Hi, I am new to this forum. My baby is a 2000 XKR convertible with 59,800 miles on the clock. I was getting an occasional low coolant light (twice), but I checked the coolant and the gauge was below center. I had the trans fluid changed and the engine oil an filter changed. Redline trans fluid and Royal Purple XPR series oil AND THEIR FILTER. The low coolant light came on after some driving home. I was going to check the level again if the light came on when I started it, but it didn't. Instead I got an ABS/TRAC CONTROL/VEHICLE STABILITY MESSAGE. ?? It warmed up and I restarted the car at a signal and it didn't come back on. We drove about 5 miles and stopped at a traffic light. The was a loud bang/pop from under the hood with huge plumes of smoke. I thought it was a hose. I pulled over, the gauge was still below middle temp. I opened the hood and found that the coolant fill tank had blown the seam. I ordered one w/cap/sensor and car is at my shop awaiting the tanks arrival.
My question is it because of the age of the tank, the head gasket, or the bore having cracks?
Can you PLEASE ADVISE ME AS MY WIFE HAS MENTIONED A DIVORCE ATTORNEY!
Wayne

 

My best guess is you had overheated due to a very low coolant level and the tank gave way from the pressure. The temperature sensor on this car that informs the temperature gauge is at the top of the engine, so it will not register overheating if there is a significant amount of coolant missing because it would be sitting in air, not fluid. Just looking at the level in the overflow tank is not sufficient...you need to fill it until it does not accept more fluid.

I suggest a new thermostat, an inspection of the water pump and a pressure test to find the source of possible additional leaks, in addition to the tank replacement.

Fingers crossed there was no engine damage from overheating.

 

If he is real lucky it might have been a tank problem all along with a bad seam and it might have been the source of the leak before it blew. But it certainly wouldn't hurt to replace the T-stat and make sure the fluid is burped etc after putting in the new tank.
Its also likely that some of the coolant may have gotten under the coil cover on that side so I'd remove the cover and examine for wetness and leave the cover off a while to let it dry out. When my tank leaked that happened and the car ran rough and found it wet under the cover. Dried out just fine on it own after some driving with no cover.


Dave

 

I hope you are right. What worried me was that the coolant gauge was BELOW center, which makes me think the coolant temperature sensor was not immersed in fluid and the level was way too low.

 

Expansion Tank seam failure occasionally been reported on the forum before but I'd agree the combination of age and excess pressure from a sticking thermostat is the probable cause of it.

Fortunately you have been checking coolant level following the low coolant warnings so will be unlucky if the level was dangerously low.

New tank on plus a replacement thermostat and see what happens before starting to worry too much about terminal engine damage.

As for the DIVORCE ATTORNEY - if she's that precious about a vehicle breakdown, pack her cases for her!

Graham

 

Thanks for the help everyone!!!
Yeah wife's a little touchy, but so is Dynamite and Jags.
I ordered the replacement tank w/sensor and new cap. It is possible sediment (which I found in the bottom of the tank) plugged up the system and over pressured it, blowing the tank. The also is no apparent overflow tank. I know they were introduced and retrofitted to early 2000, if after filling and burping, it works kool. Will the cars computer log the specific cylinder that's missing? No moisture out the pipe. Just low coolant message and the odd no antilock/no trac control/no stability warning. Might that have been caused by a coolant leak?

 

Whitexkr, you mentioned that the gauges don't indicate what is really going on. Why are they there. For a false sense of security? I plan to install your gauge pack but won't add the non back lighted new labels, I can work out my references. I am looking for som silver stone r type Brembos for it. Will they fit in the 18" wheels or do I need to size up? Some of the windshield pillar cloth is loose, upholstery shop, eh. I plan on removing all the mufflers after the center muffler to get some growl. I ordered the rear Mina muffler delete and it does not fit right (the pipe needs a z bend, so I'm going eliminate the second and last at a local shop. If not the right sound I will use a non muffled X in the middle. I want somE sports acceleration noise and a JAG TONE DRIVING DOWN THE STREET. THE Mina ends ha just a thread nut to hold them on. Does this actually work??? I'm gonna weld those in place, too expensive to lose on I-95 in Daytona Beach area. Is the water pump suspect also?
Thanks again for scaring the hell outta me. Could be a simple fix. But what if there are cylinder cracks in the Nikasil? I have researched an seen these. If I have to do a head gasket set I'm gonna have to wait a while as I know the timing assembly is problematic. And the water pump. I am going to add a inter cooler fan. What type and size works best? Also all I have found are 183 degree thermostats, I would have thought (as with most modern cars it would be in the 200+ degree range.
Thanks for all the support, but now I need more.
Sorry for the million questions
Thanks
Wayne A McDowell, Daytona Beach, bel air area, Fl 32118-3320

 

Wayne,

Slow down ......... one question at a time!

If a Nikasil engine hasn't shown bore wear long before now then it's extremely unlikely to happen. The sulphur content in fuel which caused failure of the Nikasil coating was removed many years ago.

Cylinder heads are a different matter. Simple head gasket failure is not the usual result of serious overheating. It often causes warped heads which cannot be recovered by skimming.

Very early water pumps (1997) were prone to plastic impeller failure. Jaguar soon resolved this and pumps (both OE Jaguar and aftermarket) with plastic impellers are reliable.

Graham

 

OKAY, I'll slow down. I just have so many questions.
Sorry again, I am a retiredHistory Prof. so I ask lots of questions.
Thanks
Wayne

 

Sorry, did not mean to scare you. I am hoping the tank just gave out and a simple replacement is all you need. I just try to answer based on all the evidence presented, but it is only a guess.

Regarding the coolant gauge there are really two entirely separate issues.
1. The first is that the temperature sensor is placed very high in the system, so loss of a significant amount of coolant in the system could result in the sensor and gauge sitting in air and being completely non-functional.

2. The coolant gauge is 'fudged' in order to keep customers from bothering the dealer about variations in temperature. Quite a few car manufacturers have done this since the 90's. The gauge displays correctly form 125 F (bottom of scale) to 185 F (center scale). Then the computer in the instrument cluster is programmed to keep the needle at center scale to about 235 F . Above 235 F the needle rapidly moves to the red in the space of about 3-4 degrees. The unfortunate result of this is that you have very little warning of impending overheating.

My gauge upgrade or temperature monitoring with an OBDII tool only addresses the second item. To address the first item it is important not to drive the car if there is any indication of low coolant until it is rectified.

 

Thank you!

 

The same thing happened to me back in February. After replacing the exploded expansion tank, it continued to overheat, which led me to replace the original water pump which had stripped all of its plastic impeller blades. Also suggest to replace the plastic thermostat housing with a metal one, and a new thermostat too. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the advice, 97

 

Wayne - There is an overflow tank, it is cunningly concealed behind the right hand side wing (fender) and can't be seen because of the plastic liner.
The small expansion tank has a small hose / pipe which drops excess coolant into that tank. and then sucks it back as required.

 

Can that be crushed or plugged?

 

Finally got the new tank Wednesday night. Dropped it off before the shop closed at 6:00. I am adding water wetter (Redline) to the coolant and hoping it's just a tank problem.
Wish me luck.

 

FWIW, The only Coolant Related problem that I experienced was a Thermostat Failure. Easy to change in your (and my) XKRs.

 

I am awaiting a used FANS AND SHROUD, I think that was original problem as it was cracked in a downward v and impeded both fans to the point of failure. Changed the thermostat, add the atmospheric recovery tank. When the new shroud and fans gets here we shall see. The atmospheric tank wasn't standard until late 2000 and I have an early 2000 XKR Convertable. Mine was evidently not recalled or retrofitted. Added new thermostat. Fixed, hopefully....crossing my eyes. LOL

 

Kulddy - you may be correct, but I was under the impression that the atmospheric recovery tank was fitted as standard from the start of the X100 range. My 1997 certainly has one, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a later addition. If your car didn't have one, that might explain why you had a problem.
See Graham's photo in post #2 here :

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ry-tank-84209/

 

Hi.


It is imperative to connect the coolant bleed lines correct. It varies with model year. See attachment.