Still trying to figure out why car is using oil so badly. Ran compression check and all cylinders 140-160. Only other thing is filters in valve covers were real bad but cleaned up good. Also, part load breather is broken and had hose with about 1/4" hole. Working on getting it down to 3/32" as required. Any other ideas on what to look for? Can find no leaks. Also had oil inside throttle body.

 

Hi,
Not that I wish this job on anyone... but could it be the valve guide seals? How blue is the exhaust on gear changes? I also had lots of oil in the inlet manifold. At least an egg-cup full.

As a result of secondary tensioner and head-gasket issues, I have recently had the 'opportunity' to also change the valve guide seals on my 54k mile, 1999 4.0 N/A XK8. I was quite surprised how they had deteriorated. Most valve stem seals had gone hard and were brittle. Two inlet valves had some unexplainable pitting on them at the seal area. I have yet to get it MOT tested and to try it on the road, but I'm now confident that at least one area of oil consumption should be under control. I hope the rest are too, as I also had leaks from the front crank oil seal, VVT solenoid seals and the cam covers! To be fair, when I got the car, there was a clue in the two 1litre cans of oil in the boot.

Good luck.

 

Probably a process of elimination. Either the oil is burnt through the engine, or it leaks out. If it is burnt, the spark plugs might show some signs of it. We have all seen these charts showing various shades of black for spark plugs, and the associated root cause. If it leaks out instead, putting the car on ramps and checking around should give you some clues. You could start with the oil pan (the low point), and if it is wet, work your way up to the leak. Also, check the oil cooler if you have one, and all 4 oil lines. For a rear main seal leak, there is an inspection hole in the bell housing, covered by a plug. Everyone here wishes for you there is no oil coming out of there.

If it was me, I would check for leaks first. If there are none, I would check the "spec" for how much oil consumption is still considered normal. I have seen 1 L / 1000 Miles listed as the limit for some manufacturers (not Jaguar). How much is your car using? Just a few thoughts.

Best of luck, keep us posted.

 

I have the same problem, and have posted a few different times trying to figure out what's causing it. My car has about 65,000 miles on it, and I've just about settled on the valve seals as the culprit (no leaks of any kind, puff of blue smoke on startup, no smoke once it's running). At this point, the cost of changing the valve seals has been put at $ 2,500-$ 3,000. Since the car goes through emission testing (in Pennsylvania they go by the OBD codes), I've decided for the time being, that adding oil is a relatively cheap stop-gap solution. Kind of embarrassed to start it up with people around though.........