Jaguar's engineers have buried two long rubber hoses beneath the intake manifold in the "V" between the cylinder heads. Replacement is an often subject in these forums. General consensus seems that these hoses start leaking about seven years after mfg. Because these hoses are hidden leaks can go undetected for some time.
In my opinion, this is poor engineering. The hoses will tend to heat the intake manifold which robs power. The heat tends to shorten hose life also.
Has anyone done a "work around" moving the hoses to the motor's exterior?
Ideally, the job could be done leaving the intake manifold and hoses in place, just changing connections.
I have a '07 XK and realize that this forum covers earlier models, but members of this forum seem more involved with mechanics than later model forums. My Jaguar Workshop Manual CD illustrates the coolant hoses and shows these hoses leading to and from the interior heater core (radiator). They do not attach directly to the heater core. The are attached to connectors to short hoses that in turn connect directly to the core.
Forward at the front of the motor the connections are vague in the CD manual's drawings. Perhaps one hose connects to the infamous "Octupus Assmbly" - maybe the cool hose? Perhaps the warm hose connects elsewhere?
Anyone have any ideas, suggestions, comments.

 

If it was me I would replace the block connection in metal to the back of the block and just have a short rubber pipe, the other you could do as the S Type R does and route it around the outside, should give you food for thought

 

No need to re-route them, use silicone replacements,they outlast the vehicle as im doing.

 

Quite a complex shape getting the pipe up to the main water pipe with out it kinking, the lower one would be quite simple to do and as far as I know I am the only one who makes bespoke silicone pipes for the 8s and Rs

 

Browsing the Range Rover forums, it seems they have metal pipes ... and have leaks with them too.

Don't suppose you have any pictures of the S-Type R layout at the front of the block?

 

I don't have any pics of the layout but you might be able to find it in the JEPC

 

Angled brass elbows will do the trick.

Universal Elbows | Silicone Hoses & Accessories | Motorsport | Home | Demon Tweeks

take a look.


Ive done this before on worse setups than our cars lol.

 

Thats a lot of joins in a small space, more joins, more chances of leaks.......

 

Thanks for all your kind advice.
Did more research under the hood of my '07XK (not an XK8). I had just assumed I had "valley pipes" because I couldn't see them.
Not true - the '07 and after does not have valley pipes, at least not to the heater core. I apologize for wasting your time, but thank you.
My '07 heater core has two short rubber hoses through the firewall. A couple of inches north of the firewall there is a connector to nice metal pipes running to the coolant circulation pump mounted on/near the radiator.
Whether or not one can easily retrofit this to an XK8 remains to be seen. My sense is that a custom made arrangement using AN fittings and SS braided hoses would not only be absolutely and totally leak proof but look nice also.