The recommended oil change interval for the XK is 10,000 and the recommended oil is conventional. 10,000 miles on conventional oil ??

Thanks.

 

Yup, that's pretty much industry standard on cars these days and has been for a decade or longer. That's how mine's always been serviced. Cool, huh?

 

I have never subscribed to that train of thought. Especially considering the service department is the bread and butter of any dealership.

-Vince

 

All VW, and I believe Audi's only use synthetic oil now due to a sludging problem (and an expensive lawsuit), and I will always use it myself from now on. It seems like it's worth the extra money. Here's an interesting website: The Oil Sludge Problem It mentions that the new high capacity oil systems also help make the recommended interval longer.

I just checked. My recommended first maintenance is 15,000 miles. But I'm getting pretty antsy now that I'm at 10K.

 

Oil is one of those 'Elephant in the Room' subjects around here.

An engine is expensive when compared to the price of a gallon or so of oil.

Recommended change intervals are based on average use, any maintenance book I have ever read for a car states that intervals may differ depending on the working environment.

Me, I change every 12 months, my DD is 16 years old and has only covered 51000 = about 3000 or so per change. Dealer service stamps before I bought the car + me since.

I can always find a use for the drained oil.

Modern oils are way more advanced than decades ago, but I would always be more inclined to go for the car that shows exessive servicing rather than hardly any.

You may never go for a pre-owned car, but good service records do fetch a premium on the used market. Just a thought for the future.....

 

You must have the 4.2L XK.

The change interval on my 2010 XKR is every 15K miles. So, Jaguar designed these cars/engines and warranty them. Knowing that they make money on service, and would have to replace the engine if the oil caused it to fail...why would they knowingly recommend changing the oil at intervals that would cause mechanical failure?

Well they wouldn't. Under normal driving conditions, changing the oil every 3K, 5K, or 7500 miles is simply a waste of money, and a bigger stress on the environment and mechanisms that process used oil. Older cars *might* benefit from shorter oil change intervals.

Conventional oil is like a sponge which absorbs carbon molecules and sludge. Synthetic oil has much better viscosity and heat properties (among others).

 

Also remember that the crankcase capacity of these cars is around 7 quarts, not the typical 4 or 5 quarts. More oil means contamination and oil breakdown will build more slowly.

 

It seems to be just as prevalent every car, bike, boat, tractor etc. forum that exists, with many not able to maintain the calm exchanges that are the SOP of this forum. Their loss, our gain.

Engines, oils and fuels are not what they were in the '70s and '80s (fortunately) so what was considered as high risk or irresponsible practices back then are just routine stuff now.

I couldn't imagine going back to twice annual full tune-ups of plugs, points condenser, rotor, cap, carb and choke adjustments and still not have a good gut feeling that the car would reliably start in the dead of winter. I remember batteries that constantly needed water and replacing every three years anyway.

We used to put up with a lot of cr*p back then that would be unacceptable today. Many of my Corvette buddies put a set of bias ply tires on their cars for nostalgic or concours reasons only to be shocked on how badly the car handles. There's nothing wrong with the tires, that's just they way they are yet we accepted it as being normal. Ignorance is (was?) bliss.

 

I wonder if it's mostly a difference in oil or a difference in engine design. Could you take an 80s car and run it on 10k mile oil change intervals without problems?

 

Many owners successfully ran '80s cars on '80s oils with 10K or more in between changes, I didn't want to go there for obvious reasons.

 

For what it is worth, my service writer at the dealership I use advised me to stop having the oil changed and other typical 5k services on my 08 xk vert as I was just wasting money. Seeing as he is a service writer at a Jaguar store and his recommendation cost the store money; I decided then and there to follow his recommendation. So, that is now what I am doing.

 

Oil conversations are indeed a Pandora's Box. I will strike at one more area often overlooked. Factory recommended maintenance is most often based on two schedules. "Normal" vs "Severe" driving conditions.

To be maintaining your car under the "normal" schedule. means you never take short drives, don't live in any hot Southern States, or cold northern territories, or drive fast, or drive in any kind of stop and go traffic, never travel in dust, dirt, sand, mud, mountains, snow.... etc etc....
Any of these acts moves you to the "severe driving conditions" maintenance schedule.
"Normal conditions" refers to "Ideal conditions", and very few cars live that life.

On average most manufacturers halve the recommended intervals for "severe" driving conditions.
Example: For my XK, I see the "Factory recommended oil change" shifts from 10K miles to 10k miles OR 6 months, whichever comes first. Jaguar now puts a time schedule on top the mileage schedule for severe conditions.

If your going to adhere to the philosophy of maintaining your car under a "Factory Recommended" schedule, then very few of you will see 10K or 15K miles on your oil.


Vince

 

Vince-

Could you point me to Jaguars definitions that agree with the above?

 

interesting. I didnt know that. according to Yahoo Auto:

What Is Considered Severe Use?

Severe use involves extensive idling or driving frequently in stop-and-go traffic; operating in cold temperatures below 10 degrees or extreme temperatures above 90 degrees; extreme humidity; repeated short-distance trips of less than five miles; towing a trailer or hauling heavy materials; or using E85 fuel more than 50 percent of the time. If you do drive in any one of these conditions in a typical week, you are driving in severe conditions, and may need to change oil more often.

Since starts and stops is the majority of what I do, I'm definitely not waiting for 15K now.

 

In the event that it is not in the "vehicle care booklet", his statement closely matches the norms for "severe service" found in many manufacturers maintenence schedules.

 

Exactly. In other words, while they're not lying exactly (a vehicle manufacturer would never do that, no sir!) the service interval recommendations come from the same actuarial school as fuel economy figures. I personally like to go a little further than the recommended standard.

 

Well, not quite.

It is fairly customary to present recommendations for "normal service" footnoted by a "severe service" modification.

The problem is that people wrongfully assume that their usage of the vehicle constitutes "normal service" as defined by the manufacturer. In other words, they don't read the fine print.

To generalise, "normal service" is pretty much "highway miles at moderate speeds in temperate weather". Anything else is "severe service".

 

Yes, this is what I'm trying to get at. They don't exactly go out of their way to impress upon civilans that their (arguably theologically correct) definition of "Normal" is somewhat at odds with most people's idea of what constitutes normal car use.

 

Conversly if someone only follows the mileage recommendation they might only be changing the oil every 3 years or so, not realizing that such low anual mileage likely puts the car into the severe category.

If my DD 51000 had followed the mileage schedule (7500) than it would have only had 7 changes in 16 years. Or at 6 month intervals it would be at 32/33 changes.

It is however at 18 changes.

Striking a, to me, sensible balance.

No car is going to instantly fail if someone ignores schedules and ups to 20k intervals, but the damage will accumulate over the years before eventually becoming noticeable.

I don't know what mileage is on any of the cars above, but there are quite a few 10 year olds and a couple of 8 year olds.

Anything less than 75000 miles at 15k intervals would place these cars with only 5 changes in 10 years. Worse if the total mileage is much lower. 60000 = 4 changes.

On the secondhand market, I would not be impressed with a car that has only had 4 services in 10 years.

Just my 2€

 

Jaguar Service Schedules are on a Mileage OR Time basis - whichever comes first.

Older models are every 10K Miles OR 12 Months
Later models are every 15K miles OR 12 Months

So the Garage Queen will need servicing every 12 Months regardless; the Continental Cruiser may need 2 or more services a year.

Graham