Main dealer replaced the front crossover with the new one-piece version in warranty. Now today, just a few years later it's leaking again!!!

Queried this in another thread, when I recently replaced radiator number 3, I noticed for the first time ever, the coolant hoses remain rock hard, even days of sitting not driven. I'd asked if this was normal for the system to remain pressurized as I'd never had that previously (I reckoned it was as it's essentially a sealed system). My concern was stress due to constant pressure.

This morning I checked the cold hoses as I do daily and they were hard, as always. Went for a short 40 mile drive and was greeted by coolant low warning. Had a look at the hose and everything appeared to be in good order except for a couple of drips on the rock shield below the crank. At home, removed the air intake and found no apparent leaks from anything. Then I had a look below the oil filter housing and saw a dreaded pool of orange coolant at the base of the crossover where it connects to the engine, likely a bloody o-ring's failed.

It's getting ridiculously frustrating to now be on thirds for so many parts, including those which've been updated to new designs.....

 

Thats not comforting. I just did this job last week...and its back in the shop for another leak this week

I had a low coolant light 6 months ago and my indy said it was likely the cross over pipe starting to go. He recommended I replace it in 3-6 months. 6 months later my wife was getting on the highway and got a "engine overheating" alert. She pulled over right away and called me. I assumed it was the cross over pipe and we towed it in to be replaced. Driving home from the shop the car starts spitting coolant out the front radiator. Back to the shop it goes. My indy says it now has a pinhole leak in the radiator. He claims it happened on the 5 mile drive home What seams more plausible is the reason for the original leak was a rock chip in the radiator.

 

The new top half of the thermostat to crossover wasn't leaking but when I pulled it off the crossover, it crumbled. Should've known this was coming because a couple of months ago the front coolant plug on the pipe disintegrated and that had to be replaced. The crossover Y was only leaking on the right side and unsurprisingly, the bit which fits in the engine had crumbled apart inside. Odd though the left side pipe was fine.

New aluminum versions now fitted and I reckon these'll outlast any of the newly replaced factory plastic pipes elsewhere.

Infuriating that JLR have not done anything about this in 14 years and continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Go to any main dealer, and the majority of warranty work's for cooling system components...

 

you fitted the aftermarket aluminum crossover? also thermostat housing? Is your a supercharged v6? I have the parts to redo my NA 5.0 v8 [updated oem plastic ones] but would love to do aluminum but i understand they are not manufactured for the NA v8s

 

@jahummer If you haven’t discarded it yet, can you post up a pick of the degraded pipe. I want to compare it to mine. And the dealer replaced that Y section, correct? So, how many miles did the new part have on it before it started leaking again?

 

Many thanks for your prior assistance. Devoted 9 hours today, but with many breaks and a good amount of time cleaning the supercharger and engine as well as setup, cleanup and vacuum filling which always over an hour as it has to be vacuum mulitple times. The 2 most difficult tasks were removing the screws holding the harnesses in the back and lifting the supercharger out of the engine, small space to remove such a bulky part, a second set of hands would've made it quicker. Mine wasn't stuck (this's the fourth time it's coming out in 4 years). Small tip for those concerned about damaging the knock sensors, I fitted the guide pins prior to removing the supercharger so there would be no concern for it coming out wrong and hitting the sensors.

I didn't take a pic of the top pipe, but it crumbled just like the bottom right Y. Old and new designs all have the same failure. The original which failed in warranty didn't leak at the seams, it too disintegrated in the water outlet on the engine just like the new design. The left side tube 's perfectly solid however the inside of the pipe's gray and covered in "spider" cracks so it would like fail very soon.

In all fairness, it's been 3.5 years and about 80K miles but considering I'm nearly on third sets of everything in the cooling system, it's a bit frustrating that something fails nearly every month and it's been that way for nearly 2 years now. The rear crossover heater manifold was replaced 2 years/50K miles ago and I reckon I should've replaced it today. The original had split at the seam. Perhaps it can be done without removing the supercharger or just the charge air coolers?

 

Thanks for posting. Its a good data point on the redesigned tubes. I’ll have to pick up some aluminum for the next round. We don’t know for sure how the o-rings will hold up, but at least it won’t be a catastrophic leak if the o-ring fails.

 

And I've got a new leak...newly replaced hose assembly # 3 which goes between the thermostat, new alloy pipe and water pump, just 2 months old done when I replaced water pump # 3, is now leaking at the fitting on the new alloy pipe. Attempted adjusting the new spring clamp with no luck, fitting a worm clamp instead.

Today I asked a tech why so many of the OEM spring clamps are failing (4 total now and initially I was replacing with new hose assemblies, now replacing just with worm clamps) and he indicated they're intended to be one time use and either replace the hose assembly every time a clamp's released or replace the clamps with new spring clamps.