Hello everybody, so I’m afraid this might be the end of the road for me and my Jaguar, I have a 2000 xkr and yesterday was noticing white smoke from exhaust and water dripping from it, could it be a head gasket?

 

Best $30 you'll ever spend.

Combustion Leak Detector (harborfreight.com)

I just bought an 01 that my wise arsed brother thought has a bad head gasket....he was wrong.

Oh, you'll need some of the fluid as well.

Combustion Leak Detector Fluid (harborfreight.com)

I confirmed it worked by passing it over the exhaust pipe to make sure....pretty darned accurate.

 

End of the road ? That sounds pretty fatalistic. Even if it is a bad head gasket, those can be fixed.

and it just might be H2O condensation

so don’t panic or assume the worst.

Z

 

Is the coolant level dropping?

Is there any sign of oil in the coolant header tank or sign of water/emulsion on the oil filler/dipstick?

Richard

 

Probably just condensation. If you dont loose coolant - just drive and be happy

 

So I got scared and bought a leak test from harbor freight, I tested it on the coolant header tank and i don’t have a leak. But am I suppose to test it on the reservoir tank? I don’t see an opening for the radiator.

 

Did you recently take it out of storage? Mine does something similar for a day or 2 after I take it out of it's 6 month winter hibernation, white smoke and a lot of water drops out of the tail pipes The first year I took it to my mechanic and he couldn't find anything wrong with the car. He suggested taking it on the highway and giving her an Italian tune up which cleared it right up. A good romp after dark on the highway when there's no one around has become part of my spring routine. As a matter of fact, now that I'm thinking about it....

 

Not sure what you mean about the coolant header tank but if you did it via the reservoir on the driver's side you're set.

Congrats on the results!