Good morning fellow Jag lovers,

I know the collant issue has been addressed many times but I am not confident that the info is going to help me.

First, here is the info on the car

- VIN SAJGX274XVC013991

-Build date 04/97

-Original Engine Serial # CA9703281234 (consistent with vehicle build date)

- According to a Vehicle Enquiry performed by my local dealer on Jul 03 2012, even though the engine was supposedly changed under warranty in Sep 1999 at 16221 miles, the original engine # still shows up.

- Does this make sense?

- Local dealer is not too helpful - how can I confirm engine number? If it is the same as the original number, how can I confirm that the engine has been changed and the number transferred to the replacement engine?

- How much of the plastic engine covers do I have to remove to find the engine number and perhaps an indicater that it was swapped out? Is it a simple task?

- Here is my coolant quandry. According to what I read on the forum my engine should be using green coolant. BUT I find dark yellow (almost orange) coolant in the expansion tank. It needs topping up and I do not know what to use. Because the tank was dry I recently added a liter of Ford yellow coolant (I was in a little town and got a low coolant light). There is still about 1 cm of coolant in the tank when engine is cold. I am heading out on a 1500 km trip this week and I want to be sure that the coolant is at an acceptable level.

- My local Brit car mechanic (who is very meticulous) told me yesterday while changing the oil/filter that he saw no signs of any kind of leakage below

- I asked my local Jag dealer what I should add and they were as confused as I was

- My long term plan is to change thermostat and coolant (have 67k miles on car with no indication in what records I have that thermostat and coolant have ever been changed - records do not even show engine change) sometime in the next month after my trip. Would a total flush be advisable before filling with the coolant du jour (whatever it may be - what is the collective wisdom on this?)

- Hope you can understand my long ramble. I appreciate any advice you can send my way

P

 

Flame Suit ON: I use the yellow generic coolant from Advance Auto and distilled water. I have been using it in all my cars for years without incident.

I completely drain the system of all previous coolant; flush with fresh water, drain, and fill. The one caveat has been that I change fluid at least every two years, usually more often.

All of the horror stories regarding the wrong antifreeze not mixing w/ OEM, etc, etc, IMO can be attributed to problems of not maintaining the systems, e.g., not changing fluids. I change the coolant in my cars often, and whenever I do work on an engine, and the coolant drains out, I replace with new cheap stuff, never reuse the drained coolant.