I just had a complete system flush. I had the dealer change the short neck hose since I had a new t-stat installed, but elected not to have the dealer change the upper and lower radiator hoses. They wanted way to much for these two items. Can anyone tell me the steps on how to drain and refill?

Just as an aside, I found these two hose parts thru Car Quest Auto. Upper at $27.00 vs $65.00 and the lower $36.00 vs $165.00. The counter man told me that Car Quest just purchased Worldpac, or is partnering with Worldpac. Worldpac has access to OEM import parts including Jaguar. Another example was coil pacs. Dealer 165.00 vs internet 144.00 vs Car Quest 118.00. All for the same DENSO coil pac.

This is an article about the Worldpac/Car Quest deal.

http://www.search-autoparts.com/sear....jsp?id=136021

 

Go to my web page and take a look. If you have additional questions just ask.

 

Aftermarket hoses supplied under the brand name of Uroparts are better than the factory hoses (ad cheaper): the wall thickness is increased, so much so that reusing the factory pinch clamps to fit around them is almost not possible.

This is a great benefit for the lower hose on an XK8, which can collapse at higher RPM's. I have watched this happen in my driveway, holding the throttle at 2500 RPM while watching the top portion of the lower hose. On one particular customer car, replacing this hose signifigantly reduced the engine temperature and runtime of the cooling fans after driving in summer weather.

PM me if you can't find a good deal on a good hose, I'll see what I can do. The replacement factory hoses are identical to original fitment and priced like gold in my judgement.

 

Gus I went to you site and saw the photo collage for the t-stat and.....Great tutorial. I'll need to learn how to do that some time.

My question is how do you drain enough coolant in order to replace the two larger hoses coming off the radiator? Then where do you go to refill the coolant? Do you refill it thru the fill neck above the t-stat where that round black cap with the hex recess is? And is there a pep **** on the radiator or is there a bleeder or something other than letting all that new coolant bleed out around the lower hose upon removal?

 

When I did mine I just let it drain into a collector when I pulled the hoses. If you want to drain the system go to the lower right corner of the radiator and you will find a plastic plug that is opened with a screw driver. Refilling can be done by opening the top of the t-stat or refill at the fill tank just remember that you will need to check it every now and then to top it off.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of loving a Jaguar!

There is a drain opening in the engine side, lower left of the radiator. It is black plastic, like the radiator, with a cross (+) slot for a very short, very large blade screwdriver. I just happened to have one that I hadn't found a use for in 40 years. There is also a block drain behind the starter. I gave up on that one and flushed two times with distilled water.

I just filled at the thermostat tower screw-on cover then kept the overflow container topped off until it stabilized. I am sure that there is a more professional method for those that send customers home but worked for a hobby mechanic.

The only issue I had was reinstalling the lower hose onto the radiator. Between working space and what I considered an undersized replacement hose I was bruised to the elbow for a week. Forget about reinstalling the spring clamp at that location. It just is not going to happen. You can buy the $25 special clamp tool to try if you are determined but a good old US stainless steel screw clamp works just fine.

Advance AP also has the coil paks for $118. Since I live in a very rural area I always go to the local Advance and have never had them fail to come up with parts, usually next day. Not pitching one AP dealer over any other. Just mentioning that Jaguar parts are really not all that mysterious.

Good luck this weekend and holler if we can help.

 

Thank you very much for the information. Everything should be good.