Since I have owned this car occasionally I could smell the unmistakable coolant smell. Never needed to add coolant, no visible leaks and no spots on the garage floor.

Well, I had to remove the top cover to replace the fuel rail sensor and saw a few drops of coolant on the thermostat housing. Location is pencil tip in photo.

Tried searching the stickys and forums for help but, am finding a lot of 4 ltr info.

If you guys could point me in the right direction I would greatly appreciate it.

Instructions/tech info/ tricks or tips....How to remove and replace

Was planing on replacing hoses while I have apart (any suggestions?)

Where would be the best place to source parts?

As always friends, thanks in advance for any and all information you can provide.

Cheers!

Andrew

 

Quite a few of us have had to perform this repair over the years. I did it on my wife's 2006 XK8 back in November 2014. I believe the thread describing my experience that day is called "Slight Coolant Loss...." so use those words in the search function and read all about it....

For best results, replace the entire "coolant outlet duct" as Jaguar calls it (part no. AJ89486). It comes with a new thermostat. To get to the rear bolts on the duct, you will need to remove the metal plate on the front of the manifold. When you remove the metal plate, be sure to replace the "manifold front seal gasket" with a new one (part no. AJ87991) since these seals get baked after years of heat cycles in the engine bay....

I worked a deal with my local Jaguar dealership parts department back in November 2014 and wound up paying $115 for the new coolant outlet duct and $4.50 for the new manifold front seal gasket. I am sure the prices have increased substantially since then. Call SNG Barratt Group to source these two parts and be sure to ask for your jaguarforums.com member discount....



Here are my notes from doing the job on November 28, 2014:

Pump out the coolant expansion tank, remove the heater core hose connection and pump it out, then remove the two large radiator hoses and pump them out. Save the coolant in a clean one-gallon jug to re-use it.

The manifold front plate must be removed in order to remove the two rear Torx T-30 bolts on the bypass-to-water pump plastic part of the coolant outlet duct. Use a quarter-inch socket drive on those two rear bolts for best access and working room. Be sure to replace the manifold front seal gasket with a new one.

The fatigued plastic clip on the coolant temperature sensor harness snapped off when I unplugged it. I used electrical tape to secure the sensor harness to the new sensor. I later removed the electrical tape and used a couple of drops of RTV sealant to hold the new sensor in place on the sensor harness. It has held tight ever since.

I also replaced the brittle plastic breather hose running from the thermostat tower to the coolant expansion tank with a section of 5/16-inch rubber fuel hose. That has proven to be a much better choice.

Be sure to put the car's hood into the "vertical service position" before starting this job. That gives you so much more access to the front of the engine where much of this job takes place.


Parts Required:

- Coolant Outlet Duct, part no. AJ89486

- Manifold Front Seal Gasket, part no. AJ87991

- 3-foot section of 5/16-inch rubber fuel hose

- Two 5/16-inch worm-drive hose clamps


Good luck and keep us posted on how the job turns out for you....

 

There are many threads about this. These developed hairline cracks and coolent vapor comes out. I got a new one from SNG Barrett. Mine had torx connectors, earlier years had bolts. The back one's on the crossover pipe is the hard part. There is an aluminum one for earlier cars but it think 03 and up the only option is another plastic one. Hairline crack
My 05 was torx bolts. Those ones on the right are the hard ones. Not much room.

 

I was able to remove it without taking off the manifold front plate using this tool. I got several in the pack from Harbour Frieght for like $12.00.
You have to be super careful with the back one's to not strip them out. T30 torx tool.

 

As Jon89 said, the little pipe that goes to the expansion tank is very brittle. Mine cracked even though I took great care. I used clamps on 3/8 power steering hose. I didn't want to spend 40 something dollars on another fragile pipe...
The clamps that hold the big hoses are tough to work with. I tried lots of things and vice grips ultimately worked the best out of what I had handy.
The cross over is simply pushed into the main body using just an "O" ring. That was a surprise as it seemed like not the best seal for high pressure, but it has held just fine. You may want to consider doing the water pump as long as your going in there. It's directly underneath it and very easy to do and it's only like $40.00
Look up my thread "Still had some serpentine belt left" for more pics. A new belt is cheap...like $12.00. I would do that too. The lower rad hose is tough and I'm still trying to figure that one out.
Do not mix coolent. Good time to change as much as you can. Mine likes a little more than 50/50 mix as far as Dex goes, or my low coolent light appears as the float doesn't float in water.

 

Thank You!

I knew what I had to do when I saw the leak. Just wanted a little guidance going forward.

Jon89 read your entire thread and picked up some good info.

om28v thanks for the input. serpentine belt was just changed will check out water pump when housing is removed.

I ordered parts from Newauto in tenn $98.00 not bad. Am planing on changing both upper hoses and will source them through Advance or Napa in my area.

Plan on replacing coolant that I can remove with new. Even though I have a 2003 the cross over pipe has bolts not torxs? Oh well, I'll get them out.

 

If you have bolts instead of torx you will need a crows foot wrench. One guy here made his own by heating and bending a regular wrench. There are posts here with part numbers for that wrench, evidently they are hard to find. Some here have just smashed the old pipe to get it off. Many times I've read here to put the shorter front bolts swapped to the back side threads to make re-install easier. My 4 torx were all the same length, however, so ???
I would search the forums more and try to find pics of the crows foot wrench. The back two bolts are supposed to be very tricky, especially the one on the right. I had trouble with the one on the left, but not too bad. As with any bolt stripping is the worry, compounded by very little room to work.
Looking at the water pump isn't going to tell you much. I have found they can go out slowly or all at once, but they are a wear item and do all go eventually, plus they are cheap and very easy to do once the tower is off. Mine took me maybe 5 minutes. With the tower on I think you would need a mirror or esp to do it if you haven't been there before. It's also nice to know I could do it by just feel now, but before I did it ??? Doubt it. There are reports on here of some replacements being short lived. One guy is about to do his 5th one in just a few years. My A C Delco Pro seems legit so far.

The tower itself is not torqued very tight. I have read over torquing those bolts is not good, they are just little metal liners in the plastic housing, so tread somewhat lightly there.

 

Hey OM28V Thanks again for your input and guidance. My Tstat housing is on the way but, I am going to order a water pump?, top hoses and the intake front plate gasket. Removing that plate makes a lot more sense to me than trying to get a crows foot on those back two bolts. Getting those bolts out (and back in) seems to be most folks frustration and source of problems (stripped heads, stuck bolts).

I appreciate you leaving the part number for the gasket.

Cheers!

Andrew