Dunno if this has been covered before, but a search yielded nothing.
The service schedule shows that the air filters are due to be changed every 4 years or 64k miles whichever comes first. Seems like a helluva long time between air filter changes to me so I decided to have a squiz at one of my filters to check out it's condition and as a practice run for changing them out when the time comes. If it was filthy then I would get a new pair pronto and not wait another 14 months for the 4 year period to elapse.
It's a bit of a PITA job to access the filters, nothing like the dead easy access on the XJ and XF.
Access is from under the car and you must remove the front plastic undertray - take off the little winglets first, four 8 mm bolts on each, then about a dozen large screws across the front, four 10 mm bolts at the back and two T20 Torx screws each side at the bottom of the wheel well. It's easier if you also remove the front wheels and if you remove another three or four Torx screws from each front wheel liner and bend the liner back out the way a bit, doing this gives slightly better access to the airboxes but it's not essential.
Then loosen off the hose clamp on the end of the airbox and pull the intake tube off the airbox.
Then undo 5 Phillips head screws which hold the bottom half of the airbox to the top half.
The bottom half of the airbox can now be removed from the car with the air filter sitting in it. The airbox has three hinges/clips along the front edge and it takes a fair bit of wiggling to get those clips to release, I found the best way was to tilt the bottom half of the airbox down as far as it would go then pull it towards the front of the car. Repeat for the other side. At first I tried to pull the filter out through the opening in the two halves of the airbox without taking the bottom half of the airbox right off but this proved to be impossible, you cannot open up the inner end far enough.
I took only one air filter off and out to inspect, and it wasn't too bad at all, perfectly OK to go another 14 months before replacement which surprised me as I was expecting a filthy air filter.
But, as I expected and from previous experience with Jag parts, getting that blasted airbox back on was a right royal PITA. It took me a good 20 minutes of jiggling and pushing and repositioning and heaving and copious expletives, all the time flat on the back, before I finally got those damnable hinges/clips properly in place. From then on getting everything back together was straightforward, but there was one little trap to watch out for. When I bent/pushed the wheel arch liner out of the way it caught on and dislodged the little plastic screw thread plug which slots right on the end of the bumper and takes the end screw for the winglet. I didn't even know I had done this until I noticed the empty hole, and luckily I found the little plug fairly quickly.
I hope this little screed helps someone to DIY change their air filters.

 

Thanks for taking the time to check this out and post about your experience.

You have sadly confirmed my thoughts when looking at the location of the air filter.

Why when newer models are designed and manufactured is ease of access to service items often neglected .

My last Jaguar was a 6.0 V12 XJS, the two air filters could be removed and checked and replaced with new elements in under five minutes without any tools!

So far the oil filter on the F type is the only service item that is easy to access

 

Also, I forgot to add, checking/cleaning/replacing the MAF sensors would be an even bigger PITA. On the XF and XJ they are right there front and centre and a 5 minute job to remove, clean and refit.
Looking at the parts diagram for the F-Type I was hoping/expecting that the MAF sensor would be easy to access once the bottom half of the airbox had been removed, but nooooo, I couldn't see it or even feel it reaching up the intake tube as far as I could.
I suspect the only way to access them is bumper off, what a pain!

 

I've put K&N filters in most of my cars. Will this void my warranty?

 

Not at all, K&N have copious explanations of why it won't.
But the kicker is "as long as you follow the recommended procedure", which essentially means "don't over-oil your filter(s)".
See this vid which busts some of the myths about K&N filters: There are many reports of over-oiled K&N filters causing MAF sensor problems, as the fine wires in the sensors get coated with filter oil which then stuffs up the sensor readings which can lead to rough running, lumpy idle, poor fuel economy etc.
That said I struggle to see how an over-oiled K&N filter will void a warranty claim as I've never heard of MAF sensor problems causing serious enough issues to result in a warranty claim. Just clean the sensors and the filters and all is well!

 

Thankfully I have the 5 year included maintenance, so the replacement at 4 yr should be covered...

 

Lots written about K&N filters, tons on the Tundra forum where the results have been consistently disappointing. However, if you google search problems, you'll first find dozens of links sponsored by K&N saying they are safe and great and the best filter ever. Once you get past their marketing hype, there are lots if informative posts where most objective customers have realized the performance gains are negligible/non-existent, and the downsides are twofold. One, they do not filter as well as paper elements, many independent tests have shown. This can lead to increased cylinder and piston ring wear. Second, the fouling of the air sensor has been a problem for some. Hardly seems worth the risk in my mind.

Given the challenging location of our air filters, the F type seems like a poor candidate for K&N filters anyways, since getting to them for regular servicing would be challenging.

Don't mean to offend anyone that is making a living off K&N, but I'm so sick of watching folks drop a sizeable amount of money on a "performance" upgrade for their 6 cylinder F150 only to find it does nothing.

 

Think the K&N filters worked great in my Two 5.0L Mustangs 25 - 30 yrs ago, when it was an easy install.
But for my last 2 Corvettes, not sure if it made any noticeable difference, esp after the difficult install.
Guess I'm going to pass on this F-type & stick with factory...

 

I just had my 1 year service, and it included changing the filters. Based on the above, it is no small wonder the service cost an arm and a leg. Glad I have an automatic because now I have 1 arm to steer and 1 leg to work the pedals. (laugh) What will I do next year?

Their method of getting to the filters was putting the car on a lift. I’m sure whether they took off the wheels. The parts were also expensive: $33.40 for the oil filter, 2X $82.95 for the air filters, $62.50 for the cabin air filter, and $25 for a drain plug....... then the labor. No small wonder why it cost as much as it did. Guess this comes with the territory of owning a luxury vehicle.

I asked my service writer why they put things in such darned places. I’m used to replacing a filter myself if it were located better. His response was that most people who own this type of car bring it to the dealer. Guess he’s right because they had 4 FTypes to do that day. They ran out of filters and had to get more from a dealer across the Golden Gate Bridge. The other Jaguar dealers are pretty close “as the crow flies” but not by our convoluted motorways (freeways) and traffic.

I will have to do this every 12 months or 16000 miles, whichever comes first. I bought an extended warranty so if I don’t do this, it might affect the warranty. In a year, I only drove less than 6000 miles. Guess I’ll be doing more road trips!

 

most service places will want to make a profit on labour and parts, whilst this is reasonable I suspect they can buy parts at a trade discount which helps their profits.
I object to being charged a higher price for parts than i can buy them for without any trade discount.

Bottom line is in UK and many other countries warranty work must be carried out at an authorised dealer (Jaguar), but routine servicing even during warranty period can be carried out at independent dealers without compromisingc warranty status provided equivalent quality parts are used.

Often independent labour rates can be more competitive, if you choose an independent carefully, such as one that specialises in Jaguar you can get the benefits of Jaguar experienced and Jaguar trained technicians at more affordable rates.

Example Jaguar franchise dealer quoted £560 for a service, an independent quoted £220.
Large saving quality work.
Final point is the cabin air filter is very easy to check and change (20 minutes nax)

 

I think the service internal for air filters is 64,000 mile. You must be driving a lot of miles to change them annually.

 

Well, its a 4 year old car and the shop wrote it up as a 64000 service. The years elapsed prior to the miles. The prior service did not include the filters.

 

I forgot about this thread/post, time for a little update.
I changed both air filters about six weeks ago now without a single hitch. Other than the hassle of having to remove the plastic under tray!
Zero problems getting the bottom halves of the air boxes to clip back into the top halves, 10 seconds each side max, and zero problems with wheel arch liners getting in the way. So don't be put off by my earlier complaints it really is a piece of cake.

 

So, are you saying just jack the car up remove the plastic under tray and you can get the filters out of the boxes without all the other hassle?

 

Yep, exactly that.

 

How many miles were on your car and how did the filters look. I have 36k on mine and am debating whether to change them yet or not.

 

I had 40k on my filters. They weren't bad. Could have gone awhile longer. But pays to keep them clean. I purchased the new filters at Fcp euro.

 

Exactly 48,430 km = 30,093 miles.
They were fairly clean and probably could have gone as far again before really needing to be changed out so I have kept them as spares.
But where I drive is not at all dusty or dirty so they are probably cleaner than most others would be at the same mileage.

 

Yes nothing on these cars are designed for ease of service!

So I would like to comment on this relative to all us old *******s! Cars for at least 40 years (really longer)have not been designed for the general public or even your local service station to be serviced.
This is not to say it can't be done or isn't done. The manufactures just don't and won't make it easy for us. It's comes down to revenue for them as there is a portion of business model to retain
some service.

The days of turning a wing nut to replace an air filter are long past sorry unless you own a vintage car.

Also I have first hand experience as a designer packaging components. This includes the automotive industry.
Its easy to look at these cars and call the designer/engineer stupid, why did they do that? I can tell you packaging is very challenging job to do.
you have to deal with form, fit and function as well as serviceability. There are multiple sub-systems being designed by different teams
sometimes in different locations that all have to fit together and work!

Also remember in order to get a car to look presentable as they are not just perfect rectangles
which would make packaging and component placement easier but less sexy.
I challenge anyone go outside and look at your f type draw a mental rectangle tangent to all surfaces and then visualize how much
volume is lost to all those sexy curves. Then open the hood and look at the placement of the components and tell me you could have
done better. Think of all the thermal, structural, and electrical challenges the designers and engineers had, to get where the car is sitting in your garage!

I am just trying to put things into perspective.

 

Just completed filter upgrade on my F type 5.0. The screws holding the bottom to the top of the box are very succeptable to rusting. In fact I broke 2 of them off on the drivers side, they were rusted through where the 2 half’s join and just snapped. Fortunately there’s a lot of screws holding them together so I don’t thing the seal will suffer. What I did do was grease the screws before I put them back hoping this prevents and future issues with the screws