Engine coolant low warning - clouds of steam

[bmc123]

was just heading home and as i turned at the bottom of the road I was aware of clouds of what I thought was smoke behind me, I then looked down and saw the engine coolant low warning, as I was in fact so close to home and had only driven for abut 15 minutes, and there were no other nasty noises I nursed her in and stopped.

There is a cloud of steam coming from the front radiator area, its dark and I cannot see anything else at this stage - also its Saturday night so no mechanic until Monday morning probably

so any ideas? something simple like a hose? or worse

[BrianG]

Sorry to hear about you problem BMC,

The problem may be obvious in daylight so this email may not be needed. Apart from obvious split hoses or a failed radiator, check the thermostat housing plastic tower at the front of the engine. These can split (cast aluminium replacement is available) or -as happened to me - the gasket between the plastic housing and the engine block failed. Lots of steam but fortunately a relatively gradual loss of coolant, unlike a hose where you'd probably lose lots very quickly.

[joejag308]

Looks like that time of year is upon us............its now the season of check check and check again..........Hoses, rusty clips, enough correct coolant...
If the radiator hasn't been flushed out (ever) try having it done.
Then its the belts, fan belt, power belt, why this time of year makes a difference i dont know.........but it seems to do.
I think the time we call "winter" has in the last few years been a rather nice but cold time unlike past years with snow and ice t......so the laying up of the cars is not as necessary as in past years.....especially if you have a garage........i hope you all have a good winter where you can still use the Jag without any problems .......but the routine checking and replacing worn items is a lot cheaper than a major engine blow up....

[bmc123]

This is an odd one.... the top hose came off

I did not touch anything as I wanted my mechanic to see it first, thing is the hose is on with a jubilee clip, not the plastic one. I must assume the PO had maybe some problem like that before?

anyway, for now we refilled with ordinary water to "flush" the car - noticed no heat so assumed an airlock - the mechanic took her for a run and all gauges are normal, no warning messages and the heat came back after switching the heater off and on again. She switched to gas slightly longer than usual, I assume as she was not up to temp due to the airlock.

She is running fine now, there was an odd rattle we could not place that seems to have gone but we will be keeping our eyes (and ears) open in case something else has broken/failed

we are going to drain it completely in the morning (as we are both busy and can't do it until then) and he asked me to find out the best method for doing that, he is a BMW bloke with some jag experience and wants to find out the "proper" bleeding procedure before filling her with coolant again.

thanks so far for the advice

[joejag308]

sounds like hes doing ok .........it cant be a bad thing doing all that at this time of year.........i have heard of top hoses doing that before but they had the plastic clips on..........as long as its not too much pressure build up in the cooling system it should be ok ......joe