A question for the general public:
forgive me for asking, im not too experienced in this kind of situation, but would filing an insurance claim be a possible option? does insurance cover these kinds of issues or is it just accident damage? sure they might raise your premium the next year, but it wont be $7k

option 2: if repair is your only option, there IS a possibility of asking JLR NA for some kind of help. I've seen situations where car manufactures would cover a % of costs (for some astronomical bills). but ive also seen them decline, its a crap shoot, but its worth a try if you're desperate

 

This is where you have to work a little bit, I will help you down the path without specifics as I do not know of any Miami independents. You are better off looking at the entire forum for this type of info, the X150 crowd is very sparse compared to the general Jag population on this board. Here are search results from all open forums, you will need to click and read to get further info:

Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum - Search Results

 

No. Auto Insurance doesn't cover mechanical damage, unless the vehicle was involved in an accident, and then only specific damage related to the accident.

Not a reasonable request for a 6/7 year old car.

 

Try to find Maxima. He is a regular poster on this forum and is from South Florida. He should be a good source for an Indie as he has made significant modifications to his XKR and he has also tracked it. Good luck!!

 

Check my thread, name that hose. I am being charged $800 for two hoses under the intake manifold. Makes sense, they had to pull off the supercharger and change related gaskets. Luckily mine didn't overheat. Took it to central valley european. Good honest shop so far If it is just those hoses they can be a bitch. The shop seemed to be concerned that this was the problem as they had seen it on the local dentists xkr

 

If you looking for independent mechanics in South FL, try

Jaguar Doctor

They're based in Boca Raton. I used to take my high mileage S-Type
to them for repairs & maintenance. They're fairly well-known in that area
for Jag repairs

Jaguar Doctor Inc
Address: 1724 Costa Del Sol, Boca Raton, FL 33432
Phone: (561) 362-7464


I have also heard good things about Gables Cats
4248 SW 73rd Avenue
Miami, FL 33155
Phone numbers:
(305) 662 - 6604


Best of Luck !

 

Perhaps he hit a pothole, which then kicked up a rock and damaged his radiator which then caused the engine to overheat and blow a head gasket? That would certainly sound like an accident for the insurance company to cover.

 

That estimate sounds very high. Head gasket should be like $500 would be my guess at most. 7K you could find a 4.2 engine and just swap it.

I would look to dump the car and move on. I am not against leasing if it fits your lifestyle. I drive like 3-4K a year on average and don't like to keep cars more than 3-4 years so a lease works for me. Jag has some great lease rates right now; so it's something to consider. Not only that, they offer 5 year/60k all service included warranty...

 

This issue sounds related to this post in a discussion on a 928 forum:

Watch out for the dreaded supercharged Jaguar equivalent of our 928 water pump/timing belt issues: A small $15 US-$40 Can hose that deteriorates badly after about 50K, requires removal of the entire supercharger system; and if you don't and it breaks, it will overheat and you just lost your engine. Ask me how I know.

 

For 7k, I'd have it towed to my home, put in my garage, buy a $2k beater/commuter car, and learn how to fix jaguars. From the way they talk about it, they're dead set on charging you AT LEAST 7k, and likely to be upwards.

There are a whole bunch of simple tests to determine what happened and where, and will tell you how bad the damage actually is. Look at the oil. If it's milky, coolant mixed in. If not, it's extremely likely that it did not, and your head gaskets are fine.

Next, fill with distilled water. Start it up and go around the block. The reason it didn't start on the side of the road was likely the pistons were swollen from the heat. Extremely common on slight over-heating. That starter motor isn't the strongest thing, moving 8 swollen pistons is no easy feat, and probably better to leave it until it cools off.

After you've circled the block. Come back and have a look at your coolant. Even if you had blown hoses, or just one tiny o-ring like I just had last week, there's still some coolant in there. It will make your water look a bit not like water after you've driven and it gets circulated.

Tinker on it through the winter, while the weather isn't the warmest. Down in FL you can even work on the car outside and enjoy the winter months learning the in's and out's.

 

This may be too late for this particular case, but for other members with expensive repairs on their Jags, I discovered that the cost can be considerably reduced if you can buy the needed parts yourself. The repair shop was going to charge me over $1300 for 2 parts, and I was able to get them new on-line for less than $300. They said they would do the work if I supplied the parts, but I know some places won't install anything but the ones they supply. Check around. You could save a lot.

 

I would never do that on a labor intensive part. When you buy the parts from the shop, if they installed mis-manufactured parts, they will do the labor of the job over again. If you supplied mis-manufactured parts, that do again labor is on you.

I only would do such a thing on a low labor job, and if its a low labor job, why not DIY, unless you want a nice record folder.(Which I can understand.)

 

Im sure the parts for $1300 would have been genuine parts ?

 

Sorry to hear about your mishap. You did the right thing by stopping immediately. The dealer mechanics should know how to diagnose the problem in a step by step manner. The dealer's attitude is that you are made of money and they charge accordingly. After all they sell cars that average in cost between 75 to over 100,000 dollars. You've heard a lot of good advice here. The best thing is to slow down, take a breath, and find a good independent shop. There's no need to pull the head until it's determined that the head gasket is blown, or it's verified that the motor is seized, or that it dropped it's valve seats. A compression check will tell you a lot. Just draining and inspecting the oil will tell if there is coolant in there. Once you know what the problem is, and the extent of the mechanical damage is, if any, then you can plan your next move. If you don't already own another car for transportation, you might want to buy or rent one so that you are not so stressed and make a hasty decision.

If you are not a DIY mechanic, then you will be depending on the assessment of a good,
honest, competent mechanic, not always an easy thing to find! Even a non Jaguar expert could do this initial trouble shooting. Just remember that this is only a car, and cars can always be fixed. Good luck.

 

+1 for the independent garage.

Jaguar are just computer readers and fitters. Whatever they do is expensive.

I have had 3 cars with blown head gaskets over 45+ years of motoring. Usually you have a white cloud of water vapor coming out of the exhaust. Remove the oil filler cap and it should be white under there. A mixture of oil and water ie 'Mayo'.

What ever Jaguar dealership suggests they are taking the easy option for them and the expensive option for you.

So find an independent recommended by a fellow forum member. It may cost you more money to move it but may save you thousands in the long run.

 

I know a mechanic in FTL who may be able to help you. He is as honest as they come.

However, if you are looking to trade up. Do this: put coolant in and see it the engine runs. If it does there are head gasket repair liquid you can add to the coolant. Its a very bad thing to do and I will burn in hell for even suggesting it. But it should get the car running long enough to trade it. Dont go to the same dealership.

You do need to fix the source of the leak first.

Dont worry about karma, they can fix it for under $2k their cost. And they weren't thinking about karma charging you an arm and a leg to tell you what can be known for next to nothing by doing a leak and compression test.

You will however have bad karma if you dont report back how you fared.

 

Why not start with simply pulling a plug on both banks and looking to see it its wet (if it smells like gas its another issue but if its wet you've got a blown head gasket). Does it blow any white smoke (not on initial start up but when running? Any foaming when you look into the oil cap? Any oily residue in your coolant? Any fluid leakage around where your head gaskets are? A pressure test will tell you a lot as will a compression test but a compression test will not always show a blow HD. Good luck report back but I wouldn't cow-tow to a dealership simply because you're worried here it can be a lot of things MUCH less expensive and worrisome then what they've quoted here. As said I also recommend a second opinion from a respected shop but without telling them what the dealer claims. Lastly - don't drive the car far at all as IF it is a HD you could do permanent damage.

Head Gaskets themselves usually aren't very expensive, especially in terms of parts, but IF you warped the head then yeah it's gonna sting

 

OP hasn't been around since last October. Necrothread.

 

Do you think the estimate caused heart failure?

 

Possibly he's in a civic now.