Lol I never paid attention to an H and M mark I've always filled it to the top of the crosshatches and called it a day. So the oil dipstick in our vehicle acts kind of like a transmission fluid dipstick that has a cold and hot range in it? Is the M mark in the middle of the dipstick? (I would check on my car right now but I left it at work). Also the oil was cold. Guess that solves that. Thanks guys.

 

I'm not sure it solves the matter if you used the H mark both times you checked the oil level.... Doesn't that bring us back to the fact that more than 8.5 qts. must have drained out, since it required 9.5 qts. to refill to the level on the dipstick that you have always considered "Full" ?

Don

 

More than 8.5 could have drained out. If I remember correctly I had 9 quarts in it and it was just about at the mid-line "M", and I added another half a quart and it ended at the top of the cross hatch. So that in itself is half a quart accounted for (it being overfilled). The other half I would just chalk that up to what you mentioned earlier about it draining out all the extra crevices, bearings, crankshaft etc. What do you think? Sounds plausible? Don't remember exactly where it was on the dipstick when I added that last half quart, pretty sure it was at the M line.

 

Doubtful.

1L (near as makes no difference a quart, allowing for what adheres to the sides of the bottle and doesn't drain quickly unless you upend the bottle for an extended period of time in the funnel or something) moves you from bottom of the cross-hatch to the middle mark, and an additional liter moves you from middle to top of the cross-hatch.

You can see this from the discussion of how to check the oil in the manual (the pdf posted by John Herbert)...but I've also witnessed it when working with "quarts" as depicted by the barely distinguishable level in the opaque "window" on the gallon jug marked out in quarts and/or liters. So when I say a "quart" moved me from one mark to the other, was it "really" a quart? or 1.056 qts (1.0L)? or 0.94 qts? Well....it was surely more a quart than a half a quart.

What filter (manufacturer and p/n) did you fit? They all have to be identical in the thread and seal area, but some could be longer than others and hold more oil?

Wait...thinking further on the oil check procedure...it indicates the difference between the level on the dipstick at the 2 minute mark vs. overnight could be as much as one liter. So if, like many of us, you run the car enough to warm the oil before changing it, it is possible that you drained up to an additional quart by leaving it overnight. Whereas if you drained it cool, after an overnight at rest, all of that extra liter would theoretically already be down in the sump, registering on the dipstick, and should drain out in several minutes with the rest of the sump's contents.

 

Yeah, BUT, the 8.5 qts of oil in the engine do not change volume by the amount of 1 qt. due to temperature! That would be a volume change of 12%. The actual volume change of oil for 120 degrees F is closer to 5%, or about 4/10 of a quart. So the difference in the specified stick levels is apparently about half temperature and half drain down, I guess? (That is a question!)

 

Ross, agreed... but you must be taller because you are wading out into deeper water than I attempted to tread ;-)
Full disclosure, I've been too lazy to grab my manual or open the JTIS file and look it up.... but I assume the Jaguar-published capacity is 8.5L? Well, that is my assumption. I'll try to lend the next items greater weight and lay them out as my "premise:"
A) anything above the cross-hatch is "over-full"
B) Jaguar would not instruct owners to over-fill the engine


Then if the 8.5L represents the optimum fill, the "M" mark; you could add an additional liter if your cold-after-overnight engine was just below the M line (let's say "kissing the lower edge of it) and still not exceed the cross-hatch area. Now you'd have nearly 9.5L aboard. (something less than 8.5 + 1 b/c "on or above" the line we don't add)
9.5L = 10.03854 qts, so Scarecrow missed a half-quart when he drained!


My explanation collapses if 8.5L capacity means you are at the top of the range rather than at the M mark.

 

Well, I know from reading these forums that many folks stress over plus or minus a quart of oil in the crankcase. I even remember a poster claiming that his engine failed after he ran it three quarts low (maybe it was a she). Anyway, I am quite confident that an X-300 engine (specifically for this rant!) will suffer no harm, long or short term with either extreme as long as slalom racing, high revs, or some other extreme condition is not involved. Not that either one is a good idea!

 

The X100 Silverstone model was run a quart higher for the
reason given. All explained by Brutal a few years ago.

The X100 had no less than 3 different part numbers for
the oil dipstick.

It made sense, so I run my equivalent engine 1 quart high
without qualms.