My 2010 XF is in the repair shop for changing the timing chain, because apparently I drove without oil in the engine.

I had about 1.5 liter oil in it instead of 6.5 and I got a "motor failure" warning on the dash.

Now I am wondering, how is it possible that I didn't receive a low oil level warning?

I know some functions run through the head unit (like changing the clock etc) and I changed the original head unit to a chinese Android head unit, but I can't imagine that the oil checking system would run through the head unit.

Do I need to replace something to not run into this problem again in the future?

 

My 2012 Owners Handbook came with a Supplement Sheet stating " The engine oil level is not monitored when the engine is running and/or the vehicle is in motion" and advising owners to check the oil level frequently and topping up as required. This obviously has to be done before you start the engine. The Owners Handbook explains how to check the oil level on p165 (for a 2012 model)
I check my oil level each day before I start the engine. My motor has not used any measurable quantity of oil in the 2 years I have owned it.

 

Thanks for the reply.

My handbook for the 2010 XF says that I have an oil level warning, but I don't know, for which type it is true as the handbook is for all the versions of the XF and I have many features described there, which my luxury XF doesn't have, so I am really not sure what I have, but I think, the oil level warning should be a standard feature in every type, like it is in any other car out there.

This MUST not happen that a driver gets an engine failur because of low oil level.
I had a dozen different cars, way cheaper than a Jaguar and they all had it.
I am not a mechanic. Why would it be my responsibility to check oil levels every day?
I bought a luxury car for driving, not for fiddling around in the engine compartment.

Actually I would sue Jaguar and demand back my repair costs if it wouldn't be a lost cause in the beginning.

It is actually shameless and cheeky to expect your buyer to do the work for you, because you were lazy to install a oil level lamp into the dash.

 

You are right about that it's ridiculous , the only solution i found was to use the torque app with Cambos customs pids , on the Android unit, that worked for a year until my car died once on the high way for using a permanently connected dongle.
In the lower left you can see the oil level, you can set an alarm in that app if it drops certain value.

 

Thank you for the tip. I will try this when I get my car back.

I am sorry to hear that your car had issues too.

It is also ridiculous that a car breaks down just because a dongle is attached to it permanently.

I love my XF, but I am not sure if my next car will be a Jaguar, although I was planning on it.

 

You did not tell us what engine you have?
If you have the 5.0L it does not have an oil pressure measurement at all.
As posted above they sorta tell you the volume but if you read how that's done it's certainly a bit of a guess and some hand waving!

But yes you need to check the oil level frequently. Did you ever check the oil in any of your other cars?
It's so easy you don't even need to get out of the car or raise the hood so there is no effort at all to check it.
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Luckily for me i removed the dongle and it's all back to normal no problem whatsoever.

I had hard time getting used to Jaguar all other cars i have owned never consumed oil, my xfr did consume a bit with low mileage had to top up one or two times , but now it settled level has not dropped again.

 

I have an XF 3.0 Luxury.

I drive for 30 years, so yes, I know how to check oil.

I don't think, I have a magic button that tells me the oil level, so yes, I would need to get out of the car and raise the hood. As I had to do in all my other cars in the last 30 years.
If I had that magic button, I wouldn't have opened this thread

 

Having been in exactly the same position as the OP, with the same year of car, I feel their pain and frustration.

The User Manual for our 2010 XFs did not come with the aforementioned Supplement Sheet (at least, mine didn't when I purchased the car). Not only that, but the manual directly states that the car will warn you if the oil level gets too low:


NONE of these messages ever showed up for me, or any other failure I've read about, including the OPs - and in fact, the very existence of the Supplement Sheet (with "The engine oil level is not monitored when the engine is running and/or the vehicle is in motion") mentioned for 2012 XFs shows that they knew this was a problem. In my extensive research during/after my engine rebuild I haven't found any indication these warning messages were ever implemented or working - my suspicion is that they found estimation of oil level while running to be so unreliable they simply disabled the alerts in the software before/during early release.

Yes, we should check oil level. But the Jaguar system sucks, as you have to wait for the oil to drain into the sump to get a valid measurement, and it's quite finicky leading most owners to rarely if ever bother, and it will not warn you of impending doom despite having this information available. Why can't the car itself wait 10 mins after shutoff and take a measurement, and flash a warning up the next time you use it? Indeed, what the hell was ever wrong with a mechanical dipstick?

It's all very well to put this on owners - and I take responsibility in the case of my engine failure that I wasn't as fastidious as I could've been with checking it - but Jaguar don't make it easy and the manual that was supplied with the car is straight-up misleading.

 

I just realize, looking at your picture, that it states "5.0 V8 Engine only".

It is actually unbelievable, that a car manufacturer dares to release a car without water temperature display and oil level warning.

I am asking myself, what else is missing in this car, that is absolutely standard equipment in any cheap russian or romanian car.

 

In all fairness, I haven't found any other glaring omissions besides that and the design flaw in timing chain guides. It's pretty easy to cherry-pick issues - it's not like the German brands in this market sector don't have similar - but let's be real here, I'd take the most-error prone XF over anything that Lada has manufactured in the last 30 years.

I've seen class action suits against JLR regarding timing guides, but none of the firms I contacted even replied to me, let alone were interested in the fact that the problem existed outside of their specific model years (Usually based on LR TSB so listed as 2012-2014 etc), or the photos I had of my disassembled block showing the burrs in the aluminum block where the chains had rattled due to lack of tension, or the misleading manual etc. Maybe if I had more time I'd consider my own legal action, but quite honestly at this point, I can't be bothered.

 

So if you look on pp 196 and 197 of your 2010 Owners Handbook you will find the requirements for Engine Oil Checks on 2010 V6 Petrol Engines. Basically, this is the same engine used on some S-Type and XJ cars not the 3.0L supercharged engines used on later XF cars. You can see that your manual calls for weekly engine oil level checks using the dipstick provided. Your car is also provided with an " Engine Oil Pressure Low " warning message. Your vehicle was apparently NOT fitted with the Engine Oil Level Monitoring System provided for 2010 and later cars with the 3.0L Diesel engine and 5.0L petrol engines.

 

Closing that thread was a real stupid idea.

This thread has absolutely nothing to do with that error message, except that the error message appeared when the oil level was low.

There was no engine failure and it had nothing to do with the chinese head unit. At one point of time it was an assumption that it can not be deleted because of the chinese head unit, but it turned out not to be true. I have the original Jaguar head unit in the car.

What don't you understand from the words "the car has absolutely no issues"?
You obviously didn't even read any of my posts in any of these topics.

I do not know why you have to talk into other people's business when you have no clue what they are talking about.

I am a 55 year old guy having my own IT company. I was there when the internet was born.
I am writing in forums longer than you are alive.
I know how to use internet forums.

 

The car may have no issues but you most certainly do. You are an arrogant and rude young man with an atrocious lack of communication skills.

Perhaps you should re-read your own posts. You can use the additional leisure time during a 7 DAY BAN to do this. If you choose to return at the end of the ban, think more carefully about what and where you post or I'll make it considerably longer.

Graham

 

Good job!!
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You are either 70 or you clearly have an issue with reading and comprehending your own mother tongue.
Instead of being a retarded wannabe dictator with egomaniac tendencies, maybe you should actually try to grow a brain.

You know, being a self proclaimed admin on the internet is not an achievement.

Now you can ban me permanently while you go **** yourself.

There are dozens of jaguar forums on the internet, so I won't cry over you and your degenerate forum.

 

Thanks again Graham!
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