I changed the oil in the wife's car (2001 XK8) 4,300 miles ago. Full synthetic, 5w30 I think.
Yesterday I checked her oil, and it was so low that it didn't even show up on the dipstick!
I added 2 quarts, and got it to show up about 1/2" up the stick from the bottom.
The car isn't leaking any oil that I can see (no stains on stone driveway).

The engine does have a bit of hot oil smell when I pop the hood.

The car does smoke a little out the pipes when I start it, but it goes away after a short drive.

I also loose about 1/2 a gallon of coolant per year.

So my question is, how much oil burning is too much?

I will now have to make checking her oil a priority every month. How low must it go before the warning light comes on?

Should a ring job be performed before it gets any worse? Or should I wait until it smokes all the time?

Until then, should I move up to a heavier oil?

Thanks for any input.

I need to get this addressed because when I told my wife I thought her car might need some big time work, she showed me a Porsche Boxster she could lease for $5K down, and $560/month payment! NO THANKS!!!!! That's $17,000 to "rent" a car for 2 years.

 

Try 10-40.
The light is oil pressure not level.
If it comes on you've run dry and the engine will seize.
There are lots of threads on oil consumption in this section - have a good browse through them.

 

First know the number of quarts that is required to fill the oil properly this link should help

Link http://www.jagrepair.com/images/Auto...sb_09_2003.pdf Page 32

If you are seeing oil smoke on startup that is a symptom of oil bypassing the valves and seeping into the cylinder resulting in the burn off when starting. Increasing the oil viscosity in many cases eliminates this problem; I like Steve recommend you move up to 10w-30w or 10w-40w. Most people are confused thinking that the oil light means low oil level this is so wrong with the exception of a few newer models that have that feature but the XK8 & XKR are not equipped with it.

 

The old standard was to check oil level on every fuel stop.

 

It holds 6.9 quarts.

 

Are you sure?

Some interesting reading here https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...verfill-57708/

 

+1

probably the canonical reference on the subject

 

When in doubt use the dip stick!

 

Was that the correct level at high tide???