[stojan.jovic]

It's around 14 months since I bought my Jag, it was with all services done and after that I traveled around 7-8k kilometers (~5k miles). It's pretty low mileage, but I want to keep oil fresh, as mostly suggested here at forum (though I travelled only long distance, car was not used for city driving, I have another small car for that purpose).

Few questions:
1) Is oil spec suggested in owner's manual for this year/engine still proper, i.e. SAE 0W-30 spec. STJLR.03.5007.? Or maybe I can go with something even better?
2) Will 6 litres of oil be enough for 2.0 diesel, as stated in manual?
3) I'm planning to do a filter and oil change myself, or in one small local garage owned by one acquaintance - is it preferred to use "suction pump" (if that's how it's called) or it's better to do that in an old-fashioned way from bottom? If I decide to use "suction pump", is that pump something specific to Jaguars only, or I can use some model intended for other car makers? Somewhere on the forum I read that it's done through the dipstick hole, is that true?

 

[chrisjp]

Changing the engine oil and filter on the XE (either petrol or diesel) is very easy to do yourself.
Using a suction pump to remove the engine oil means it is unnecessary to get below the vehicle and remove the engine undertray - this is good because there are about 20 screws to remove to do so! Any suction pump will do and, yes, you push the tube down the dipstick hole until it bottoms in the sump. I use a PELA pump and I've found that these and other suction pumps are readily available from boat chandlers (I guess because that's the only way to get engine oil out of an engine located in boat bilges).
The filter is at the top of the engine and the housing top, which holds the clicked in filter, just unscrews - either by hand or with the use of some sort of wrench. Oil in the oil filter housing drains back into the sump when the oil filter top is removed so, apart from a few drips, this is a mess-free operation. Because of this draining, it's best to renew the filter before sucking out the engine oil, otherwise the old oil draining from the filter housing will contaminate the new oil.
My MY2020 manual still specifies SAE 0W-30 oil meeting STJLR.03.5007 for diesel engines. This won't be easy to find in the usual motor accessory shops, but an online search should find a supplier. Be prepared to pay quite a bit more, though, for oil meeting a specific manufacturer specification, as opposed to generic oil. I would have a little more than 6L of new oil available and, since it normally comes in 5L containers, getting 2 or these will mean you have enough for any topups needed between oil changes.
Hope that helps!

 

[stojan.jovic]

Yes, Chris, this helps a lot! Thank you very much!

Are there some oil alternatives if I could not find the one by manufacturer specification (specifically STJLR.03.5007)? Serbian market is pretty small, I'm worried that I will not easy find some oil by specification...

 

[chrisjp]

I'm afraid I'm not aware of alternatives to Jag spec engine oil. You could probably get it mail order from another European country and an internet search may provide some sources. It is possible that any high quality, fully synthetic 0W-30 oil, labelled for diesel engine use would be OK but, without knowing how (if anything) Jag spec oil differs from this, I'd be hesitant to use it or recommend it. Another possibility is to see if a local Jaguar/LandRover dealer can sell you the correct oil, though I guess this is likely to be expensive.

 

[stojan.jovic]

Thanks Chris!
Yeah, I thought exactly on some other high quality, fully synthetic oil with the same spec (0W-30), but wondering does anybody tried it in practice... Maybe someone with such experience will see this thread and share his/her impressions here!?
However, I will try to find Jag official spec in meantime! Official Jaguar/LandRover dealer (only one exists in Serbia) is so expensive that I stopped to contact them for anything (they are not only expensive, they are obscenely expensive for anything that I asked, type of 3-5 times more than normal, so no point to work with them).

 

[Fighterpilot]

Have a look for Shell Helix, Valvoline, Castrol (most expensive) Fuchs, Petronas. I would think Petronas should be available in Serbia as it's Italian and not too far from Serbia. I use Shell Helix Professional for the intermediate oil change with Pela pump suction.

 

[Wastegate84]

Last time I checked Petronas is Malaysian and owned by the Malaysian government

 

[Fighterpilot]

Oh well it is Ferraris choice oil so I assumed it was Italian blended and a regular seller in Italy. Just seeing Petronas at most European F1 races splatered everywhere gives that impression. Perhaps not available on general sale in Italy.

 

[stojan.jovic]

I tried to find Shell Helix, as @Fighterpilot suggested (and also because I have good experience with that oil in other car), but unfortunately didn't found anything with Jaguar spec.

Instead, I found few other oils that satisfies Jaguar spec (i.e. STJLR.03.5007): TOTAL QUARTZ INEO FIRST 0w-30, Mobil1 ESP LV 0w-30 and some CASTROL oil (could not remember exact model, but it has appropriate certificate). I decided for TOTAL INEO, as it had little better price than other two!

I bought 7 liters of oil, but only 5.75 liters needed to top up it to the max. We tried to suck out all we can, but obviously it's was not possible to drain entire 6 liters (old oil was at the max, too)! Btw, I borrowed suction pump from my friend and replaced oil very easy, for less than 20 minutes (with friend's help). Friend (which is btw auto mechanic) also suggested to check oil and optionally top-up once when I drive additional 200-300 kilometers.

Bonus question: Should I keep oil exactly at the max or maybe to top-up little more, because of known problem with dipstick length on older XE models (mine is MY16)?

 

[chrisjp]

The JLR spec for the diesel engine oil capacity is 6.5 liters, so getting out 5.75 liters via a suction pump was OK. I have found though that, when pushing the suction tube down the dipstick pipe, you get a resistance before the tube reaches the bottom of the sump, but if you keep pushing it goes in about 2 or 3 cm further. This has enabled me to get the full 7 liters out of my petrol engine - in fact I've found I needed a little more than 7 liters of new oil to get the level up to the max point on the dipstick once the engine has been run and the oil filter housing refilled with oil.

 

[stojan.jovic]

Thanks Chris as always, for useful advices!
And yeah, my friend also was moving tube in different direction to suck out as much oil as possible. We used some electric pump but tube was pretty flexible comparing to PELA one that you have (which has much stronger pipe, I would say, according to pictures at the internet, right?) - that could be a reason why we didn't being able to suck out everything (but still should be ok, like you said).

Btw, XE 2016 2.0 diesel should have 6 liters of engine oil according to official technical specification. On the other hand, 2020 2.0 diesel requires 6.5 liters. I always thought that Jaguar 2.0 diesel engines are unchanged from the very beginning of production, but obviously I was wrong!

 

[chrisjp]

Yes, the PELA unit has a plastic covered spring steel "probe" to put down the dipstick tube so it is quite stiff. It's like the curtain wire that used to be sold - in the UK at least - though I've not seen it for sale for a number of years. I've used plastic tube previously to poke down both engine and automatic transmission dipstick tubes (when the latter still had them) and the problem is if the engine is warm then the plastic quickly goes quite "floppy".

 

[stojan.jovic]

Yes, indeed, when engine is warm, tube becomes pretty "floppy" (at least on friend's suction pump). But it did the job, 5.75 l of 6 l sounds pretty good.

 

[Fighterpilot]

I concur with Chris. The Pela pump tube needs a bit of probing. I managed to get the full 6.0+ litres out. It literally filled the Pela container. I warmed the engine first and released the oil filter. Leave that off while draining and regularly revac the pump. This time it took about 20 mins or thereabouts. I have used one full 5 litre and around 1.5 litres from another 5 ltr bottle. I also managed to get another 5 litres for £37 delivered of Shell Helix Professional. It came in a brownish bottle this time and previously was in a silver grey one.

 

[stojan.jovic]

I found Shell Helix with 0W-30 spec, but it had no JLR specification, hence I decided for oil that is certified for use in Jaguar (i.e. Total INEO), just in case (though maybe Shell is better oil, but ok).

I warmed the engine first and released the oil filter. Leave that off while draining and regularly revac the pump.

Yeah, we did the same, however we were not be able to suck out all 6+ liters. Btw, are you topping up new oil above max, like some people suggesting for older XE models (because of too long dipstick, IIRC)?

 

[Fighterpilot]

I topped mine up to the marker high level plus just about 200 mls. It makes very little difference on the marker. It was the point where my last dealer service was from last year.

 

[stojan.jovic]

Got it. I have 250ml rest from 1l bottle, and my level is at max (i.e. exactly at higher marker), I assume that it's safe to top-up little more with these 250ml...

 

[chrisjp]

Earlier XEs had a dipstick with 2 holes in it, marking upper and lower allowable limits. This is the dipstick still shown in even the latest online and paper manuals.
However, my MY20 dipstick doesn't have any holes - instead it has a hatched area at about the point where the top hole was on the older dipstick. I have assumed that the idea is to keep the oil level within the hatched area, but this is a much smaller variation in level than was indicated by the holes.
Does anyone know for sure if I've got this right?

 

[stojan.jovic]

My understanding is that petrol engines has dipstick with "notches" and diesel engines with "holes", and min/max distance is much longer on diesel dipstick than petrol one. At least for MY2016 but not sure about different model years... But I may be wrong, hope that somebody else with much more practical knowledge will answer.

Regarding oil level on "notched"/"hatched" dipstick, I think that you are right - it needs to be somewhere in that area, even it's pretty small.

 

[Dragos]

Myself, by extraction, I manage to take out about 5.3L always, tried everything, inclusive lifting car from one corner or other, never come out more than 5.3L - 5.4L aprox. Anyway, because I change oil and filter every 5000mls, I think it is ok if some old oil remain there. Last time, about 3000 mls ago, I done a double change, and I think this will be my strategy for future, every 15000 mls will do a double change.