Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later, so I guess the honeymoon is over.

I have been learning all the ins and outs of my 2001 XKR (85k miles) after purchasing it a few months ago. Many thanks to this forum and John with his "To the Gaaaarage" videos. Love them.

I broke down and bought a decent aluminum 2.5 ton floor (trolley?) jack so I could get a good look underneath, and oh boy.

My first dilemma was how to properly jack the thing up and put it on jack stands. Should be easy, but it was puzzling. I know there are 4 "official" jack points to jack up the car, but if you use those for the jack, where exactly do you place the jack stands?

Also, I read where the windshield (windscreen) has been known to crack if you lift one corner too high and put undue stress on the body, sooooo....

I ended up putting the jack in the back center under the bolts where the cross pieces connect (with a board) and lifting the entire rear end up and placing 2 stands under the back 2 jack locations. That worked fine.

Then I found a variety of info on how to jack up the front, ideally on the center between the wheels on the main aluminum structure I suppose. The problem with that is that there is a tubular X support that prevents that from being an option unless you remove it. What the heck is that for anyway? Seems to flimsy to be a serious cross support.

The alternative was to put the jack under the radiator (there is a video) and lifting it there. I then found numerous replies that it may bend the radiator support and in at least one instance mess up the radiator or connections.

So to compromise a placed a wooden beam (3x3 landscape timber) on the jack the width of the radiator and lifted from the center, then placing 2 more jack stands on the front (proper) lift points. I would appreciate hearing alternative ways to do this.

But the reason I jacked it up was to check it out for leaks, and I found several.

Leak 1: Photo, Small orange drips (coolant) coming from under the front pulley. The disconcerting thing was that while observing the pulley, it appears to have a "wobble" to it, ever so slight. It definitely is not running true. Is this a pulley issue or worse? I suspect that the leak is related to the seal surface wobbling.

This is taken from a short video, but the pulley is definitely wobbling. Slow orange drips coming from above


Leak 2- Main Problem: (photo)
After driving, I am seeing a puddle on the ground coming our from the bell housing. I am thinking it is either the rear engine seal, or somehow the transmission fluid is escaping into there (from the torque converter?) and dripping. The color is very dark and I will do further checking to see which fluid it is. I am thinking of going ahead and dropping the transmission pan to clean and change the filter and the transmission fluid.

I read that on some Jags there is a breather filter that can get plugged up and allow the crankcase to pressurize and therefore blow oil out an otherwise good read seal. Is that likely or probable?


Main Leak

Leak 3: There is another small leak that I think may be the fluid from the engine mount - Deep Purple? Not sure, will deal with that later.

Thanks in advice to anyone who can shed some light on these issues

Questions that come to mind are.....Is it the rear engine seal? Can it be replace by just pulling the transmission out? Is it a big deal on a jag? (I have done it on other cars). Is the front pulley wobble the pulley or something worse....

JL

 

Welcome to the forums Jim,

Your post was automatically locked for moderation. I can't see any problem with the content and have unlocked it.

During this research, I also found another post you made in December 2020 and have moved it to a new Intro thread:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/n...kansas-242370/

Graham

 

Regarding the jacking points, I place an 18-inch long wooden 2x4 under the radiator crossbeam and lift it there with my low-profile floor jack. We have owned the car nearly 9 years and I have experienced zero issues doing it this way. I believe if you spread the load with a 2x4, you will be fine....

 

By front pulley wobbling, do you mean the crank pulley, or the water pump pulley. Looks like orange coolant, and the water pumps do need changing on these cars after
a few years. Fortunately, it's not a bad job and not terribly expensive. The leak from the bell housing doesn't sound good, but I don't have any direct experience there.

 

Thanks

 

Sounds like what I did, except the board I found was a little thicker than the 2x4. Thanks for the input.

 

To clarify, the crank pulley shown in the photo was the one that appears to not be running true. I don't know if I can upload a short video that this still was taken from that shows this. The water pump was replaced by the previous owner (Jag Shop) just before I purchased it.

 

After a cold soak, preferably overnight, use a cooling system pressure tester to pressurise the system to 1 bar to find the source of the leak(s).

What is the vehicle MY and how many kilometres/miles?

In addition to the water pump replacement, was there any other work done to the engine that required removal of the crankshaft pulley?

 

Still figuring this out, I have updated my signature but it has not shown up yet. Car is a 2001 XKR Convertible, 85k miles.

 

Signature changes appear with your NEXT post - not immediately.

Graham

 

NBCat,
Thanks for the info.
I have receipts for other work done previously, but nothing indicating the crank pulley was affected. Any sources for a coolant pressure tester?
Jim

 

Is it rare on an XKR that an oil leak coming from the bell housing would occur?

 

Here is one example of a pressure tester:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Radiator-Co...YAAOSwcu5UMWMa