I am new owner of 99 Jag, so forgive me if this question has been asked before.

My 99 Jag XK8 has 75K miles and I drive roughly 400 miles per months. So the question is: Should oil be changed with respect to miles or calendar time?

Thanks

 

for normal service, no stop and go, short trips, long periods of time without use, dusty conditions otherwise known as severe service, the normal change interval for the recommended oil is 1 year or 10K US miles. The "Passport to Service" Manual and "Vehicle Care" Manual both state that under sever conditions you halve the time to six months. see page 2 of the "Passport to Service" Manual, column 2, paragraph 3.

most collector or specialty cars experience the severe service without their owners realizing it.

AND, this is regardless of the oil that you decide to use, even though I personally use a very good synthetic, nothing can magically make contaminants disappear other than maybe neutralizing them. my recommendation is to use the car at least every other week other than storage periods and during this time drive for at least an hour. then you are not creating severe service conditions. in this car any trip less than one hour will not heat up the oil to its highest operating temperature to boil off every volatile contaminant. if you are going to store the car seasonally, your yearly or six month change should be timed for the last time the vehicle is run before storage.

 

Throw in Mobile 1 and change it twice a year if you drive it sparingly, maybe 3 times a year if you drive it more.

 

I go 6000mi between oil changes.

 

WhiteHat, Thanks very much and since I am a low and infrequent (every other weekend) drive of my jag, I will change oil twice a year.