After reading razorboy's post about his coolant overflow tank leaking, I decided it might be a good idea to check my own, as I have already uncovered a few surprises with my barn-find XK8. Another surprise! There was no overflow tank in the wheel well at all! Jshaub quickly helped me with a good used replacement (thanks) and I installed it right away.

Before buttoning up the wheel well liner back up, I checked the entire recess for signs of rust or corrosion (none), but noticed that the hose that drains from below the windshield & wipers just seems to dump right into the top of the wheel well. I pulled the liner from the left side and it is the same. Is this the way it is supposed to be? Seems like there ought to be another hose connected that would then channel rain/wash water directly down to the very bottom of the recess, preventing possible corrosion issues.

Also, is there supposed to be an air gap in the front top of the tank where the overflow line attaches? Will this eventually fill up with fluid so there is no delay in pulling coolant back into the reservoir after engine cool down?

Here are a couple of pictures to help show what I'm trying to describe; does anyone know if this is right or ????

 

It looks like mine does. The tube is never going to be at a higher level than the the bottle. The drain is dumping on the wheel arch liner which doesn't stop water from getting behind it. It just stops velocity of the water. There is nothing to stop the water from draining out.

 

Thanks Vern; appreciate the confirmation on both items. There is, of course, nothing to make drain water collect and sit until it rusted the well out,

Though it would seem more logical to have the pick up tube down in the bottom of the overflow tank to keep from sucking air back up to the reservoir, I'm sure the engineers tested this design to the fullest.

At least I can now get back to searching for other surprises. When I bought this from my 90-year-old uncle up in Boise ID, I asked him how bad he would skin me before making an offer. He replied, "Pretty bad, but you won't realize it until you get home to Las Vegas..." At least the joy of driving it is well worth the cost of restoring it!

 

No - that drain pipe is correct. At least that little pipe keeps the water away from some fairly critical electronic modules.

 

Thanks David; appreciate your input and the diagram. The little drain pipe from the scuttle to the inside of the wheel well is in place, thank goodness. I was just unsure if an auxiliary/secondary drain pipe to help channel water to the bottom of the wheel well might be missing. I can see that any water will not collect in the bottom however, and the wheel well is obviously primed and painted just like the exterior.