Am I the only one here that thinks 0W-20?? 5W-20 is just plain junk weight? I'm only cosidering some 0W-30 instead. Any thoughts. And I know what the manual says........

 

Use the weight that Jaguar recommends. There is no reason to go to another weight. If your worried about breakdown, change your oil often between 3,000-6,000 miles. You buy the Castrol Jaguar weight recommended oil at Walmart very cheap.

 

Do you know why Jag /Ford etc use 20 weight oil? It sure isn't for protection, its for gas mileage. Castrol is by no means a superior oil just as Shell Brake fluid isn't superior. (In fact I have yet to see a British car that uses a brake fluid that doesn't degrade far more quickly than the stuff the Americans use) MY concern is most definitely not about breakdown, with synthetics that is a thing of the past unless oil is years old or grossly over recommended mileage. As a bit of a racer, I am quite aware that many oils like Mobil 1 and Castrol have greatly lowered the amounts of ZDDP in their newer products to reduce cat issues courtesy of dumbass govt regs. All racers know these "newer" street oils allow FAR more wear than was previously seen. Street oils are no longer ANY good for track only cars. A corollary to this is lower viscosity doesn't protect as well either. First thing Lotus manual states is use 10W-60 for track only duty. This is not a track car, but I don't care about .1 mpg increase. Unless someone can prove to me that 5w-30 isn't a superior oil for protection, that's the way I'm going and it certainly won't be Mobil 1 anymore. I use nothing but Shell Rotella T6 5W-40 in my Lotus vehicles (Elise, Evora and now Evora S)due to great ZDDB levels and as a car that sees both street and track use, I still need a detergent oil so a pure race oil is again inappropriate. Its the best readily available option out there from my research and years of wear free cams on my 2ZZ Elise motor that was driven mercilessly for 8 years.
So this discussion should be centered around explaining why one would use 5W-20 (except for .1mpg gas mileage) when 5w-30 provides far better protection, is more readily available, and multiple top shelf oils are available. Amsoli, Royal Purple , Redline, Rotella, etc.

The 3000-6000 mile oil change is a silly concept in the 21st century unless you're a taxi driver, or car never sees a highway IMHO, esp if you use the correct products.
Realize much of my statements come from hours of discussions with racers and a few petrochemical engineers. Many of these folks have done multiple rounds of oil sample testing before coming to their conclusions. The annual oil change for a garaged car is the next fallacy to get the oil industry to stop using as a ploy to sell product. That has also been tested. I'm not that concerned if I get 275000 miles, v 300000 miles on my motor. Leave that for the cheap old ******* with the million mile 240D or old Volvo.

 

I'm not that concerned if I get 275000 miles, v 300000 miles on my motor. Leave that for the cheap old ******* with the million mile 240D or old Volvo.[/QUOTE]


This will be an insult to my wife and her 1989 Volvo 740 with 344,000 miles on the original motor using 10W-40 and changed every 5,000 miles. lol

 

I'd bet that not one in a thousand XK/XKR owners ever uses their car in all out racing duty. What works on the track doesn't necessarily work in rush hour traffic.

 

exactly.

I'm going back to Shell Rotella 15W40 conventional after trying T5 0W40. No difference in cold weather cranking really and the engine is smoother on 15W40.

 

We've had various discussions on oil back at the Ferrari site. Here is an article by one of our oil experts Dr. Haas. It's long but full of interesting information. Enjoy. FerrariChat.com - FAQ: Motor Oil Articles by Dr. Ali E. Haas (AEHaas)

 

If he started with Chapt 7 first it would have benna much better read. Also, Not explaining the "W" up front was very convoluted.

So what he is saying is for nice tight motors, thinner oil is better now. Guess its the same paradigm shift as when we went from 10W-40 oils to 5W-30 oils years ago. It was hard to accept. As a New Englander, I knew I never needed 10W-60 even at the track (oh there is always that 1 100 degree day but as he says, motor runs at same relative temp (almost) all the time once heated up.

Regardless of jag manual, I guess I'm doing myself no favors using a 5w-30 and it would even be better to our cold days spring and fall to use a 0W-20. ??0W-30???

 

I'm stuck with my old mind set which is in order to be warranty compliant, I will use what Jaguar requires along with the receipts. It's a small price to pay for a "big price item".

 

My old Fcar with a 3.0L V8 and 4 Weber 2bbl carbs used 20W-50 all year round. If the garage was not heated you would not try to start it . That stuff was like honey, LOL.

 

Yea I guess I was of the old mindset that if the lube gets too thin, metal parts touch. Seems they ran that mantra in a whole bunch of Castrol ads ~10yrs ago. Yup, I fell for it.

 

Well that was interesting today. Getting an Oil Filter for our motors is a real fun time. NO ONE had them in stock. Finally decided to let NAPA order one. At least their NAPA gold units are made by WIX and any other time I've used one, they have been very well constructed. Just stay away from FRAM!!!

 

$56 for a NAPA Gold oil filter!! Special material that allows filtration while maintaining flow characteristics of 20 weight oil. This is going to be a ~$120 DIY oil change. Can only imagine how badly the dealer would hose you!

 

This ties directly in with Motor oil change. GUESS WHAT IT SAYS ON TOP OF OIL FILTER HOUSING?? FOMOCO. People didn't believe me when I said the 5.0 was a Ford Coyote V8. Well folks that's not a bad thing because it is being touted as the best motor Ford has ever built and that that means parts will be easy to find years down the road.

She is VERY happy with 7.65 qts of Valvoline Synpower 0W-20 and a new NAPA gold filter (557279). 0 degrees won't bother my girl this winter.