thermostat housing

[WULLIE4567]

Hello again everybody
After doing all the timing chains on my XK, I noticed a wee leak of anti-freeze coming from the cap on my thermostat housing. . After investigation I found a wee crack running down the front side of the housing. (over tightining usualy the cause) I phoned Jaguar parts £75 + vat. got one for £31 + vat from barratts. It's a wee tricky job to do but not hard. The two bolts at the rear are hard to get into then the washer face hits the inlet manifold, a wee bent to shape 8mm spanner does the trick. When refitting the bolts fit new ones to the rear (maybe a couple of threads shorter) with no washer face but fit a seperate washer instead this lets you fit the bolt easyer. If you buff down an old 8mm socket this will let you torque the bolts.
http://www.jec-xk8-forum.org.uk/xk8bb2/ ... 8-1_tn.jpg
plastic housing not a good idea

http://www.jec-xk8-forum.org.uk/xk8bb2/ ... 8-3_tn.jpg

http://www.jec-xk8-forum.org.uk/xk8bb2/ ... 8-4_tn.jpg





cheers Wullie.

[GrandTourer]

Thanks for the info, Wullie.
You are becoming our resident EXPERT by doing all these jobs

[WULLIE4567]

Hi G T.

Thanks for the feedback. just back from a wee break in Edinburgh back to work tomorrow

cheers
Wullie.

[doug424]

Hello Wullie,
I've had a go at this job myself, as I too found a persistent if small leak coming from this area.
I've said this before, but some parts of the car were designed by the accountancy team, and this is one of them. One needs the patience of a saint and little experience to do this job.
Completed the job ok, but could not get my flexible crows foot round the rear bolts due to lack of space, so I've had to trust in luck that I've torqued them up ok.
You were quite right about shortening the rear two bolts, it makes quite a difference; in fact I put the new tube on in about half the time to take the old one off.
The real giggle to this job is that new bolts supplied by my local dealer were even longer than the ones I took off; trying to use these longer bolts would have been all but impossible. Nice to see that someone at Castlebromwich has a sense of humour.
I've had a good look at the remove stub pipe, but can see nothing amiss; the leak must have been tiny.

Doug Barrass,
Ashford, Kent.

[WULLIE4567]

Hi Doug
Glad you got it sorted, yeh we part time boys could show them a thing or two about design, it's not so easy to find a small leak. just look out for the tell tail sign of dry antifreeze.
cheers
Wullie

[Bob5043]

Hi Doug
Glad you got it sorted, yeh we part time boys could show them a thing or two about design, it's not so easy to find a small leak. just look out for the tell tail sign of dry antifreeze.
cheers
Wullie

Hi Wullie
Did this job yesterday as part of a complete renewal of all the usual suspect bits on the front and top of the engine. Used one of the new aluminium thermostat towers from Berkshire Jags at £55 plus the usual extra for some MP's second house/bath plug etc. Quality of aluminium casting was fine, it fitted perfectly and came with all the O rings which would set you back around £9 at your local Jag dealer. Was obviously easier to do with all the surrounding parts stripped off, but do remember that spotting someone else's design deficiencies is always far easier than starting with a blank sheet of paper on a drawing board, or even worse, a blank computer screen (showing my age now!)

Bob

[WULLIE4567]

Hi Bob
It's good to see all us owners doing some of these jobs ourselfs rather than being ripped of by the dealers. You also get to know the car better. Glad your sorted out. Mines is hiding in the garage at the moment because I was in hospital getting a new titanium part fitted to my vertabrae (neck) when they removed my disc. not a jag part so should be ok, ha ha
Cheers
Wullie

[MarkyM]

Never understood what sense fitting the stock part was when the ali one has been around for almost 3yrs (albeit not quite 2 in the UK).

Also £58+Vat at British parts:

http://www.britishparts.co.uk/.sc/ms/dd ... -ALUMINIUM

Am keen to do this when the weather improves so if someone has a step-by-step guide (or thinks of doing one) I'd be grateful. Have to do a rad change (probably the only original item left on my 6 Oct 96 registered car) and coolant flush in summer as from previous experiences it's always preferrable to do when warm.

Regards

Mark
LPG XK8, steel linered, 2005 spings, full polybush set, McLeod X-pipe 'Cat's Roar' 11-speaker inifinity kappa system, smartnav, DAB tuner, Parrot handsfree, aerial cut off switch, 3 x aux power sockets, OEM Xenons, cruise lights, 2003 rear lights, LED rear lights, LED blue interior lighting. Running on 5w30 Royal Purple fully synth, bespoke Apexi intake with iridium plugs.

[WULLIE4567]

Hi Mark
Just going through some of the older posts, did you ever get you housing done???

Cheers
Wullie

[MarkyM]

Wully

No cos it's been so darn cold/wet (just got back from Eastern Hungary and it was 31 degrees C and dry |

First things first, lawns not been mown in 5 weeks so dogs are getting lost!

Mark

[WULLIE4567]

Hi Mark
Teach the wife or girl freind to cut the grass or buy a coo so you have more time for the more important things in life now your back you can buy one of those gazzeebo' things to keep you dry when doing the job well have fun anyway.

Cheers
Wullie

[J44EAG]

Evening All.

This will perhaps interest those who have read these posts concerning thermostat tower changes to 4 litre V8 Jaguar engines.

In the forthcoming October 2009 JEC magazine you will find in the S-type Forum pages, my article on changing the thermostat tower complete with pictures. I hope it is some use to V8 owners considering changing from the old plastic unit to the Dave Welsh Enterprizes aluminium replacement item. Whether plastic or ali, the procedure is identical on XK, XJ or S-types. Provided you have a bent spanner the job is relatively straight forward.

I believe Berkshire Jag act as import agents for the part. It`s a good item. Just ensure the top of the tower thread has a flat rather than sharp finish on the top of the thread. A few strokes with a file will flatten the thread where it comes into contact with the cap O-ring. My first O-ring became cut as a result of the sharp finish.

Read all about it!!

Mike Kennedy. S-type Co-ordinator. JEC

[MarkyM]

Had mine done whilst I was in Hungary (returned2am this morning).

Apparently my local fitter was sent 4 when he ordered 1 so the seller let him have the other three at cost £35 each which he passed onto me :O)

So factoring this in the two hours labour and supply of my own anti-freeze, it's now done so will take a pic of the finished artical tomorrow for posting.

Mark

[MarkyM]

Had mine done whilst I was in Hungary (returned2am this morning).

Apparently my local fitter was sent 4 when he ordered 1 so the seller let him have the other three at cost £35 each which he passed onto me :O)

So factoring this in the two hours labour and supply of my own anti-freeze, it's now done so will take a pic of the finished artical tomorrow for posting.

Mark

[mike020150]

No doubt as our cars age and the plastic housings goes brittle, many more of us will require this upgrade to cure fluid losses. Mike.