I have found a few post on water leaks on the forum and someone suggested trying the USA site as they post a lot about RRS 5.0ltr leaks.

But i thought i would just try my luck here first.

I spent a while today, having a good look around the engine trying to see if i could try and track down my leak (as its quite a slow one, no dripping on floor and only seems to go down after a long drive, losing half way between full line and minimal line on the coolant reservoir after a 2 hour drive.

@col suggest this previously: As for the water leak I would check closely under the front of the supercharger and water pump area, as it has been mentioned recently about 'O' rings leaking and plastic crossover pipes eroding away with age etc. in that area.

My biggest concern is it might be going back into the engine, (but i don't think it is, as it does look a little wet at the bottom of the sump guard under tray).

But the first couple of images i have uploaded is of the bottom of the oil cap (please don't roast me, i know i should be able to tell if this oil is normal or milky) the oil is coming up to one year old and its done roughly 5000 miles since last service. Does this oil look like normal oil consistency to you (although its prob impossible to tell from the tiny amount in the shot)?

Would you say by following the coolant in the images it could be like @col says and coming from below the supercharger?

The orange drip lines in the first shot, don't look wet and look like they have been there for a while so they might be a red herring.

But the little puddle in shot 5 is def wet and looks fresh.

Any advice what i could try next, buying a pressure tester? or would you just hand it into an indy and swallow the probably huge labour cost why they try and track it down) as i don't feel confident to strip it down to check under the super charger etc?

Thanks to anyone who replies.












 2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black

From what I can see of the oil it looks ok to me, generally if it had water in it, it would be emulsified and take on a milky/grey appearance, how much coolant would you say you have lost over what period of time. I guess it could however leaking from a head gasket water gallery into the cylinder bore which would possibly burn it off when engine running and you wouldn't really know although, if that was the case it may pressurize the cooling system as well, but a "sniffer" test or cooling system pressure test may confirm that. As the leak and tell tale signs appear to show a external leak, initially I think I would still investigate that possibility.

Cheers
Col

Last edited by Col on Mon Feb 20 2023 10:05pm. Edited 1 time in total

Think you should try some of this or similar in the expansion bottle this one comes with a black light I use yellow glasses to help see the fluro dye and looking at night in the dark helps.

Hey Col and Lrstaylor, thanks so much for replying.

Ahh thank Col, thats good news on the oil 🙏🏼 Ok thanks for the advice. I'll have a look out for a cheap-ish sniffer tester, so least that would rule out the cooling system.

Regarding how much coolant used i bought 2ltr's of concentrate on the 22nd of December 2022 & i have 1ltr left in the container. So once its mixed with deionised water 50/50 split, i guess i have used 2ltr's of coolant, it took 1ltr to get it back to the max fill line on the 22nd and i've been keeping it topped up since.

I should have checked miles when i got low coolant initial fault which was 21st of Dec, the closest milage check i have was November the 9th 2022 the car had done 77891 miles the car has now done 80,300 so its used 2ltr's of coolant in very roughly 2,409 miles (but obviously less miles than that as the mileage check was 6 weeks before the fault.

And thanks Lrstaylor that so clever. Will looking into this also.

I also thought, i should finally get under the car remove the sump protector tray so i can clean all the old oil and what i think is coolant off all the bottom hoses & pipes and off the tray, so its dry and clean down there, which would help massively to see if it leaking down into this area. And spent a few hours going down a rabbit hole, of buying these lovely looking https://www.sgs-engineering.com/jsr6-ratchet-axle-stands alex stands, someone mentioned how good they were on here and they said even though the 12 tone pair are over kill, because you hardly have to extend they are so much safer, compared to the 6 tone pair, which you pretty much have to fully extend to get a good height on the RRS to work underneath. But then i thought i really need a jack as well and then wheel chocks. Also i should probably then buy a torque wrench as well for the tray bolts if you go by the manual plus degreasers etc. So its suddenly gone into hundreds!!! And then even if i do this and find the leak, i'm prob still not going to be able to fix myself unless its just a hose. (i would love all these parts above, but as i live in a communal block and don't really have anywhere to store them i think i'll have wait) its looking more and more like i will just have to hand it in and pay the labour  2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black

that's probably your crossover coolant pipe that's leaking: sandwiched between the engine block and the supercharger, it will all evaporate.

But when it eventually fails completely, it will do so under full load and your engine will cook before you have time to safely stop, so get it replaced asap. And the water pump while you're at it.

There is an upgraded JLR part for it, or you can go aluminium with an aftermarket kit: https://euro-amp.com/products/new-jaguar-l...ged-engine

Click image to enlarge

Here's some info on how to detect this leak: https://www.rangerovers.net/threads/coolan...ll.351574/ --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ

Hey Naks,

Sorry for delay in reply, thanks so much for replying and for the warning and the link to the thread, i had never even thought of using a Borescope to check for coolant leaks, its perfect because you literally cannot get anywhere near that area with-out starting to strip parts off.

Another tool i need to add to my list.

Since your previous msg, thanks for sending the metal pipes 🙌🏻 i had read threads about these Y pipe previously and i know they changed the design but i didn't know they made metal ones, so thanks for that. Part of my thinks if i should buy a metal one now (and have it ready) because if a garage does find it is though's pipes and needs to change them it would take them days or weeks to order this part in, and we would be carless for a while.

Since your msg its made me realise this could be more serious than i had thought so have been ringing indies for quotes etc.

Thanks again for help and warnings, i'll post an update when i know more.

Could i just ask in that thread (please see attachment below) someone comments that "They are aluminum on older 5.0 V8s engines," referring to the Y pipes, is he referring to my model as it is 2012? and the car in the thread is newer shape 2014?

 2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black

Heres a good video on a guy trying to fix a water leak but a its from a pipe at the back of the engine, not the y pipes, but he's gets into a bit of mess, has to disassemble nearly most of the top half of the engine bay. But he's changing loads of hoses as he goes for rubber ones that he says will last way longer.

 2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black

Yes, I should have pointed out that when replacing the crossover pipes, to also replace the one at the back, it's the rear coolant water heater pipe: https://euro-amp.com/products/jaguar-land-...and-n-a-v8

Click image to enlarge

Thanks Naks,

Did you add this kit to yours? did you do it yourself or pay a shop?

If you paid a shop, do you know roughly the labour costs, as this looks a long job.

Thanks again for sending . 2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black

^ unfortunately I didn't know about this kit when I replaced the coolant pipes as a preventative measure, otherwise I would have ordered this.

It is a long job, as you have to remove the supercharger to get to these pipes. And you might as well change the supercharger oil while it's out.

My indie workshop did the job, cost me R12k back in Nov 2021. --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ

Thanks again for all the help and advice, that price is pretty good for the amount of work, but i bet it will be double that in london and the cost of the kit oh well i've been pretty lucky so far.

Thanks again. 2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black

I’ve just updated my post in the general section headed’5lt supercharger question’ which all started with a loss of coolant and may help.
Found it very difficult to see where the coolant was going but as you’ll see it was eventually traced to the water pump gland and then subsequently to a damaged O ring which stopped the coolant being purged due to an air leak.
Good luck with yours, if I can work out how to, I’ll send you a pm with my phone no in case it would help to discuss.
Cheers
Chris.

Hi guys,

Just wanted to update you on my coolant leak issue. Also really sorry for my rudeness in not replying @woodsie i sent you a what's app msg instead, but it doesn't look like you received it yet.

It's bit of long read below. But would love your guys opinion on if you think i got a kind of shafted of price and service.

I've not been using the car a great deal. So still not had time to try and resolve this coolant leak. But new i had a trip to wales for easter coming up so decided to finally get it sorted. I had been recommended a LR indy and they were only 20mins away from where i live so thought i would try them for this.


On Thursday the 30th I called LR indy about leak. He said I’m to busy today, best to bring it up Monday or Tuesday and I can fix straight away.

Bought it up for 9:30am on the Monday morning.

He then said he is to busy to work on it today, but will start on it Tuesday morning.

He also looked under bonnet and said it will 99.9% be the Y-pipes under super charger. And as we are down there we will change the water pump (10 year old car never changed) his words.

I mentioned about pressure testing first, and he said it's always the water pump or y-pipes so no need.

I said how much, he said about £500 to which i agreed as i new it was a big job to get to the y-pipes under the supercharger.

Never heard back from him on Monday or Tuesday. So I called Wednesday morning, and said what time can I pick up car.

He said Oh I was going to call you. I’ve not had time to start on your car yet. So I said i 100% need it back by Thursday (do you remember I told you this Monday). I should have just picked up the car then, as he didn't start on it for 2x days later.

He said yes of course I remember, its no problem, I will start on it now and it will be ready for end of day. Didn’t hear from him again all day.

Rang him about 4pm and he said I just finished your car. You can come get it around 5pm / 6pm. I said how much, he said not worked out price yet.

When I got there he said, you have super charger issues. The slightly rough running every now and then is the super charger nose needs to be re-built.

He said because you needed your car back I didn’t change Y pipes. I just changed water pump.

He said I could have saved you money if its just the water pump.

He showed me the water pump and it did have quite a bit of coolant staining around the big gasket in the middle of pump.

And then threw the old pump into a box in front of me.

He said if the leak still hasn’t gone come back and I’ll remove the super charger, re-build it and change y-pipes at the same time. I said how much would that be to which he replied again about £500.

So i thought if the original quote was £500 for water pump and y-pipes but he only changed just the water pump this would only be around £350-ish max.

But the invoice he handed me came in at £540 inc vat to change just the water pump.

He said it took 2 hours to do and charged £200 for labour when I ask his labour cost he said about £85 per hour (i presume this is +vat).

But his labour charge on this was £100+ vat per hour? When i questioned the higher rate he then changed it to it took just over two hours.

He also said I need to do timing chains soon, rough price £2500 (which i won't be doing).

He marked up the parts slightly to, which i understand, but charged me £28 for water pump gaskets, which when i called two places to check if LR genuine water pumps come with gaskets both places clarified they did, one even checked in the box for me, So he ripped me off for £28 there. I attached the invoice below.

Anyway after all of this the bl**dy coolant leak is still there so i effectively paid £540 water a pump that was fine. I won't be going back to pay another £500 for the y-pipes change and supercharger re-build as i don't believe this quote would stay at £500 for one second. And i would much rather someone try and find the leak through pressure testing or traditional methods etc rather than just replacing parts. It's also so frustrating because i could have changed the water pump myself for half the amount if was the issue.

Anyway sorry for the long moan, but guess using indies is a trial and error situation until you find one you trust.


 2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black

Also thanks for the kit link @naks that looks perfect. I just wish i could find somewhere on here that would help me fit me fit for a days pay as even though the video shows how access it all, i think its to involved for my capabilities. 2012 RRS HSE 5.0 SUPERCHARGED Santorini Black