Hello XF forum, I'm new here.

Well, not really, I've been lurking here for a couple of years now but have just switched over from the S-Type list after trading for a '15 3.0 AWD Portfolio with 17K miles.

Was surfing Autotrader and noticed that my dealer had a '15 X250 XF for sale. Has been thinking that my '08 4.2 S-Type was getting kind of long in the tooth and that I liked the X250 a whole lot more than the X260, so when this one popped up I jumped.

Timing may have been fortunate, I negotiated $7000 trade and drove the XF away for $28K.

It's certainly heavier than the S-Type but the motor makes up for that, at least on tip-in. Tranny seems to move quickly to higher gears, however, so down shifts a couple of times when I accelerate after reaching speed, so there is a bit of a pause that the V8 didn't have.

So far so good. But I'm going to have to figure out how the measure the oil. So far I haven't gotten it so that it would give me a reading.

The lack of a dip-stick has been discussed here, before. But, is there a practice that people use? I know how get to the oil reading via the trip computer, but so far it's just telling me to look in the owner's manual. After shutting down the fully warmed up engine do people wait to do the check. I've only waited 5-6 minutes so far and the doesn't seem to be long enough.

Anyway, happy to be on this list, now, with my new XF.

Cheers
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Jaguar - it's not an automobile, it's a Motorcar
Current: '15 XF (X250) AWD 3.0
Past B: '08 S-Type 4.2 "Satin Edition"
Past A: '05 X-Type 3.0/auto Jaguar Racing Green

 

>The lack of a dip-stick has been discussed here, before. But, is there a practice that people use?

Looked around a bit and found the following process

1) With a warm engine, open the hood
2) Turn on accessories without starting the engine
3) Using the Trip Computer, cycle forward to engine oil measurement function
4) Press Cruise Control Cancel button twice.
5) Look at level in the Trip Computer

Easy Peasy
=================================
My karma just ran over your dogma
Current Hers: '13 Lexus ES350
Current Mine: '15 Jaguar XF

 

Wow, seems like a lot to do, just to "check the oil" my old man used to do with his Mazda.

I think, mechanically, your concern is correct, Pab. Just five minutes waiting sounds too short. I like to let the car sit a good 15 minutes after I've driven it on an errand (I was taught NEVER to check the oil if the only thing I did was just idle the engine first thing after its been sitting in the garage---I have to drive it somewhere, and bring it back to test the oil).
15 or 20 minutes after I've parked it back in my driveway, I'll check the oil.

And even though their may be electronics to check my oil for me----the oil, coolant and the brake fluid are the things I feel better physically looking at.

I'm an XE owner, but I have driven the 2018 XF a few days. Nice level handling, the XF is a smooth cruising gal. But I can't stand that the interior borrows too much from what was used in the XE. I think the XF's interior had room to execute some stylish touches and lines to make it stand out in ways the tiny XE cabin can never do... but for some reason the XF designers just didn't grab the opportunity.

 

The Owner's Handbook says to warm the engine up then wait 10 minutes to allow enough time for all the oil to drain down to the sump, and the electronics won't let you get a reading until 10 minutes has elapsed.
BUT, what worked for me most of the time on the XFS and XFR, and every single time on the F-Type, is to simply open the hood/bonnet. Instant oil level reading, no waiting around for 10 minutes.

 

Congrats on the new car. An immediate opportunity to test it in the snow!

 

Does anyone know why Jaguar says to check the oil after it's warm?

When the engine is cold all the oil should have collected back down in the oil pan so why not check it then? Are the electronic measurements not good until the car, and the various electrical sensors, have warmed up?

 

It's perhaps nice and easy to do especially for service techs. Having to do it stone cold would be impractical for the techs.

 

Hey Pab,

Congrats on your XF purchase, and welcome to this side of the forum!

Enjoy your new ride!

 

Welcome, and just check the oil level when you first get in, cold..lol

 

Haven't had my XF long enough yet to experience the oil change process so it's going to be interesting. I wish that it had an actual dipstick. When I'm changing oil, I always put in little at a time, checking the dipstick till I get it just right. Much less convenient to go back and forth checking a dash indicator and how accurate is it anyway. Plus, how am I supposed to check the "condition" of the oil if I can't stick a rod down there and pull up a sample? I guess I'll order one of those extractor setups on Amazon when the time comes, but what a pain. Some things just don't need improvement. Kind of like the old joke about NASA spending millions of dollars to develop a ballpoint pen that would write in the vacuum of space while Russian cosmonauts just used a pencil.

 

>Congrats on your XF purchase, and welcome to this side of the forum!


Thanks everybody, glad to be here.


Took a long drive yesterday (went skiing in NH) and filled up just be hopping on the highway home. Cruised at 79 MPH (limit an Rt93 north of Concord is 70mph... ;-) and got a solid 26mpg. Was worried that the extra weight, AWD, the reports that these cars are thirsty, would pull the mileage down v.s., my 4.2 S-Type. Luckily seems to not be the case.


Don't really like the 8 speed ZF tranny though, particularly when pulling out to pass. It seem like it has to downshift multiple times when I put my foot into it in order to goose the engine into the power band. I think the 5sp plus V8 torque made a difference in my S-Type. Figure that must be a common problem since most trannys these days seem to offering more gears.


Oh, can anybody tell me how to replace my picture. I'd like to change from the pix of my S-Type


Thanks

 

Welcome and to change your avatar go here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/p...?do=editavatar
As for passing I use my paddle shifters in Standard "S" mode, much more control, get it to the gear you need then punch it, you could also use it in the dynamic mode (checkered flag) with the automatic transmission and it should give you a faster response.

 

>avatar go here:...

Thanks

And about those shifter paddles, do you leave the car in S mode regularly?

================================================== =
You dreamed of a big star -
He played a mean guitar -
He loved to drive his Jaguar...

So welcome to the machine

 

So I finally go around to checking the oil (without a dipstick... :-p ). Been having problems with the whole warm the engine then wait 10 minutes thing, but via a YOUTUBE video learned that you can check it cold by first opening the hood.

Anyway, found that it reported an over-fill. Now I wonder if that's a problem?

Are these engines sensitive to having too much oil? Should I take it to my garage and have them drain a pint or so?

But, I like having my own oil change schedule so I was planning on doing an oil change in ~2K miles when it hit 20K miles. Should I ignore the overfill reading and just wait until that mileage?

Could the dealer have overfilled it when they were preparing it for delivery? I'm sure they use drum oil so how accurate are they when doing an oil refill?

==================================================
Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons
Current: '15 XF (X250) Portfolio AWD 3.0
Past B: '08 S-Type 4.2 "Satin Edition" (250.06 whp / 259.67 torque)
Past A: '05 X-Type 3.0/auto Jaguar Racing Green

 

I'm new to the forum. I bought a 2015 Certified 3.0 AWD Portfolio around Thanksgiving from a dealer in the Chicago area. It's garaged until I sell my Lincoln MKC.
A couple questions:

1) Having only 14+K miles and being Certified, does this cover oil changes, If so, for how long?

2) The selling dealership stated that the oil was changed, just prior to my taking delivery, but considering how poorly the car was prepped, I really don't trust them; and without a dipstick to examine the oil, I'm a bit concerned. Should I purchase an oil pump to extract a bit to (at least) have a look?

3) I've read in this forum that dealers don't drop the belly-pan, they extract the oil out from the fill opening. If this is the case, where is the oil filter located?

4) I really prefer to do my own oil changes, I know that it will be done correctly. Members on the forum have stated that inattentive / hurried dealer mechanics have over-filled their cars. To complicate things, AWD models apparently have a lower capacity than their RWD counterparts. IMHO, I think Castrol and JLR have a racket going to coerce owners into having overpriced, marginal quality oil changes performed at the dealerships. I asked the leading distributor of Castrol products in the UK (Broughton Lubricants) if Edge Professional E 0W-20 has a dye additive (supposedly to aid in finding leaks) that alerts the dealer if a different oil has been used, thereby voiding your warranty. He didn't respond. Is this a rumor or true?

 

From what I heard everyone has typically said check the oil when cold. But reality is most people do it when filling up with gas - so the engine is warm. So ford then a number of other manufacturers made a shift to do it warm instead and adjusted the calibration accordingly. (Oil expands with temp, enough to make a difference). So if the owners manual says to do it warm that's because it's calibrated to read accurately when warm. The wait 5 mins is just for the oil to drain back down into the pan

That's my understanding

 

I really would appreciate answers to my 4 questions above. Please!

 

Can't help you with Q1.
Q2 - The easiest way to "have a look" at the oil is to remove the oil filter and grab some of the oil that sits in the ring under the filter.
Q3 - The oil filter sits right on top of the engine, very easy access, front and left of centre looking from the front of the car. But you need to remove the engine cover first, simply lift it straight up, four grommets sitting around four pegs/posts.
Q4 - Yes, I think the special Castrol Unobtainium brew does have a dye in it (not 100% sure about this, never used it across four oil changes), but it is only "recommended" not mandatory and your warranty is not effected as long as you use an oil which meets the spec (which is in your Owner's Handbook), plenty of oils out there which meet this spec.

 

Thank you OzXFR, great info - just trying to be a good custodian of my latest purchase.
I hope I didn't come off as being overly inflammatory or if I inadvertently upset anyone.

The UK Castrol distributor couldn't comment on tracer dye in their Edge Professional E product.
Fourteen, 1 L containers would cost £112.14 +VAT and an additional £47.25 for shipping to Michigan. Near as I can figure, almost $16 / L not accounting for VAT.

 

That's waaay too much to pay for the oil!
As I said before there are plenty of brands besides the Castrol Edge Professional which meet the JLR spec (which for your car I believe is STJLR.51.5122, that's the oil spec for my MY 2015 F-Type with the same V6 engine as yours), any 0W20 fully synthetic oil which meets this spec will be perfectly OK.
Off the top of my head Mobil 1, Millers and Motec all make such an oil and they can be found local to you at a fraction of the price you have been quoted.
Also, why do you want 14 litres? That's enough for two full oil changes, your car takes 6.75 litres to fill (7.25 litres for the RWD).