Hello,
Over the years we have had our 2006 XK8, it was always taken to the local dealer for service as required for our extended warranty and the dealership usually changed the oil/filter.

But now I will be doing my own oil/filter changes; dealership used Kendall - Blend in the engine. Is this what Jaguar calls for? Or should I go with Mobil 1 full synthetic or to conventional oil?

Vehicle has just over 32k miles on it and is not driven alot, but is getting more drive time lately.

Thanks in advance.

 

The owners manual calls for Castrol 5W-30 conventional oil. But the truth is that you can run whatever decent oil you want to. If you like Kendall, then run it. Change it (along with the oil filter) frequently enough to keep it relatively clean. The owners manual specifies oil & filter changes every 10,000 miles. I prefer a 6,000-mile service interval myself. Whatever floats your boat....

 

I had to laugh. I'm a new owner, but for other cars I used to change the oil my self. But with any car today you do it now because it's because it's good for the soul to crawl under a car now and then. See Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I can't even get under my 05 XK8 as I can't drive the car onto ramps, and haven't figured out how to jerry rig a means of easing up the ramp without hitting bodywork in the process.

 

I made a 6" lift by nailing three sections of 2"X6" of boards that I had left over from a deck project together in three steps, 2" then 4" then 6". The 6" lift gives me plenty of room to get underneath to change the oil.

 

It doesn't take a great height to access the drain plug and filter:

1. raise the front of the car and place axle stands under the front jacking points (12 inch stands are adequate)
2. remove alternator cooling duct
3. place drain pan under drain plug
4. remove oil filter
5. remove drain plug
6. lower vehicle
7. raise rear of vehicle and place the axle stands under the rear jacking points
8. leave to drain completely
9. lower rear of vehicle
10. raise the front and place axle stands under the front jacking points
11. fit drain plug
12. fit filter
13. refit alternator cooling duct
14. lower the vehicle
15. refill with oil

At no time is the front or the rear of the vehicle more than one foot off the ground. Takes longer for the oil to drain than it does to do the lifting.

Graham

 

I use 2 pieces of 2 X 6 about a foot and a half long, one for each ramp. Place the front end of the boards about 8" up on the ramps, place this combo up against the front tires. Now as you drive forward and you tire start up on the board the front of the car raises enough to clear the ramps and you can proceed to the top of the ramps.
I have to do this for both my X-type and XK8. However when the cars fronts are on the ramps I can only get my floor jack under the rear of the X-type if I want to raise it also. With the XK8 I need to up on so board at the same time when going up on the ramps to raise the rear enough so my floor jack can get under the rear bumper and spare wheel well.

 

I drive my S-Type up onto Rhino Ramps to work on it because it has a full undertray that must be removed before I can access the oil drain plug and oil filter. Driving it up onto the ramps is quicker than using my floor jack to lift the front end, set my two jack stands, then removing the floor jack so the undertray can then be removed....

Because my wife's XK8 does not have an undertray and sits so low to the ground, I use my floor jack and jack stands to work on it. The XK8 would be tough to drive up onto Rhino Ramps without some lower body scraping taking place....

 

I appreciate the input. Although I've always been leery of jack stands. Usually only used them with a jack under the differential or other mid vehicle jacking point. By the way my brother offered and old "country boy" means of doing oil changes. Drive the vehicle along a ditch, drain and leave the oil, etc. Neither he nor I have done that, but know some family members that might have a few years back.

 

I know it doesn't give the Zen of crawling under the car, but I'm a big fan of suction to pull the old oil out through the dipstick. On our 325i those clever German engineers even mounted the oil filter on top where the element can be removed without spilling a drop. The entire oil change is done standing up. For the XK8, driving up onto 2X6's gives me enough room to get at the filter.

 

I picked up some ramps with a more gradual incline and a reduced height that I use on the XK8. They only lift maybe 6 inches and are nice and long. It's close, but makes it without scraping.

 

Thanks to everyone for the great information. I am looking forward to working on the XK8. All I have done to it is replace the brake rotors and pads when we got the car. I actually had to beat the rotors off the spindles as they were so corroided. After a few minutes with a wire brush in my drill to clean-up the spindles...the new rotors went on just fine and have been fine ever since.

I have ramps I made out of 2x6 that I have used for years to get the Corvettes high enough to enable getting my floor jack under and used these ramps when I did the brakes.

Now reading about removing the alternator cooling duct in order to change the oil....good stuff to know.

Thanks again to everyone.

 

If you've every had a boat with an inboard, you probably had to pump the oil out of the dipstick. They had a hose fitting, and somewhere I still have the siphon pump.