…about doing the oil change for these cars topside ;-) Not sure if it’s watching that oil flow out using the pump or what, but it’s definitely a nice clean process.

Pumped out 5.5L on the nose, which made complete sense to me given that my understanding ahead of doing the work was that I was down basically a full quart on account of the car breaking in (i.e.: 6.5L for AWD F-type minus 5.5L extracted = approx 1 L down). Checked the oil level on a level surface ahead of the work and the level read OK, and it was showing dead in the center of the vertical readout scale (my understanding is that being in the middle like that means you’re down approx 1 quart).

I put 5.5L of fresh oil back in and added another 1/4 L on top of that for good measure…Just to see where I landed…It seems to me 1 notch on the oil level readout scale equals approx a 1/4 L of oil. That’s what it seems to me in case anyone might be interested (I know I was), as my adding that extra 1/4 L of oil caused the oil level check after the work to rise from dead centre of the scale to 1 notch above dead centre.

In any case, thanks to all that gave info that helped in the lead up to doing my first oil change on this car. Super helpful, so thanks again.

I think the longest part was cleaning out the Mityvac at the end. Bit of a pain, but the rest was fine.

 

Congrats on getting it done! Mild consternation and tad bit of anxiety as none of us want to do damage to our Fs. Yeah, cleaning out the MV after...better than oil dripped down my arm, mess on the floor, and still having to dump out the oil catch system. My minor OCD x 2 (Oil Change Doubt Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) required me to recheck the level a couple more times later that week.. and it was still right on spec.
Don't know what you spent for oil, and I just mentally charge off the cost of the MV as ROI, but it is a cost savings.

 

Yeah, ya just wanna be super careful the first run through. I’m not a trained mechanic, but what I am good at is compensating for that fact with a bit of extra time and care just to make sure things go right in the end ;-0. Now that I’ve been through the procedure once ya realize for sure how dead easy this is. The cleanup and put away of tools is the worst part, and that’s really not that bad.

Cost is always a factor, but for me the first advantage of this was convenience and control to make sure it was done correctly. Dealer does not always equal correct, particularly as we know for these oil changes where Jag dealers are often incorrectly overfilling oil etc…Second is that I enjoy doing this kinda stuff as a hobby, so the idea of paying a dealer exorbitant amounts of money seems silly.

Then behind those 2 things mentioned above comes the cost factor. Here in Canada dealership service pricing, particularly at Jag and the like, is atrocious. I will skip the dealer literally for anything basic that doesn’t push beyond my comfort level. I will certainly be doing all fluid changes of every sort, and brakes at minimum (and likely more beyond that).

To be honest, unless it is a severe warranty claim this car will likely never see a dealer. There is a highly reputable Jag Independent shop near me that the car would go to first.

I just got my oil and filter direct from the dealer for warranty considerations. I will use their exact recommended oil and filter for the warranty period and go from there afterwards. To be honest, it was only marginally more expensive than other options I had access to being in Canada (i.e.: In terms of oil and filter meeting that latest spec they want). The overall amounts being saved vs. having a dealer do this stuff is so large that these sorts of small differences are negligible.

Cheers

 

My last oil level reading was dead center.

Are you planning to run yours at 1 notch above dead center at all times, or are you eventually going to add more to get it all the way to the top notch without overfilling?

I’m wondering if I should top mine off to move the needle from center notch to top notch of the oil level scale.

 

Dealer has always filled mine to the top of the range. Think that's the intended full fill mark.

 

Yeah, my car is going to bed for the winter today, but in the spring I will get it closer to max for sure. Mine was down because of the break-in. It's completely normal for the car to eat a quart of oil as it breaks in, and there is technically no danger to the car being down a quart. I was keeping an eye on it and was hoping to just wait for the first oil change. I made it without it going down any further, and I did the oil change myself yesterday etc....You could technically go another quart down to the min OK level but I wouldn't push my luck.

I will probably keep it a notch below max or at max starting in the spring.