Over the years, I've posted the result of oil analysis on my S type with
the 4.2 V-8 normally aspirated engine. For those forum readers contemplating keeping their cars longer or purchasing a S type (although
my results would probably be relevant to the XK and XJ with the same
engine) I thought this might be of interest to you.

I purchased the car new in June of 2006 and have been the only driver.
The car has spent the majority of its time in Nevada, California, Oregon
and Washington. Probably the coldest engine start was 20 degrees F, and
these starts were few and far between. Perhaps the hottest driving temp
was 102 degrees in Nevada; again, not too common. I would estimate
the 90% of the total miles were highway; I tend to drive at the speed limit
plus five mph. The oil is changed, on the average, about every 5,500 miles.
The cooling system has been flushed every 70,000 miles, plugs changed
at 100,000, and the air filter changed about every 15,000. Although there
have been a few common problems with the car..DCCV, transmission cooler line replacement, idler pulley on the serpentine belt, etc., the
ONLY engine part ever replaced was a leaking VVT gasket and it was
a small leak. One cat converter was replaced about 71 thousand, fortunately under the 80K emission warranty.

In essence, the car has been driven normally, with one 'Italian Tune up'
per month, or, if and when I can find an appropriate stretch of road free
of lurking Washington State Patrol vehicles. Finally, I add one bottle of
Chevron Techron to the tank every three months. Does this stuff work?
I have no idea, except to say that I haven't had any fuel system problems.
The fuel filter has been changed every 50 thousand.

I'm going to try to add a copy of the oil analysis to this thread. I've been
using Blackstone Laboratories in Fort Wayne, IN. I'm sure there are other labs out there, but I've been satisfied with their services. They measure 20 elements in parts per million, and, then measure viscosity, flashpoint,
fuel, antifreeze, water, and insoluble. For an extra cost, they measure TBN, or total base number telling you what percentage of additives are
remaining in the oil.

Just in case I can't append the report to this thread, the report comments
were as follows: "It's another perfect report for your Jaguar. You ran a
little longer on the oil this time (6,418 miles) making this a longer-than-average oil run, but you're still getting below-average wear. All this means that your engine is wearing better than most others of its kind that we've seen. In fact, on a per-mile basis, this may be one of the best reports we've ever seen for a Jaguar 4.2 V-8. No harmful contaminants or
other physical issues were found, and low silicon and insoluble show good air and oil filtration, respectively. Nice report at 146,631."

Cliff

 

Interesting stuff!

Do you think the Molybdenum and Boron test results at 5/15/12 were correct, or do they reflect the fact that you did 24000 miles since the last oil change?

 

Interesting stuff!

Do you think the Molybdenum and Boron test results at 5/15/12 were correct, or do they reflect the fact that you did 24000 miles since the last oil change?

 

Although the oil changes average about every 5,500 miles, there were times
when I had the oil changed, but didn't do an oil analysis. As you can see,
an analysis was done on 07/26/11, and then on 05/15/12; however, when
I look back at my service records, the oil was changed at 106,427, 112,378,
and 121,912. The change done at 121,912 was done at Sacramento Jaguar:
I forgot to ask them what brand of oil they used. The changes before and
after were performed at Tacoma Jaguar; Tacoma tells me they use Chevron
5W/30.

Blackstone labs indicate that Boron and molybdenum are anti-wear additives
added by the oil producer: I can only assume that whatever brand Sacramento Jaguar uses (I think I'll call them and find out) has considerably
less of these elements then the Chevron used by Tacoma Jaguar.

Cliff

 

Hi Cliff, just wanted to say a personal thank you for posting your results and experience, as I have a 4.2 S-type at 143,000mls so the relevance was just right.

I think I'll just go and give mine an oil-change right now

 

I have an S TYPE R with 165k

 

Cliff,
Perhaps a loaded question but I need to ask: What grade fuel did you use, regular or premium?

 

...and not everyone agrees on the need fo these additives (I do). Would be interesting to compare levels of Moly and Boron in the new oil with your results after 5500 miles.

 

And perhaps a loaded comment, but I hope people are not reading too much into the analysis results.

 

Tonyx,

To answer your question, I've never used regular, but have used a
mid-grade fuel in addition to premium over the years. A site that
contains a lot of info re: oil is www.bobistheoilguy.com.

Cliff

 

Cliff,
Thanks for sharing the long term oil analysis and straight forward response regarding fuel grade question.