do nothing and risk being killed with car stalled in the middle of the road or start to pull over. No wonder the cops use sticks there.

It does bamboozle the mind, I was wrong to give benefit of doubt.

 

deleted.

 

Hello all,

So the car is still at the shop. Apparently they ordered the wrong cooler pipe for the supercharger and they were like since everything is dismantled, I might as well be patient enough till they change it. They said the car would be ready by Sunday but since I wont be in town, I will only be able to collect it the saturday after next. I will keep you guys informed about any updates and hopefully nothing big shows up when they are test driving it.

 

Hello all! I finally got the car back after a month and it just may be my mind playing tricks on me but she seems a whole lot smoother than before. I also see there was a debate about whether I should have stopped as soon as the overheating symptoms came up as opposed to whether I was right to just take an exit and do so.. let me clear your doubts for all of you.. I am a f****n noob. I should have stopped but I didn't.. a total jackass. My thinking at that time was that, it may have just enough for me to exit and stop. Completely wrong decision and I risked blowing the head gasket.

Now, I had another issue with the vehicle that was documented at (https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...0/#post1646708) but ever since I got back the car, that issue seemed to have gone away. it may have been engine mount because that was changed as well but I couldn't be sure.

Thanks a lot everyone for all your help and for calling me a fool. I probably deserved that. Lesson Learnt!

 

Opinions are like elbows dude. Everyone has a couple. No one was in your shoes at the time. You don't need to care what others think, but forums are like that.

Back to the car to close out the thread please. You last indicated that your mechanic thought the issue was coolant parts that you listed but they were going to repair and do some test drives.

What was the final diagnosis and repair?

 

You are way to hard on yourself.... under the circumstances you did what you thought was right, end of story. The good news is your car is back and you can start enjoying it again.

 

When I was 17, I drove my $700 Toyota Corona about 10 miles with a massive coolant leak because I was too broke to call a tow truck. I stopped every few miles and added water. Cost me a head gasket and head milling because it warped. Live and learn my friend, and get AAA (or equivalent in Kuwait ) !