Hi All,

Well with Spring here...(fingers crossed)...I took my 2002 XKE Coup out today...
Started on the 1ST try!!!..Battery stored and re-connected...After driving it out
of storage...noticed coolant puddle...with it running put about 1 cup in...no problem since.
Is this normal...oil change next Monday...anything I should check while on the lift?
Thanks in advance....

 

Its not normal, you've got a leak sorry. I've been through this once or twice, small puddle then seems to go away . . .

You will need a pressure tester. Put hood in service position.

When pressurized I'd check:

Water pump area. (Probably easiest fix, fingers crossed)

Black plastic pipe that holds the temp sensor.

Under the brown coolant tank. (Hard to see, shove a white paper towel under it)

Back behind engine - the maze of hoses that lead under intake manifold, to heater.

Lower heater hose.

These are in no particular order. Hope its an easy one. Let us know what you find.

John

 

What I think happens is that the water expands and is pushed into the expansion bottle behind the LHS rearmost plastic wheel arch liner.
In theory, it should get sucked back when the engine cools but if the cap is faulty the bottle fills up and when full empties out over the LHS castalyitic converter . There is an O ring on the bottom of the cap ..if this is worn weak it can prevent suction.
In the photo the entrance is on the right and feeds the bottom of the tank and the overflow is on the top

 

I want to thank folks for their reply...After the oil change had an opportunity to check under the car...Wow, what a mess...this 20 year old XK8 is showing her age...
Brake lines rusted, all rubber needs to be replaced....Coming up appt. Thursday to see how ABS will be fixed along with coolant leak...Plus something new...yesterday cleaned the entire
engine bay so everything could be seen....no power wash just pretty much by hand....Now on starting...have another alert..."Performance reduced"...never seen this before...
Any thoughts?

 

I place my bets on water in the spark plug holes, between spark plug and the ignition coils.

Chris