I have been having the oil cooler lines in the back of my mind and in my to-do list for a while... I guess the Jag also wanted them taken care of so it let me know about it today. I was washing the Jag in our driveway today. The temperature today has been upwards of 95ºF, which may have contributed. When I finished washing the Jag, I backed it up onto its parking spot and immediately noticed a trail of drips on the tarmac. I wondered for a second if I was looking at water or oil? My question was quickly answered when I noticed the pool of oil under the area of the oil cooler lines. I was glad the car had been driven for less than a minute. I checked the oil level and saw that I had lost 1/2 a quart of oil, with the oil level being smack dab in between the low and full lines of the dipstick.

It all happened so fast. Oil pressure apparently did not drop enough to cause a low-pressure light or activate the RealGauge alarm. I have an oil change scheduled for next month, so I am glad I did not lose new oil. Since I am not moving the car until I have the oil cooler lines installed, I took a shovel to scoop some sand and spread it over the oil puddle.

I guess for now I will have to compare prices re- the oil cooler lines. I can expect around $400 to $500 for the set, right? I guess now I know what I am spending part of my first paycheck on.

 

Good news is that it is an easy job. And no, there is no need to dump the oil as you remove those lines from below the crank pulley, at least with the car sitting nose up on a set of ramps.

Only caveat: you are going to deal with putting back a hard cheap x-brace screw going into a soft Aluminum engine block. Resist using the pressure of the screw on the brace to help seat these 2 oil lines and their o-ring. Someone I know (ahem..) did that and ended up having to re-tap the stripped threads for a bigger screw...

 

We replaced the 4 oil lines last year by having a local Hydraulic shop Tig weld barbs to the metal and install new commercial hoses rated to exceed the standard oil cooler hose specs. OEM with new O rings were priced at $500+. Still used new O Rings but costs totaled $250. Our repair was posted in a thread last year. Good Luck.

 

Jaguar issued a warning over 15 years ago.
Always good to check those hoses anyway.
They can fail even if the car is not in the VIN range.

 

Bullet dodged. Glad you got lucky

 

Bob,

Thanks for posting that TSB pertaining to these hose failures....

What changes were made to the hoses installed in the later cars that appear to make them exempt from this warning (but perhaps not from this issue)?

 

Probably the PART NUMBER and maybe the MANUFACTURER?

 

Thanks Bob! It looks like a real easy job to do. Kelly mentioned that I could have the hoses repaired and upgraded by a hydraulic hose shop.

I am going to research shops around my area who can do this before deciding if I go that route or buy new hoses.

Am I correct in that brand new OEM hoses may fail again in ~10 years?

 

Went to a local hydraulic shop and the guy quoted me $40 per line. So, at $160 plus the cost of the o-rings is not bad at all. I think I will go this direction. If the weather allows it, I might remove them today to take them to this guy.

 

FWIW, it looks like there are all manners of semi-affordable crimping tools and ferrules available on eBay. An A/C ferrule seems awfully close to what is needed here...

 

You're lucky..mine gave out cruising at 85mph on the highway in the middle of the Mohave Desert (nowhere), and dumped almost all my oil on the road. Had her to the shoulder in about 10 seconds and she dumped the rest. 😳

Gotta say though, I was Really worried about damage to the engine...but, I replaced the lines, and she purrs like a happy kitty. No change at ALL.

TOUGH motor 😁👍

 

At 100,000 miles the octopus hose on my 2003 XKR developed a leak. On the test drive after getting it all back together I sensed a strong smell of hot oil and then the oil pressure warning light came on. I was about 2 blocks from home so I drove home. In retrospect I should have pulled over, turned the engine off, and have it towed home; fortunately no further harm done! On examination I found that one of my oil cooler lines on the block side blew out; there was about a 1" spilt running lengthwise along the top hose. As the spilt was on the top of the hose it sprayed oil all over the engine compartment. I found a place that would replace the hoses with upgraded product. After the technician described the process I was not sure that the new connectors on the block side would fit back in that small space in the front of the block. I had him replace just hoses on lines going to the oil cooler and I bought new block-side lines. With all the bends in the lines whomever does the replacement has to be 100% accurate on putting them back together. One of mine was just a bit off which made the replacement a bit more difficult. I ordered new block-side lines and "O" rings and found when the parts were delivered that the lines came with "O" rings. As much as I tried I could not get the block-side lines fitted back into the block from under the car on my back so I had the car towed to a mechanic that charged me $100 to do it!

A couple of the oil cooler isolation mounts were broken. As the dealer wanted $50 each I did my best to fix and reuse the old ones. Later I found that McMaster Carr has what looks to be identical replacements for about $2.50 each.

 

Mine happened on a Sunday when I was going into work to get ahead on some projects. I was burning the tires going around a corner from a stop for fun and BOOM, they went, smoke and oil pressure out. I was immediately shutting it down, got it towed home and actually replaced with Jaguar parts. I needed it back on the road quickly or I would do the replacement you (giandanielxk8) you are doing via a shop refurbishing these. I had no ill mechanical issues since I was Johnny on the spot like it sounds you were, so iits been smooth sailing the 20k+ miles and 5+ years.

 

Glendaniel (or anyone),

This falls into my what could go wrong next category. Turns out I see i have a hydraulic place around the corner.

Was it just as simple as removing the hoses and showing them to your guy to get a new set made?

Thanks, John

 

Same thing happened to me going 70 mph on freeway.I wrote about it here several years ago. Blew a hole in one of the oil cooler lines. Lost ALL the oil before realizing the problem. DID NOT ruin the engine; speaks pretty highly of these engines, I'd say. Anyway, I took the hoses to a hydraulic line place, they removed the old hoses from the end fittings and cut new lengths for me and installed them LOOSELY on the end fittings. They gave me high quality hose clamps designed for high fluid pressure. The reason I asked them to install the new hose sections LOOSELY was because when you go to re-install them on the car you will then be able to EASILY index the fittings on opposite ends of the hoses so that they line up perfectly in the cooler and engine block without putting any twist pressure on the hoses or any alignment and possible cross-threading problems with the fittings. This allowed for very easy re-installation of the hoses and fittings, and IT COST ME $40 ! The other thing I discovered after re-installing them was that the new FACTORY o-rings that supposedly seal the fittings to the block DIDN'T. A couple of weeks later, after noticing a little oil leak from the front block area, I had to remove those o-rings and grab some slightly larger ones from my o-ring stash. Upshot of all this : Perfectly dry again, the old X308 is humming along very happily years later.

 

I removed the lines a couple of hours ago. What a mess. It was very easy to do, but my god the oil in my hands and on the ground was more than expected. I had to shovel a lot more sand under the car to soak up the oil. I then took them to the hydraulic hoses shop. He said that he can upgrade them using steel instead of aluminum for the barbs and using tig welding as well as replacing the rubber hose section. I did not actually discuss with him if he would re-use the part of the hose that is just a metal line to the block and it didn't occur to me and he did not mention it. He said he can have them done by tomorrow. I took all four lines to him. The guy came out highly recommended by a friend. I hope it is a quality result that will be leak-free.

Khlee, you mentioned that you had to use o-rings from your stash and that the OEM o-rings leaked. I was wondering why I needed to buy the OEM rings when I have a stash of metric assortment o-rings in my garage. I would rather save the $66 a local parts shop quoted me for o-rings. Is this a sound decision or is there a reason why most people prefer to use the OEM o-rings?

I also have to figure out a good way of cleaning that mess of oil on the top edge of the oil-pan and the area of the small x-brace

 

I just mistakenly assumed that the oem o-rings would fit and seal up properly. I was wrong. I found some of my nitrile o-rings that were a very snug fit, just slightly larger than the oem, no leaks ever since. I had the SAME problem on the Mercedes 722 trans. in my car, with the electric multi-plug on the front-right side of the trans. case. I bought the Mercedes FACTORY plug with o-ring attached, and it leaked trans. fluid immediately. Found a slightly oversized o-ring, and no leaks a decade later...I don't know what to make of this, since I was careful to buy only oem on these parts.
I would say that if the fitting slides into place in the block a little TOO easily, then that o-ring is going to leak. You should feel some significant resistance when installing it, even though you should also coat it with a little oil beforehand.

 

# Me Too

 

See my comment below re: the alignment of the hose-end fittings

 

Well timed thread. I’m due an oil change and decided to replace the oil cooler lines/hoses. Fred Mertz has been telling everyone for as long as I can remember to change out these hoses. Makes sense because you really wouldn’t know you ruptured one of these hoses before you caused catastrophic damage to your engine.

I thought I remembered hearing these lines were going to cost about $200. However, after a little research that figure grew to almost $500 for all four pieces. So I am leaning towards having a shop rebuild mine as well.

Best I can tell the only O rings are the ones needed for the line to block connection? Any suggestions for sourcing these O rings would be appreciated.

Daniel, let us know how this worked out for you. Thanks