James, depending on your year vehicle, some of the early X-TYpes actually have written in the owners manual to NOT use full synthetic oil. Based on experience, using either type of oil is fine in the engines. It is more getting a quality oil that doesn't break down on you (hence you need to make sure it meets the GF3 (ETC) requirements).

 

Really?!? That's interesting Thermo. I've heard of cars in the 80's and earlier not taking full synthetic, but I haven't heard of anything recently.

Yeah, I think it's all about following a schedule. Not letting the oil go for more than 3 - 5000k.

 

James, the issue early on was how it would affect the vvt system. So, Jag failed safe and said not to.

 

Thank you for assuming that my car was not serviced as it was required.

It was serviced at Jaguar for the first 60k. It now has 75k and I performed 2 oil changes myself using Royal Purple full syn...I can take a photo of the 7 quarts I have left sitting in my garage cabinet waiting for the next oil change if you like.

If you read the beginning of the post, you can see that this is (was) my wife's vehicle and it has been parked since I first heard the noise over 16-months ago. My cars are very well taken car of, hence I am still driving a 1992 Subaru Legacy as my daily driver to and from work.

Regarding $1,000 for a used engine with 90k...it makes no sense to spend that kind of money if it's only a broken rocker arm which would cost me $250 to change them all and have a 75k original engine in the vehicle.

This is the reason that I am looking for a methodical way to remove the valve covers to check the rocker arms.

Sorry to be an ***, but thanks for assuming I don't take care of my vehicles.

 

91stealthes,
I never said anything about you specifically not following a service schedule, or not using the correct lubes. I said, the number one reason that our engines fail, or any engine fails is because people don't follow service schedules or use correct lubes. I never assumed anything...

Yes, the ticking you're experiencing is being caused by something mechanical in the engine. Your best bet would be to do a full rebuild on the engine, or buy a new one.

 

Sorry, it seems like your post implies that the engine was blown because of poor maintenance or incorrect lube. Why would I tear the whole engine apart if 1 rocker arm is broken? The car only has 75k and has been serviced properly since it had 3 miles when I drove it off the dealer'a lot.

I'm just looking for tips so I don't remove parts that I don't need to. I've weighed all my options and it's probably not worth replacing the engine. I don't believe it's lower end noise as 2 bottles of Lucas didn't phase the noise at all. Hence, I believe I have a broken rocker arm. Why can't I see if that's the problem?

 

Yeah Brother, if you would like to do it that way, do it. Honestly, I've only rebuilt about 7 engines in my life, (4 transmissions, about 5 rear/front ends), So in no way am I a super mechanic. 2 of those 7 engines were because of broken rocker arms. And 1 I had to pull back out of the truck and do a complete rebuild on, the other is still working great (460 Ford out of a '88 250 working great still, 350 chevy out of a '93 Silverado I had to pull back out.) It was just a lot of work. Now, I've never rebuilt the Jag motor, so you might be totally fine just replacing that one rocker arm. You might want to call around to different shops, not Jag dealerships, and see what they recommend you do. Again, I'm no super mechanic, but with the extra work involved on pulling that second motor out I now recommend a complete rebuild.

Sorry if there was any disrespect with the lube comment, I didn't mean any. My apologies.