Hello,

I have a 2010 XKR with 27k miles. Got a low coolant message so went looking for a leak. Found signs of orange coolant around the oil filter which is under these tiny hoses, see picture. They seem to just be pressure fitted. Thoughts on just cutting the end and resetting it? Or should I take this more seriously?

UPDATE:

Spent this morning cleaning around the engine in hopes to make it easier to identify the leak. It appears that coolant is slowly leaking (1 drip every 90 secs) out of the bottom of the hose labeled PE. I see the obvious clamp right on top, but it ends at the radiator and it seems like the plastic housing around the engine/fan would need to come out in order to reach the clamp at the radiator. Thinking of replacing just the clamp at the leak source as it seems an easy way to potentially resolve the issue. Any recommendations for or against?

Thanks for your inputs.

 

my vote, more seriously.

 

A few years ago I had a leak from one of those little coolant pipes on my F-Type. The leak was big/bad enough that it lost about 2 litres of coolant in some 5 miles and the low coolant warning light came on. One of the pipes had cracked/split on the end, I thought I could fix it with tape and a hose clamp after cutting the split end off the pipe (about 1 cm). All seemed OK for a few months until suddenly one day the warning came up again, my repair had failed.
Luckily in the interim I had purchased the culprit part (called the expansion tank hose) so when I got home I simply pulled the old part off and replaced it with the new one.
When I pulled the split pipe off both of the clips fell to pieces and both of the hoses crumbled like uncooked spaghetti, that is what heat cycles do to the crappy plastic coolant pipes on these engines. The new hose was quite cheap, less than $30 AU IIRC and I got it from Britcar in the UK.
The pipe on a 2010 XKR is very similar but I suspect it is not the same as that on an F-Type.
Bottom line - buy and fit a new expansion tank tube.

 

MrsTival....If you search this forum, you will find numerous threads on the plastic coolant pipe/lines on the 2010-2015 XK/XKRS. Unless you know the history of your car and the plastics in the cooling system have been replaced, after 15 years, you are a candidate to have all the plastic coolant lines as well as the water pump replaced. Fixing one part does not solve the issues as more than likely the entire system is now brittle from all the heat cycles and will need replacing. It would be a good idea to go over the history and have your car checked out, as not addressing the cooling system can possibly cause a catastrophic failure of your engine as soon as it overheats. Check out the threads on this forum..... Good luck.

 

If you're referring to the rubber upper hose, spring clamps do fail over time and allow small leaks from the end of the hose. I worm style clamp's a perfectly suitable replacement.

 

That's what I did, but I put some heat shrink under the clamp. It's since been properly repaired when I had every line replaced two years ago.