My car has developed a leak somewhere around the thermostat housing. Orange coolant is just sort of appearing on the hoses and in that general area. I looked through this post so it seems to be a common problem. I've seen these aluminum housings but it looks like they only fit up through VIN A30644. I've been down that road before.

They changed the housing in '03. I guess the earlier ones weren't convoluted enough so they had to make an upgrade. The cooling system in these things had to have been designed by Theodor Geisel.

Anyway, in the above FAQ thread, it says you need a crows foot to replace the earlier ones. Has anyone changed the later style? or know if they make a replacement aluminum housing?

I'm guessing it would still be best to change everything and jpamporschejaguarparts.com has what they call a thermostat housing which looks like it comes with a thermostat and all the other stuff. $69.88 seems too cheap but I guess I'll ask them about it.

-Joe

 

Give Dan a call at Nalley Jag, i'm sure he'll come close, or match that price. He'll even make sure you get the right one.

 

For those with later models, this may prove helpful. It seems the tower part of the whole thermostat housing mess was improved somewhat in '03. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, they went with this kinda goofy multi-piece thermostat that's held in by the housing.

Alas, the plastic housing is not up to the job, at least not for all eternity:


So, if you're wondering why your car isn't running at the right temperature or in my case, leaking. This is why.

I have to hand it to them for using 'O'-rings, no gaskets to scrape off. It is a cheap and very simple repair and supposedly, the new ones are 'improved'. I'll find out if it ever shows up.

-Joe

 

You can go to my page to see how I did it. http://www.gusglikas.com/AutoRepairTherHousing.htm