I still don't like the e-oil dip stick so I was wondering if there are any options. Usually after my drives I park the car and then hook up my smart charger. This only takes a minute or so but still not long enough to get a reading. Then buy the time I can get a reading I forget and have already put the car up on the lift. Is there any other options here. Is it possible to put a wire down the suction tube to get a reading. Is there anything in the tube that would prevent this. My kids Audi also has an e-stick but that reads in about 30 seconds which is practical. Any ideas out there. Oh based on my experience it takes at least 5 minutes to get a reading and buy then I'm into my glass of wine.

 

Hi
Have to ask, what is an "e-oil" dip stick. What years have these? Is this a case of receiving a digital read of the oil level?
I'm still stuck in the days of the "real" dip stick for checking oil.

 

I don't know about the 4.2 L engine but on the 5.0L engine there is no dip stick in the engine. It is measured by a sensor in the oil pan. After running the engine to normal temp. you need to shut it down and wait 5 minutes before checking the oil level. You would press the start button without stepping on the brake and then press on the left stalk on the steering wheel until you see the oil level bar (similar to gas gauge bar) come up. Based on where the bar is reading is what the level of the oil is. Also on the 5.0L engine when you remove the oil cap on the engine you will see a nipple in the center of where the cap was. This hole is where the dealer attaches a vacuum pump to suck out the oil for an oil change.

 

Thanks for the details....have to say, how pathetic is that! Why did they make it so complicated? This together with no gauges aside from a fuel gauge, sounds like "dumb-ed down" engineering. It seems we've gone from a classic row of gauges (my 67 example) to nada, zip, zilch, in a scant 48 years.

 

One would think a dip stick could easily be rigged up for the evacuator tube.

 

jagtoes,
On the rare occasions that I have followed the instructions and tried to get an oil level reading, I have not been able to get a reading for at least 20-25 minutes, not the 5 minutes the manual says it should take. What sane person is going to sit in their car in the heat of the summer for half an hour to get the reading? What I do now, is check the level before I drive away in the morning, before the car has been started. What a pain in the ***?!

 

If the hood is open the waiting period doesn't apply, but it will also read about three hash marks low when warm if you don't wait the ten minutes. You only have to wait if the hood is closed. The reading won't be as accurate but it varies between hot engine/cold engine anyway. The no-wait hot reading will be close to the cold reading.

I would recommend checking it before you start the car. Figure the accurate hot reading would be about two to three hash marks higher than the cold reading, or than the no-wait hot reading.

Yes, a dipstick would work better. Hopefully someone will figure out if a wire can be stuck down the fill tube.

 

The manual states that you will get an automatic warning when you are 1 litre low...so there really is no need to periodically wait and check the level. It is a bit of a paradigm shift.

I have had a Benz with a similar system for 13 years, and it has never failed to warn me when the oil was low.

 

I'd be MUCH MORE concerned about not having a dipstick to frequently check the oil level if I owned a BMW, Porsche, or Audi. Below are excerpts from the August 2015 issue of Consumer Reports:

"According to data from Consumer Reports’ 2014 Annual Auto Survey of owners of 498,900 vehicles from 2010 to 2014 model years, these 30 models have much higher rates of oil consumption overall than the average for their model years:


Several engines emerged as the main offenders: Audi’s 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder and 3.0-liter V6, BMW’s 4.8-liter V8 and twin-*turbocharged 4.4-liter V8, and to a lesser extent Subaru’s 3.6-liter six-cylinder and 2.0- and 2.5-liter four-cylinders. Those engines are in models such as the Audi A3, Audi A4, Audi A5, Audi A6, and Audi Q5; BMW 5, BMW 6, and BMW 7 series, and BMW X5; and Subaru Forester, Subaru Impreza, Subaru Legacy, and Subaru Outback. The worst case showed that, overall, owners of BMW 5 Series vehicles with V8 engines were 27 times as likely to suffer excessive oil consumption as owners of an average vehicle." (Emphasis mine).

"Audi, BMW, and Subaru stick firmly to the statement that oil consumption is a normal part of a car’s operation. Subaru considers a quart burned every 1,000 to 1,200 miles to be acceptable. Certain Audi and BMW cars’ standards state that a quart burned every 600 to 700 miles is reasonable.

If a driver has to add a quart of oil once per month, that can mean adding up to 7 to 9 quarts of oil between oil changes. Those costs due to excessive oil consumption can add up because automakers more frequently require synthetic oils that can cost upwards of $9 per quart—in addition to the expense of the routine oil changes." ...

"Subaru and Audi are in the midst of class-action lawsuits regarding the problem." ... "a settlement to a class-action lawsuit against Audi would extend the power*train warranty on its 2009 to 2011 model-year CAEB 2.0-liter turbo engines to eight years or 80,000 miles." ... "In a recent technical service bulletin, Audi recommended that “the customer always have a spare quart of engine oil in case the engine oil needs topping off while on the road.” (Seriously? That was Model T technology!) ...

"BMW outlines such consumption as part of its manufacturer specifications. You can even purchase a traveling case for oil, to affix in the car’s trunk." (Apparently drafted by their lawyers as a CYA defense in pending class action litigation.)

So much for German engineering. Note that Jaguar didn't make the list.

I've already excerpted way too much. The entire article is too long to reproduce here, but is definitely worth reading. Here's the link: Excessive Oil Consumption Isn't Normal - Consumer Reports

Stuart

p.s. My CYA: I Googled "excessive oil consumption" and the link opened without having to be a subscriber. For that reason, it appears that CR intended this article to be in the public domain, notwithstanding their copyright notice. It is also quoted in various newspapers.

 

My kid is on a 2nd Audi A4 and we are in the process of looking for a newer one now. The 1st was a 2007 with the 2.0L turbo and it got 1700 , miles to the quart. The present one is a 2009 2.0L (newer version) which gets 3000 miles to the quart. Audi OM says 1200 miles per quart is normal.
Now for the Jag even if it has a 1 quart low warning light I guess I am having weekly oil measurement withdrawal from the old days. I guess another question is if my Torque Pro reads car data then the e-dip stick data must be there somewhere. I guess I'll just have to wait until the light goes off. At least I can read my water temp and voltage.

 

You'd think Jaguar would measure the oil as part of every start if they were doing this electronic.

 

If it takes X number of minutes for the oil level to stabilize for an electronic measurement, then it would probably take just as long to stabilize for a manual measurement.

Since the car has an automatic self measurement system and reliably gives a warning at one quart low, what's the need to have a manual back up?

 

Well, for one, the electronic readout doesn't warn for over full until you are 2+ quarts too full. The dealer I took my 5.0 to for its first oil change left about that much extra oil in there, I had to use an extractor to remove it. a dipstick would have caught this problem much easier.

Another issue with the electronic sensor is that they do fail, just like any other module. Hard to break a dipstick.

 

I would interpret that to mean that Jag has determined that less than two quarts extra is nothing to get excited about. The average owner does not open the hood on a regular basis to check the oil, never mind right after an oil change. In this circumstance, a serious overfilling would go undetected with a standard dipstick.

Yes, electronic devices devices do fail, but they also advise the owner about it.

Other than nostalgia, there's not much in favour of a dipstick.

 

Rigging up a dip stick was discussed in the XF section due to the geometry of the tube you would not get an accurate reading.

 

No reason you can't both a meter and a dipstick.

 

yeah... like I've never known a sensor to fail...
Thanks for the info. Guess I won't be moving up to the 5 l.

 

-----------------------------


HA!

I broke a dipstick once (not for a JAG, however)! I did manage to get the broken end out from the top, and got a used one at the salvage yard.


~R

 

It would take two failures to not get a low oil message, since the oil level sensor is monitored and will also put a message on the display if it fails. Not saying it can't happen, but the chances are likely pretty small.

 

WhiteXKR,
I take some exception to the warning system. The previous owner of my 2010 XKR had virtually no oil in his car when he took it into the dealer to discuss the issues that my mechanic had brought up when we inspected the car. I drove the car about a month before and saw no warning lights nor were there any warning lights when my mechanic inspected the car or when it was brought into the dealership. And I have read on this forum about others who destroyed their engines without so much as a single warning light on low oil. So, I think it's prudent to check oil periodically, and I'd still prefer an old fashioned dipstick.