Bloody XF cooling issues

[minimutly]

My 2008 v6 petrol xf came with a few little hidden issues. A whif of antifreeze was the first thing, so I replaced the radiator with a factors part. Maybe I was a bit careless with the header tank, but it wasn’t long before the little return pipe spigot showed it had had enough. So I bought a pattern copy from a supplier on eBay, who turned out to be selling Chinese inferior copies, and who then didn’t understand English. So I bought a genuine one, smug but annoyed with myself. Then the top hose tee started leaking, where the small bore pipe joins it (plastic bit) started crumbling. So a genuine top hose (hundred and something quid) was fitted. There we are, all done. Except we weren’t. Started losing water again.
Yesterday I pulled the radiator, it’s peeing water out at the clamped joint to one of the side caps. So, seeing as this is now out of warranty, looks like a Jaguar supplied pattern part (120 plus vat). At least it has 2 years of warranty. The genuine one is over £400 plus vat. So far the XF, which is an absolute joy to drive, with all the toys etc, has proven to be not a patch on my previous barge, the MGZT V6, ridiculed by many as a rebadged Rover....
In truth if Rover and their parts supply had still existed I would likely have continued with it, but the quality of available parts was dire, chinesium and Indian mostly.

 

[RWD3M]

My 2008 v6 petrol xf came with a few little hidden issues. A whif of antifreeze was the first thing, so I replaced the radiator with a factors part. Maybe I was a bit careless with the header tank, but it wasn’t long before the little return pipe spigot showed it had had enough. So I bought a pattern copy from a supplier on eBay, who turned out to be selling Chinese inferior copies, and who then didn’t understand English. So I bought a genuine one, smug but annoyed with myself. Then the top hose tee started leaking, where the small bore pipe joins it (plastic bit) started crumbling. So a genuine top hose (hundred and something quid) was fitted. There we are, all done. Except we weren’t. Started losing water again.
Yesterday I pulled the radiator, it’s peeing water out at the clamped joint to one of the side caps. So, seeing as this is now out of warranty, looks like a Jaguar supplied pattern part (120 plus vat). At least it has 2 years of warranty. The genuine one is over £400 plus vat. So far the XF, which is an absolute joy to drive, with all the toys etc, has proven to be not a patch on my previous barge, the MGZT V6, ridiculed by many as a rebadged Rover....
In truth if Rover and their parts supply had still existed I would likely have continued with it, but the quality of available parts was dire, chinesium and Indian mostly.

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[Munkul]

I'm not sure how different the petrols are to the diesels, but i had a 'mare with my xfs 3.0d when i did the timing belt... There is so little room in there that the radiator has to be pulled before you can get near the front of the engine. Putting it back in, it has funky "quick connect" clips on the rad hoses... That don't lock in very positively.
After doing the work, 3 days later the bottom pipe worked its way out of the qc socket and dropped all of the coolant... Thankfully only half a mile away from home!

Thing is, i love the car to bits, its the first time in years I've kept a car longer than 2 years. Got 140k on the clock and for what it's worth now, I've decided to run it another year, probably sell at 160k.

 

[minimutly]

I'm not sure how different the petrols are to the diesels, but i had a 'mare with my xfs 3.0d when i did the timing belt... There is so little room in there that the radiator has to be pulled before you can get near the front of the engine. Putting it back in, it has funky "quick connect" clips on the rad hoses... That don't lock in very positively.
After doing the work, 3 days later the bottom pipe worked its way out of the qc socket and dropped all of the coolant... Thankfully only half a mile away from home!

Thing is, i love the car to bits, its the first time in years I've kept a car longer than 2 years. Got 140k on the clock and for what it's worth now, I've decided to run it another year, probably sell at 160k.

Yes, lovely, well set up drivers cars. But they have some strange quirks, and rear subframes that rust like minis did.

 

[8ob]

Sounds like the cooling system is pressurising.Same things happen with the jap trucks, starts off with a rad that’s lost it’s cooling efficiency,that brings on a partial head gasket failure, rad then gets changed along with loads of other bits that go pop on the way, then the thing goes bang on a motorway.

Bob

 

[Bullet2012]

but the quality of available parts was dire, chinesium

Maybe the ones from China would be good. They did buy all the tooling

 

[minimutly]

Sounds like the cooling system is pressurising.Same things happen with the jap trucks, starts off with a rad that’s lost it’s cooling efficiency,that brings on a partial head gasket failure, rad then gets changed along with loads of other bits that go pop on the way, then the thing goes bang on a motorway.

Bob

I shall fit and check the pressure, I am having the same thoughts. possibly this all started with the original rotten rad...

 

[minimutly]

Fitted new rad, everything good, no pressure build up (on idle anyway), road test tomorrow, with pressure gauge up the spout...
Fingers crossed.

 

[Trevorleach]

Sounds like the cooling system is pressurising.Same things happen with the jap trucks, starts off with a rad that’s lost it’s cooling efficiency,that brings on a partial head gasket failure, rad then gets changed along with loads of other bits that go pop on the way, then the thing goes bang on a motorway.

Bob

Td5 anyone!

 

[Munkul]

Silly question maybe, but isn't the rad cap/expansion tank rated for 140kpa? That's only 1.4bar, not crazy high pressure... Unless it's not relieving properly.

 

[Trevorleach]

Silly question maybe, but isn't the rad cap/expansion tank rated for 140kpa? That's only 1.4bar, not crazy high pressure... Unless it's not relieving properly.

I think most are 1 bar give or take a bit, but for some reason most cooling systems can achieve much higher pressures without the safety cap blowing?
I have personally had header tank caps shoot 20 feet from the vehicle when removed.

 

[Domdom]

Ok, my experience with the XF was that the 3.0d was fine from new to 130k miles.
the later XFR which replaced it was less than perfect and had cooling issues. I was lucky enough to know a chap who was (at the time) managing a Jag dealer in Birmingham. He got me a new rad, new expansion tank, some new hoses, the 3 which are known to cause issues, and a thermostat. I figured that if I was going to go thro the pain of working on it, with so little room in the engine bay, I was going to do it all at once, which I did. Took a whole weekend though.
One thing I did was to replace standard coolant with the waterless stuff. Expensive but it doesn’t boil until 180 odd degrees, which is way hotter than the engine runs. This means it doesn’t expand and turn into steam so you get way less pressure in the system. You can even take the cap off the expansion tank with the engine at full operating temperature and it doesn’t all blow out. Well worth doing.
And yes, the XF is a proper car. Super comfy, easy to live with, cheapish to service. The R does eat through back tyres though.

 

[Munkul]

I think most are 1 bar give or take a bit, but for some reason most cooling systems can achieve much higher pressures without the safety cap blowing?
I have personally had header tank caps shoot 20 feet from the vehicle when removed.

When water is superheated in a cooling system (ie above boiling point - 105 to 110 degrees C in normal running) when the pressure is released it will all flash boil and release an awful lot of energy. It's not the pressure alone that gives it the power. It's why steam explosions are so powerful compared to compressed air - because the energy in the steam is used in expansion.