My oil cooler system hasn't dribbled a drop in 155K miles. A few nights ago the temperature dropped to 10F (30F in the house garage, but colder outside at work) and a day or so later I found an embarrassing little piddle of oil under the front end (she is very self conscious - ). She is also a daily driver.

Up on the rack she went today and it seems that four or more of the eight swivel joints on the oil cooler hoses were weeping a tiny bit. This is her second winter with me and I didn't notice this year. So little oil has escaped that the dipstick level hasn't gone down any perceivable amount, so maybe once all is warm the weeping stops(?).

Questions:

1. Is this normal behavior? Will everything return to normal with warmer temperatures?

2. If this is an indication that the swivel joints are going, where can I get affordable replacement hoses? The only ones I've stumbled upon so far will set me back about $500 for the set (4).

3. Are there shops that will re-manufacture the hoses?

Thanks guys!

 

There are hydraulic hose shops that will be able to rebuild them. Even getting them redone in braided stainless likely won't cost you as much as the OEM hoses.

 

This is a common issue in the S-Type forum but does not appear to be as widespread in the XK8/XKR forum. As the years go by, the two S-Type transmission oil cooler lines begin to weep in the joints where they transition from rubber to metal, underneath the engine just forward of the HVAC compressor. Because that area is protected by a belly pan, you may not discover the issue for months due to the weeping ATF collecting in the nooks and crannies of the belly pan until there is enough of it to run over the edge and drip onto the pavement....

That's what happened to my 2005 S-Type between September and December of 2013. I checked local sources for suitable-strength hydraulic lines and was planning to have the failed lines cut away and the new lines installed, eliminating that rubber-to-metal joint that fails and weeps. I could not find any suitable lines after calling around for a couple of days. I'm sure they're out there somewhere but not knowing how much ATF my ZF 6HP26 had already lost, I cut a greatly-reduced cost deal with the Jaguar dealership in Greensboro to have both lines replaced with new Jaguar parts. I wasn't too keen on putting the same design-flawed parts back underneath the car but I felt it was my only option at the time. I'm glad I didn't wait any longer because my ZF had weeped nearly two litres of ATF during that three-to-four-month span before I discovered the issue. ZF experts agreed that another litre lost would have probably spelled the end of my transmission....

If you find an alternate source for suitable replacement lines, please let us know....

 

Keep in mind that with this issue you're weeping ATF, not motor oil. So there's no dipstick to check to see how low your ATF is. I certainly wish there was....