Just recently had a hot oil or burning oil smell inside the car, can’t see any oil leaks or oil dripping on the floor, has anyone any idea where the smell could be coming from.

 

How long have you been driving it, or owned it?

 

I’ve had it since may, and I noticed it about 2 weeks ago

 

If I were you I would start looking/feeling around the underside of the cam covers on both sides. Get some cheap rubber gloves, wrap the gloved hand in a bit of paper towel and get to running your hand down in there. See what you see.

And Brotha,,, try giving a bit more info next time. What you've tried, what you've done (or haven't done) last. What you might suspect... That kind of stuff helps. Have you been running thru oil?

 

The most likely will be leaking cam covers that runs onto the exhaust. The cabin air intake is right under the hood where the smoke will be, voila! Oil smell.

 

Some people just ignore the oil leaks and use the RECIRC button.

 

You have been around too long, but it is funny.

 

I haven’t tried anything yet, haven’t had time or opportunity what with work and bad weather. Up until now I haven’t had any real problems with the car, only the hazard button sticking. Which was quickly remedied with advice from this group. I will get out later, if it’s not raining and have a look around the cam covers, are the gaskets easy to change, there doesn’t seem a lot of room in the engine bay ? Thanks for the advice by the way

 

Plenty of room to work. Once the Inlet trunk and plastic covers are off, it doesn't look so tight for space.

A frequent scenario is drops of oil falling onto the hot exhaust manifold and flashing off creating the burning smell. It doesn't take much so you may not even notice any drop in oil level. A similar thing can happen with a leaking Expansion Tank where drops of coolant fall onto the exhaust manifold and immediately vapourise creating the unpleasant smell of burning coolant.

Graham

 

Graham is right. Plenty of room.

All the air ducting on the passenger RH side. If this in fact the problem (ya have to investigate it) start on the RH and finish the RH completely. It will teach you everything you need to know. Plus a few curse words and strange body language, lol.

After duct and plastic,,, remove coil cover and coils. LEAVE the plugs. 10mm socket ALL around - the lower back corner 10mm can be and is a bit of a pain. You'll see. Don't forget the 2 (3?) in the center area of the cam cover. Buy some black RTV gasket sealant ahead of time.

There are alternative gaskets to the sold as JAG gaskets. You don't need to go to a "jag" supplier - who always seem to try and get a premium. Rock Auto is also a good source.

As you get closer (if you do) pop back here and folks will help you thru it. Then there is lots of info on the site.

If you've never, it really is a beautiful thing to open up and expose then have a look at the heavier, moving, synchronized, major bits to your engine - between swears and head scratching

You can have a look at the chain guides too!

 

Very pleased to see this thread. I bought my '01 XK8 in June, and just the in the last few weeks have been getting whiffs of oil smoke while not seeing any evidence of leakage on the floor underneath. I'll try the same tack and see what I find.

Brian
'01 XK8 Coupe (Pacific Blue, 58K miles)

 

started having a look today, checked the oil level very low, was only serviced in June by independent specialist, Rather concerning, wouldn’t have thought gaskets leaking would lose that much oil, removed intake duct and air filter but couldn’t remove air box, didn’t want to break rubber mounting. At that point it started raining so everything went in the boot and shut bonnet. Quite common for the UK, rain! Going to get some oil now hopefully finish looking later.

 

Certainly is! The rain has battered against my office window all day.

The Jaguar V8 doesn't 'use' oil so you normally wouldn't need to top up between services. Leaking cam cover gaskets can make a mess but still not actually lose much volume of oil. The covers can crack if overtightened which loses more oil. Cracks are very difficult to see once the cover is removed because the tension is off and any crack closes up again. Did you check the oil with the vehicle on the level? A slight incline on a drive can make a huge difference to the dipstick reading on these cars.

Graham

 

Again, Graham is right! x3

I've never had a drop of oil leak from my XKs but I imagine it could be possible that a pan leak or drips from a drippy oil filter seal COULD leak and be blown back onto exhaust or cat/downpipe bottoms. At the same time, if you have a dripping trans pan gasket, trans fluid (although it smells different thank engine oil) could be reaching the exhaust as well. Do you have drips under the car, ever?

 

Never seen anything under the car, only get the the smell just after start up and I’ve never seen any blue smoke out the back either.

 

Some say Graham is right. I do not
There is not PLENTY of room. Some of the bolts is hard to get at, and on the left side the oil dipstick tube is a PITA.
It is doable, I have done it, but it is not a quick fix in minutes, like some other cars / engines.
AND my 2000 XKR with 100K miles uses oil, but nothing that keeps me awake at night. Just checking the oil once a week and top up when needed.

The rubber mounting can be hold by a 20 mm (I think?) wrench while you loosen the nut.

 

ive got an ajv8 4.2. a smoke test actually exposed an oil leak from a snapped dipstick tube so might help.

 

You is soooo right about the dipstick tube...!
And it's a great point - should be explained...

To the OP... Pa-Lease don't make the mistake of completely pulling the dipstick tube (should you go ahead and remove the covers) OUT of it's mysterious hole on the driver's side... The handle/level checking stick (with the red handle) that goes down inside the tube MUST stay in the tube when you finally do wrestle the tube UP enough to clear the cam cover bolt.

ONLY pull the tube up enough to clear the bolt and MAKE SURE that the stick level checker with the red handle REMAINS in the hole. The stick has to remain in the hole so you are able to use it as a guide to push and reinstall the tube after the work. If there is no guide it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to guide the tube back into place. The process has made grown men weep and light fire to their cars, lol... It's no no no fun...

 

I was wondering about the dipstick, glad for that piece of advice. So far it looks like the side with the air intake looks like the gasket may have been changed, looks like new bolts and washers and not many studs, whereas the other side, doesn’t look like it’s been touched since new. At the back of the engine looks like some burnt oil on top of possibly a heat shield above the manifold. So it looks like I have to change the more difficult side.

 

There it is...!
Good sleuthing!