Am I running hot?

[DaimlerE17]

My 4.2 series 2 runs quite hot. The temp gauge is going past the L on 'NORMAL'. It seems to stop about there and never goes all the way over. I have topped up the cooling system by adding water to the header tank. It took about 2 L but still ran about the same temp. There appears to be no leaks. I'm new to Jag ownership and just wanted to see whether this normal or whether there might be a thermostat/water pump issue.

Cheers,

Jon

[DaimlerE17]

Now I'm sacred! The rear of the engine has steam escaping and the temperature got even higher today. I reckon head gasket failure. No milky stuff in oil but might have given up the ghost too recently for that.

[piman]

Hello DaimlerE18,

I would expect that it is the result of a faulty hose or possibly a core plug before a head gasket failure, which generally fails internally and results in rough running. The temperature increase will be due to the loss of coolant?

Alec

[DaimlerE17]

Thanks for that. I hope you're right. Engine is running like a dream so you could well be right.

Jon