I have a 2012 Jaguar XF with a little over 85k miles. It began making a knocking noise while accelerating/decelerating and I took it to a mechanic that day. They told me that it had very little oil in it and asked when was my last oil change. I told them it was at the beginning of the year and my service indicator was showing 500 miles until its next service. I recently had suspension work performed at a dealership in July of this year and they did their multi-point inspection and it showed nothing about it needing oil. They suggested I have it towed to that dealership and have them check it out. I received a call from them yesterday stating that there are metal shavings all over the engine and that it was an internal leak that caused it to lose oil. They quoted me $30k for a new engine (this price includes labor and tax). They said they did not open the engine up yet since I would have to pay a tear-down fee to have them do that (didn’t mention how much that would be). Wondering what my options would be to get this fixed, is it worth it to have the engine rebuilt/repaired at an independent shop? The first mechanic I took it to does not do engine rebuilds and said they could replace the engine with a used one plus $4600 for labor. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

did the car not tell you that you had no oil?

 

No, there was never any warning in the message center. The first indication that anything was wrong was the noise coming from the engine.

 

"it was an internal leak that caused it to lose oil."

Huh?

That's like the craziest thing I have heard today (and it's been a long day). Where exactly does an internal leak send the oil?

It wouldn't be the first time on here that someone has had the engine oil drain out of their engine and blown the engine. This car apparently doesn't not tell you about the loss of oil.

Remember in the old days when you had to pop the hood and manually check the oil every week to be considered a good owner? Well, you don't have to pop the hood anymore, but you still need to check the oil. No one seems to do that anymore even though it's much easier in these Jags than the old days. Now anyone with the same capabilities to make a cell phone call can do it without getting dirty or breaking a nail.

 

The service advisor said the oil was sent out the exhaust. I told him that I never noticed any smoke in my rear view mirror and he said if it was a slow leak you might not. I am waiting on a call back from the dealer to see how much it will cost to have them open the engine up to see how much damage there is. I am currently looking for an independent shop in my area that could do this for me, but I would have to factor in the cost to tow it to another shop.

 

There are literally dozens of used 5.0 engines on eBay for $5-6K

I'd expect it would be a couple of grand in labour at a half decent workshop.

 

Yeah, I had been looking there and found one with 32k miles for around $6500. I'm not going to have the dealership put a new engine in it, the trade-in value for a good condition 2012 XF is only around $10k. The dealership returned my call about the tear-down cost and said it would be $2000. The service advisor said he talked to the technician and he said with the amount of metal they found in there I would basically be throwing away money to find out what we already know, I need a new engine. So I guess my options are: put a used engine in it and spend around $10k with parts and labor, cut my losses see what I can get from a scrap yard (probably $500 if I'm lucky) and use that money plus the $10k as a down payment on a new car, let the dealer take the car to auction and see what I get minus their cut (don't even know what to expect from this maybe same as scrap yard), try to part it out myself (don't really have the space to do this), or put an ad up on Craigslist for a 2012 XF $4k? needs a new engine. Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Still hard to believe that it burned around 8 quarts of oil in less than a year through the exhaust without you noticing. That's a huge amount of oil.

Not that it really matters, because you are right, it's better to sell the car as is and start over because these days it's especially hard to trust that everything will be ok with the used engine and the work of some mechanics to do it right.

 

Where are you in texas?

 

30 miles North of Houston

 

That's a tough situation. Really sorry to hear it
But I think the train of advice here is right. Cut your losses and move on. There must be a few thousand dollars of value in it for parts, bodywork etc if it's in good condition. So either part it yourself if you have the patience or auction it off. And look for something newer

I can't see how you make even by paying to buy a used engine and all the costs of putting it in