Hey guys, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole. I happened upon, and subsequently read, a thread on some forum called Piston Heads that was talking about the “common fault” with the AJ30 engine and how it mysteriously loses oil, or all oil pressure, unexpectedly and then immediate catastrophic engine failure. Apparently it was/is a known issue due to poor design of the sump and lines that Jag just decided to ignore and pretend like it didn’t happen.

Mind you this all started because I thought I was just looking up the specs on the engine and was curious how much it weighed and stuff. Oh the Internet! Can be evil and cause anxiety at times....

Anyway, I’ve never heard this or read about it before so I was surprised to have just come across it and seen so many strong convictions in agreement. I started reading here on the forum but never found anything that has definitively supported it. So I pose the question.

Are our X’s prone to oil issues or oil pump failures that immediately lead to engine failure? It seems from what little I’ve found and read, there no sign of oil issues or low oil and one day the car is running perfectly then the next the oil light flashes and boom there’s a pound knocking and the engine shuts down. Is this legit and there’s merit to this as a known fault with the X? I’ve personally had no major issues that I’ve read are common, everything I’ve had to go wrong as been minor or self induced but I worry my clock is ticking and the sudden oil loss and engine failure scares me. It’s all under pressure so I’m at a loss of how this could mysteriously happen unless the oil just gets to hot and breaks down or you’re racing and too much pressure built up causes failure... what I read about the engine though is it’s supposed to be a modified variant of the Duratec V6 and a favorite of track and performance car builders (quoted below). What do you guys think? Is it really a situation where one day everything is fine, just like any other day, and you happen to have to fart but on this day you shat and never saw it coming?

“"”””””””””””””””””””””””””””“The AJ30 is a favorite of high performance kit car and track car builders.

The Jaguar AJ30 has all the features of a proper motorsport engine: Double overhead cams, forged, fracture-split powder metal rods, and a forged crank, substantially reinforced with four-bolt mains and elaborate block girdle. Its oversquare design revs to the heavens, in part also through the use of DAMB tappets (Direct Acting Mechanical Bucket). The AJ30 engine develops max power in stock form at 6750 rpm and can be safely taken well north of 7000 rpm.”

 

Have a search on here for it as I cannot recall any such thing either for the X-Type or S-Type.

Some stories are not true...

Of course, many engines are toast if you lose all the oil but why would you!!

 

My thought too. Just seems really weird to have happen suddenly and without warning. I can’t find anything to support it either.

 

Never heard of anything like this on an X-Type. Another Jaguar myth perpetrated mostly by the clueless.

 

Not a common ( or even uncommon) fault wit the X Type. There have been some cases of the XF and XJ 5.0 engines running low on oil due to the owners not checking the level ( it has an electronic oil level monitering system, not a dipstick), but I have never heard of an X Type engine failure due to sudden oil loss.

 

Common sense is the answer. The Duratec is not exclusive to Jag X's for the base architecture. Ford, Mazda, etc.

 

When Noble used the duratec engine, they used it north/south configuration, and when cornering the vehicle hard caused oil starvation.
This was due to the design of the sump/pickup being optimised for east/west configuration.
There is a uprated sump for the Noble to cure this.

As the engine used in the x type is east/west configuration, there should be no problem.