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Engine Oil Viscosity vs. Oil Specification - STJLR.51.5122
I prefer to service my cars myself and generally have looked at the owner's manual for engine oil specs when purchasing the correct motor oil for my vehicles. In reviewing the owner's manual I noted that the F-Pace requires SAE 0W-20 (synthetic) which is readily available at local stores by various brands. I did notice however that the manual goes further and says the oil needs to meet "STJLR.51.5122". Some of the Major Oil brands found locally do not reference this specification on the bottle. While I'm happy to try to find oil that is made to this exact specification (and will not just pour any oil in), I was wondering if anyone on the forum had any insight on what this specification actually means. Prior to the F-Pace I was typically using the correct viscosity/oil type and never ran into any problems.
Are you out of warranty? if so you can probably go ahead and use any good quality oil you are comfortable with, i doubt there is any secret sauce in the Jag spec oil.
I am out of warranty on the F-Pace as of a few months ago. Further to your statement, I am not sure what special additives are required for a Jaguar F-Pace only engine which the rest of the automotive engines with 0W-20 would be missing. I do know that sometimes certain brands (in this case) Castrol has a partnership therefore they promote their own brands.
Apparently, Castrol 0W-20 with STJLR.51.5122 is very hard to find. Even Mobil1 ESP X2 no longer has the Jaguar approval on it. I guess JLR does not want us DIYers do our OCIs. Motul & Ravenol are the only ones left with 0W-20 with STJLR.51.5122 approval but a little pricey.
I did some research online on the oil experts at BITOG, what is recommended is Castrol Edge 0W-20 EP that has ACEA C5 approval to it. According to them, this is the closest factory fill available on the market.
My XF is still under warranty, so I am going to use Motul or Ravenol with STJLR.51.5122
Last edited by 2018XF25T; Dec 4, 2021 at 03:17 AM.
Jaguar recommend CASTROL ..... other oils are available if you are prepared to do the research.
Having recently purchased a 2017 F-Pace, I was also interested to find the 'right' engine oil. The first hurdle is JLR shielding this information behind their own specification reference STJLR.51.5122
Members will know JLR recommend Castrol oils and for the F-Pace this is Castrol Edge Professional 0w20. The answer is still not straighforward as this grade is available in a variety of blends. The one for F-Pace is Castrol EDGE Professional EC 0w-20:
JLR are not alone in this as both Honda and VAG have similar marque specific blends of the same Castrol 0w20 grade. Here's the Data Sheet:
Does Castrol EDGE Professional EC 0w-20 have mystical properties or additional content absolutely critical to avoid engine wear or damage? Extremely unlikely and there will be equivalents from other oil manufacturers for parts of the World where the Castrol product is not available. e.g. Fuchs, Motul and Millers full synthetics of the same grade. The Owner's Handbook is different for such markets giving alternative specifications for all fluids:
Still the question why are JLR so proscriptive about engine oil? I found two reasons:
1. it contains a chemical tracer which assists in leak detection
2. the engine is very sensitive to ambient temperature at cold start
It doesn't take much thought to realise (1) also allows JLR to confirm their recommended oil has been used in the event of warranty claims!
The cold start issue (2) was identified in a 2014 Technical Bulletin JTB00288NAS1 (see attachment). It states: The engine may require extended cranking or fail to start under cold (-4°F / -20°C and lower) ambient temperature conditions.
I may be overly suspicious but I suspect JLR are concerned about bore wear and loss of compression. Memories of the Nikasil fiasco of the late 1990's have not gone away!
I would like to use an oil with the certification. It is much harder to shop for oil here in Canada vs. USA given the ability to order online. There is an extremely limited online presence of Auto parts/lube stores. Mobil 1 ESP X2 is easily found however as stated, if the certification is no longer in place, I will look for Liqui Moly, Motul or Ravenol. Castrol Edge is almost impossible.
When you're in warranty, it's a good idea to stay with the specified oil. If nothing else, it has a special dye that can be used to isolate leaks (and tells if you're using something else).
If you're out of warranty, check out FCP Euro for a good kit and free replacements...
Apparently, Castrol 0W-20 with STJLR.51.5122 is very hard to find. Even Mobil1 ESP X2 no longer has the Jaguar approval on it. I guess JLR does not want us DIYers do our OCIs. Motul & Ravenol are the only ones left with 0W-20 with STJLR.51.5122 approval but a little pricey.
I did some research online on the oil experts at BITOG, what is recommended is Castrol Edge 0W-20 EP that has ACEA C5 approval to it. According to them, this is the closest factory fill available on the market.
My XF is still under warranty, so I am going to use Motul or Ravenol with STJLR.51.5122
Correct the Mobil 1 ESP X2 has different labels and they dropped the JLR rating but it is still an approved oil?
Everything is exactly the same but on some bottles they have dropped the JLR spec but do note all the other specs are still listed. VW, MB and Porsche.
It's the same oil.
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Another oil thread - we love those. I use the JLR spec but use a 3-4k OCI instead of the absurd 16k interval. The project 8 runs 0w-20 jlr oil and while CAFE pressured the brand to do improve fuel economies, it's still recommended by their engine dev teams with significant protection qualities.
I tried MOTUL special 0w-20 on my SVR this time. Sent in a fresh report and it looked good in terms of low wear metals.
There are a handful of oils out there that state explicitly that they conform to the absolute latest JLR spec for the F-type. I wouldn't hesitate to use any of those as long as I could substantiate in some sort of worst case scenario, like loosing an engine, that I conformed to the spec. If you couldn't, I'd say with certainty that JLR would not honour a warranty. All for what? To save a few bucks here and there on oil?
In Canada the price of obtaining the few available options meeting the spec was basically almost as expensive as getting the official oil from the dealer. In the end I just decided to source from the dealer for this reason, support them etc...I'm not putting the wrong spec oil in under any circumstances, in order to protect my investment/warranty, so there really wasn't much of a choice. I'm already saving a boat load by being willing to do the oil changes myself. Don't see the point in getting too greedy and taking on undue risk ;-)
Relative to the price of the car, paying the difference for the "correct" spec oil is a nothing burger.
Were you able to get the correct spec Castrol from the dealer? I did not know the dealer would sell it as I thought Jaguar had a "special" Castrol for the dealers use only?
But I found that in the US the dealers were using Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 0w20 as posted above. Attached is a letter from Jaguar stating this oil does meet certain Jaguar spec's which is mentioned in the letter. Maybe this just muddies the water some more. Letter was released in 2015 but does note that it's only valid for 2 years?
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Kevin, According to the info on your link the Ultra Platinum no longer meets the Jaguar spec but their Platinum Euro does,
You can select the tab for the Platinum Euro from the table on your link.
Were you able to get the correct spec Castrol from the dealer? I did not know the dealer would sell it as I thought Jaguar had a "special" Castrol for the dealers use only?
But I found that in the US the dealers were using Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 0w20 as posted above. Attached is a letter from Jaguar stating this oil does meet certain Jaguar spec's which is mentioned in the letter. Maybe this just muddies the water some more. Letter was released in 2015 but does note that it's only valid for 2 years?
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I’m using the Castrol oil from my local Jaguar Land Rover dealer. It is marked as being of the latest recommended spec, as outlined in the manual for my 2024 R.