Just got my car back from the mechanic. He fixed my alternator and oil leak from the filter housing. He was supposed to change the oil as well.

I get in the car and immediately the car showed me the oil level and said “check handbook”. I added 1qt oil. The message went away. Drove around a bit.

20 min later checked the level again (which is a pain in the ***), it still says check handbook. I added another 1/2 qt, fear of overfilling.

What’s the deal? I’m gunna bring the car back Monday. But how do I know if I have a problem? I’m not gunna drive it, but the car isn’t throwing errors and checking is a pain in the butt

 

Have you got an oil extractor vacuum pump?
If not then get one, not very expensive.
Once you have a pump add another 1/2 quart then check the oil level again (no need to drive the car/warm it up/wait 10 minutes, just pop the hood, hey presto the leccy oil level readout will work, as long as you haven't started the car for at least 10 minutes).
Keep doing this add and check until the oil level reads "OK", or it reads over full and "check handbook".
If the latter use the pump to extract some oil, until the level reads "OK".

However, you haven't said what your initial reading was besides "check handbook".
It could be that it was already over-filled, in which case it would have shown a level right up to the top of the gauge and above the "Max" mark.
It's not uncommon for a mechanic to overfill an XF with new oil, more common than under-filling.
If that was the case don't add any more oil, instead remove some 1/2 a quart at a time and keep checking the readout.

 

Dude, step away from the car!!

I can't believe you're just adding oil ***** nilly. Too much oil is bad for the engine, and you probably have 1.5 quarts too much now.

When the dash says "check handbook" it's telling you that it can't take a reading because the car hasn't had time for the oil to settle. It needs about 20 mins or more after the last time the engine has ran.

Do you see what you did wrong now?

 

Yes. Sounds like you're overfilling
You can force a reading without that 10 minutes cooking down window so you avoid running it in case it's way overfilled

Turn on ignition without pressing foot on brake so ignition goes on but engine not started
Press info stalk until you get to the oil display
Press the cruise control cancel button two times
The use stalk button to get back to oil display if needed
That should force a reading

Overfill is damaging to engines too so you need to pump some out if too high

 

I've uploaded a screenshot of the error. the bar above "see handbook" is the oil reading. This popped up as SOON as i turned on the car (after letting it sit for about 2 hours).
According to the handbook, the image thats displayed means that the oil level is lower than recommended. Which is why I added some extra oil. There is a completely different image of a full bar that shoes there's too much oil. So either im reading it wrong, or there's no oil in my car!

Never the less, the shop is closed tomorrow and sunday im going to london. I will drop the car off sunday and tell the mechanic to figure it out. I wont be driving it any more

 

How will you drop the car off on Sunday without driving it any more? And yes it does look like underfilled as opposed to overfilled, if the dash readout can be trusted.
If you don't have an extraction pump then your best bet right now is to get under the car and drain the oil and measure how much comes out, as this is pretty much the only sure-fired way to determine exactly how much oil is in there. Use a nice clean drain pan with level markings.
Yes, we know it's a hassle to remove the undertray, but why pay a mechanic $100+ per hour when you can do it yourself for nix?
Then, once you know the sump is empty you know exactly how much to put back in - 7.25 litres - and you can use the oil you just drained seeing as it is almost new anyway.

 

The mechanic is literally down the block from my place. That will be the only drive I make. But it’s a 30 second thing.

I unfortunately am leaving for London for 2 weeks and won’t have time to do any oil extraction myself.

 

+1
I'm not sure I'd take it back to a mechanic that could change the oil in an XF and underfill it. I would question them about how much oil they put in. If you had a leak before, maybe they did not add any?

 

Yes - you are right that indicates severe underfill. But if you already added oil twice and still under filled by more than a liter that's pretty terrible. I would not start it. Have them tow it and drain, measure and refill as above. Either you have a terrible leak somewhere - or more likely they forgot to put oil in. So you may want to find a new mechanic...

 

I’m gunna take it back to this guy because it’s super close and because I already paid, I’m not gunna pay again just because he messed up. Never the less I’m not going back to this guy ever. I’m moving anyway, so I gotta find a new mechanic

 

Update: started the car up today and it said “add 1liter” so at least now we’re getting somewhere. Looks like it responded to the oil I added.

I still dropped the car off. Gunna make him do a whole new oil change and make sure it’s done right. I’m out of town for 2 weeks anyway