Oil leak - Poss Hydraulic ?? Technical advice please ?

[Zippyworld]

My 1998 XJR is not a happy bunny.

I was out on the motorway recently and was driving at a fair old rate of knots when I noticed the engine temp guage dropping, it was getting really low, however this did not affect the cars performance, i switched the heater off and the temp rose again. It was about 2 degrees outside and as I say I was driving through cold air at a good speed. Middle of the night....

I parked up and the next day I noticed oil of some sort, its pinkish like gearbox oil, had leaked onto the plastic bottom engine cover thingy that attaches to the front spoiler and part of the wheel arch cover. So I have taken this off and started the car, as it does not leak when the engine is running. The oil is dripping from the long (I don't know what its called) toilet brush type shape that runs the length of the radiator, as far as I can tell its not something above this and dripping onto it, but can't be sure.

Has anyone any idea what this can be, do I replace the toilet brush thingy, whats it called ?
Is it common ? When it leaks its quite a fast leak too.

Any help would go a long way.

[drummerboyXJR]

Sounds like gearbox cooler pipe, would advise not driving till sorted.

[Zippyworld]

Thanks for the response, its the pipe that has what looks like paperclips sticking out all around it.

[drummerboyXJR]

Had a look on the JTIS, as usual nothing about our 'sealed for life' boxes.
Pretty sure that pipe is the gearbox fluid cooler. You may have whacked it on something and split it?
Shouldnt be too expensive, but dont drive it and risk losing all your ATF.
HTH

[Zippyworld]

Thanks for checking this out, i have just bought said CD-ROM off Ebay.

Hope it nots too expensive, but it just looks expensive ! Even by Jag standards.

Pity there's a problem with the car, been great driving weather today....

[Jaguar steve]

Have you checked the coolant level? Loss of temperature indication dependent on heater setting suggests a problem with the cooling system, and a good place to start looking for leaks on a V8 would be the black plastic combined thermostat housing and filler plug at the front of the engine. Have a look at the colour of the coolant in the header tank then compare it with whatever is leaking.
Your age of XJ might well be filled with a pinkish red coolant and not the later long life one which is a lurid greeny orange.

Apparently (I've never done this - honest ) coolant has a bitter sweet taste...

Whatever you do don't run it until you are certain that the level is correct - you really don't want to turn what might just be a minor leak into a blown headgasket. If that's all it is then a pressure test should find any sources of leaks.

[P700DEE]

Sorry but I think you will find that it is the power steeering cooling pipe. Very common leak point , costs about £90. Check your power steering fluid levels, note it is Dexron III and a nice pinky red colour

[Jaguar steve]

P700DEE said:

Sorry but I think you will find that it is the power steeering cooling pipe. Very common leak point , costs about £90. Check your power steering fluid levels, note it is Dexron III and a nice pinky red colour

No need for aoplogies - you may well be right. In fact if you are it's good news for the OP as the PAS cooler is an easy fix.

The tempertaure variation needs urgent investigation 'tho, there may another entirely unrelated issue that could be a lot more serious.

[drummerboyXJR]

I stand corrected, sorry OP for giving you a bum steer(no pun intended)

[Zippyworld]

I will report back, I had a look at the CD Rom and it does not look like the gearbox oil cooler according to the data.

The car goes in next week so I will raise all the points made here.

thankyou

[Zippyworld]

Had a look at this again just now, the cardid need a half pint of coolant, but thats probably about right.....One thing I have now checked (and I really should have done sooner) is the power steering fluid level and this appears to be very low, its not even meeting the dipstick.

I have some Fuchs Titan 3353 thats unopened from the transmission oil change (unopened) it had Dexron III written on it, should I top up with this before I get it to the garage ?

Whats the general consensus ?

Thanks

[Jaguar steve]

Dexron 111 is the correct oil for the PAS system. Top it up straight away - if it goes down again then that's almost certainly the source of the leak.

There are two marks on the dipstick, the lower one is for the correct level when the system is cold and the other is right when the oil is hot.

[Zippyworld]

I will top it up, I reckon P700DEE is right on this, looking again at the CD ROM I have we are looking at a leaky PAS cooler. What do I need to buy for £90 to fix it then ? and where from ?