I'm new to Jag ownership. I have always been a maintenance nut. I would change my oil every 3k plus flush my trans every 30 to 40 k (when I had an automatic). This had helped me have many vehicles that were consistently trouble free for many and many miles. So here are my questions: the short list.
How often should I change the oil? I was told by the dealer servicemanager to follow the 10k schedule, anything more is a waste of money.
Should I be running full synthetic? 7 quarts is a awful lot of $7 a quart oil to buy. I used to use conventional or synthetic blend but every 3k on my previous Honda.
I've heard that my trans is sealed, is that true? I notice a slight delay in takeoff and bit of a thunk in stop and go. In the past a good flush and filter replacement would help it out.
Can the brake rotors be cut? Again, my service manager told me no, they are a special heat treated rotor. Also, I have a gut feeling that the rotors on these are quite expensive. In the past I would just automatically get pads and rotors as soon as I felt any pulse. My driving style usually caused pulse before pad wear indicators would sound, except when I had a stick and could really downshift.
What are some other service concerns? Are there things I should be watching/cleaning in order to maintain the vehicle's peak performance.
Also, I noticed something about fuel mileage. My computer says I'm getting around 20mpg with an average speed of 28mph. I drive a mixed commute. This seems to be less than other users have claimed. What I found funny is I got better mileage in a 4.2 loaner I had. Not much but still showed 23mpg at an average of 25mph. At first I wrote off the mpg as my driving style, but the V8 experience made me think. Also, I haven't noticed any change in the car's performance since I got it in September.
I know this is a bit wordy.... I certainly hope to gain some useful info so I can keep my new baby in top shape for years to come. Also, I do my own wrenching, and do it because I like taking care of my own vehicles. So, I am pretty confident when it comes to taking things apart.
Thanks to all who respond....

 

Some things that improved my gas mileage:

-Replace your spark plugs
-Air Filter
-MOST IMPORTANT: Fuel Filter

 

We also purchased a 2005 S-Type 3.0.Had18,000 miles on the odometer and we've put about 2,500 miles on it since we purchased it on December 19. We bought it as a sleek highway cruiser and it has been a great car thus far.

If you posted yourcurrent odometer reading, I missed it, but it would be helpful to do so.

I spent considerable time talking with the Jaguar mechanics and service manager at the Jag dealership before we bought it. They also say to stick with the 10K miles oil & filter change interval, but I believe that's too much mileage. I'm going to do it myself every 5,000 to 6,000 miles. I think that 3,000 miles is overkill and a waste of money. I'm also going to stick with conventional Castrol 5W-30 since that is what Jaguar recommends and I've never seen the need to go with synthetic in any of my other vehicles.

Yes, your transmission is sealed anddoesn't even have a dipstick to check yourfluid with,but that certainly doesn't mean that it is good for the life of the car regardless of what your Owners Manual may say. But bear in mind that this6-speed ZF transmission is filled with Shell ATFmineral oil that retails for $57 a litre at our local Jaguar dealership and perhaps $50 a litre at our local Mercedes dealership. I have not been able to find it here in the U.S. anywhere other than at the European dealerships so they have the market cornered and we are unfortunately a captive audience. So just the amount offluid required for any ATF replacement will run you more than $500.And changing this fluid is a complicated process involving getting the newfluid up to temperature before you pump it into the transmission, sobe aware that it is a significant undertaking and is not to be trusted to anystreetcorner tranny shop or elseyou will open yourself up to some serious transmissiontrouble. From what I've researched, these 6-speed ZF transmissions are a great improvement over the older Ford transmissions as well as the previous 5-speed ZFtransmissions, so just monitor your transmission performance and don't treat the S-Type 3.0 as a hot rod - it is far from being one. Some S-Type owners on theseforums have reported that their transmissions shift much better after having the firmwarereprogrammed and updated at the dealership. If you are still under warranty, this may not cost you anything except time but check with your dealership first. Several of the knowledgeable Jaguar technicians who post in these forums say that these ZFs must learn your particular driving style before you begin to see improvement in shiftquality, and that these cars do better as a one-person driver. We have not experienced that, thankfully - both my wife and I drive our S-Type and our transmission has been smooth and predictable, just the way I want it to be. Given the cost of a fluid replacement job, I would like tobelieve that our transmission will go 80,000 or 100,000 miles before I have to think about changing the fluid. Careful, common-sense driving should greatlyimprove our chances of that becoming true.

These carshavefactory-installed NGK iridium spark plugs, among the best in the industry. In other vehicles,I've run well over 120,000 miles on the original iridium spark plugs without any problems whatsoever and the original plugs stilllookedgreat when I finally decided to change them. So don't just arbitrarily replace your plugs.Assuming, of course, that you do indeed have NGK iridium spark plugs installed - you may want to check for yourself. Our maintenance schedulecalls for iridium spark plug replacement at 100,000miles, and that is the interval that I will indeeduse to change ours.

One symptom to look out for appears to be that the fuel injectors have a tendency to clog moreso than other vehicles that you may be accustomed to. I like to use Chevron's Techron fuel injector cleaner product at every oil & filter change, and several Jaguar technicians on these forums have agreed that this is a good tactic that the typical do-it-yourselfer like me can employ in an effort to keep the fuel injectors as clean as possible withoutactually tearing into them and doing a full R&R job. Techron is a good product and it has worked well for me over the years in bothmy wife's2004 Lexus RX330 (now pushing 87,000 miles)and my 1999 Dodge Ram (now pushing 55,000 miles). Neitherof these vehicles has ever neededprofessional fuel injector cleaning - I attribute that to my use of a bottle ofTechron at every oil & filter change. You can find Techron at most any WalMart, Pep Boys, Advance Auto Parts, AutoZone, etc.

I do not know if our rotors can indeed be cut or turned, but there is no question that this car is going to go throughitsfront brakes much sooner than I am accustomed to. We're both easy on the brakesand both of ourpreviously-mentioned other vehicles still have their original brake components, but I anticipate that our Jaguar'soriginal front brakes will be done by 30,000 to 40,000 miles or perhaps even a bit sooner. I believe that our rear brakes will go significantly further than that, however. But brakes and tires are so dependent upon the habits of thedriver that it is hard to say how one S-Type may vary from another here. As they say in the industry, your mileage may vary.

Hope this has been helpful. There is some great information here from some very knowledgeable people. Check in often, post what you learn, andhelp contribute to the community of folks like us who prefer to do as much of our own routine maintenance aspossible. That is a huge moneysaver for a car such as the S-Type.

Good luck with yours....

 

My only concern with your recommendations Jon is that fuel injector cleaner significantly decreases the life of your spark plugs and I only run it right before a plug change for this very reason.. The injector cleaner will loosen particles that often foul perfectly good spark plugs so bench cleaning as opposed to in-car is really what I prefer.

On the issue of the rotors, the usual reason for not being able to resurface rotors in a car is either because of excessive wear and resurfacing will make the rotors too thin and put them out of acceptable manufactures spec and if your rotors are too thin you could actually pop a piston out of your caliper when your pads are very worn.. the other reason is many manufactures use composite rotors and the metal is too soft and your brakes will become very noisy and start to shudder during braking..

For the oil change 5k is a good interval to go with, but once you decide to switch to synthetic, you really want to stay with it, because synthetics are thinner than regular oils so switching back and forth is not recommended..

Our transmissions do indeed adapt to particular driving styles, but you can reset those adaptations by following the resetting procedure.

 

I have used both syn and conventional oil in my cars and have discovered that the syn gets better fuel economy than conventional oil.
I proved this out on a couple of cars driven by the wife on her daily routine drive. She had no knowledge (just not interested in this sort of stuff I mean) and in one car the mileage went from 32 mpg up to 34 mpg. It went down again when I went back to conventional oil as well.
I used to be old school with all my British cars and use 20w50 and have since learned that thicker is not always better. The cost difference between syn and conv pays for itself in the better mileage before it's time to change the oil again.
fwiw,
Chad
PS also a Techron userbefore each oil change.

 

I also do my own maintenance, and, have owned 3 Jags. My first 2 were X Types, and, several weeks ago, I traded for an 06 S-Type 4.2. I've always stuck with 5K oil change intervals with Castrol GTX 5W-30, and, had no problems. Haven't messed with the brakes yet, because, the dealer replaced the rotors and pads when the car went through certification. I'll be asking a lot of questions along the way as well.

Regards:
Oldengineer

 

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. Great information. I myself am still on the fence about synthetic motor oil. I did use it my last oil change. I am using the factory recommended 5w-30. I think I'll be doing it every 5k and using conventional. Also, very interested in the idea of bench cleaning the fuel injectors. What would be the process since I've never done it myself with the exception of rebuilding an old GM throttle body injector back in the early 90's. And then it was just to clean off gunk. I just sprayed off each part with cleaner and put it back together. Is there a good source for a service manual for my year?
Just for reference, the car I got is a select edition with the certified warranty. It had 34k on it when I bought it in September. It just turned 40k.The dealer also did my brakes... But here is how that went. They replaced the pads only and I ended up with a bad pulse in the brakes. That's were the conversation about cutting rotors came in. They ended up replacing the rotors for me. I'm a little concerned that they seem to cut corners where ever possible. Another point of concern was it took repeated trips to the service department to fix wind noise that was coming from the drivers side rear door area. They replaced all the molding around the glass. Still had the noise. They adjusted the door. Still had the noise. They sent it out to a contracted body shop they use and had the moldings replaced again. Noise gone. This has me worried since there are only a very few Jag dealers in North East Ohio.
Anyway, please keep the info coming, I'm sure I'll be asking more questions.

 

WhiteSTR,

Thanks for your input on fuel injector cleaning. Let's dissect that topic a little deeper.

Is your concern about using a product such as Techronlimited only toJaguar's fuelinjectors? I've read elsewhere recentlythat the injector openings are incredibly small, almost microscopic,and tend to clog as a result. As I mentioned before, I've never had a fouled plug, iridium or otherwise, with any of our other vehicles and I've always used Techron or a similar fuel injector cleaner at every oil & filter change and a couple of ourprevious vehicles haverunnearly 150,000 miles with no fuel injector problems at all. If this fuel injector cleaner usage problemapplies only to Jaguar, then please say so. Keep in mind that at least one Jaguar techniciandid not necessarily endorse using Techron, but he certainly said that it is a good product that he would approve of ifI could not get my hands onone of the professional injector cleaning products that he routinely uses.

My experience with iridium plugs (both Denso and NGK) is that they burn so cleanly and last so long that thetypical ownerdoes far more good (as opposed to harm) to hisinjector system by using Techron every 7,500 miles or so.But admittedly,my experience with Techronhas been in Japanese and American vehicles, not in Jaguars. If I need to re-think my approach on cleaning the injectors in ournew S-Type, please continue to convince me by offering more detail.

Thanks to all - this is a great thread that is very important to all of us do-it-yourselfers....