I've seen a few things about oil leaks with X types on this site but most were referring to the 3.0. I recently bought a 2.5 with a 5 speed manual and am loving every minute of it but have noticed a small oil leak, about 2 drops overnight. The oil level and quality are fine, I just wanted to know what some possible issues are, if anything is related to the 2.5 particularly or something like that. Is this an issue that warrants immediate repair or can I drive on it normally and just check the oil often? What would various repairs cost? I've had it about a month and the level has not changed since noticing the leak so I think it's pretty insignificant.
Anyway, thanks for any wisdom you can impart, happy to be a new Jag owner!

Thanks

 

Oil leaks can look worse than they actually are, so can you put off repair till later? Depends. What you read about the 3.0 applies to the 2.5 and vice versa. Its common for the oil pan gasket to leak on our cars, part is cheap, labor is not. Transfer case has to come out to remove the oil pan. Another common area is the valve cover gaskets. That you usually end up smelling instead of seeing. Oil will burn off on the exhaust manifolds. Other possible area is the transfer case. If that's leaking you do not want to wait for repair. Very little oil starts in there to begin with and if you run out... bad things happen.


Doing these repairs yourself can be cheap, having a shop do them will be harder on your pocket book simply because of the labor involved.


I would pinpoint exactly where the leak is coming from and go from there.

 

You could try an additive that rejuvenates the seals in the engine.

May resolve your problem for little outlay.

 

Luke, first off, welcome to the Forums. Lots of good information here and we try to call things as we see them. Sometimes we have even been accused of saying things that are not in the best interest of the car. But, it is what it is. But, we do ask a small thing from you. Please stop by the New Member Section and tell us a little bit about yourself. We pride ourselves in being a better car group than others out there and as part of this, we like to get to know one another. This will also give you a chance to get to meet those that make this place what it is.

As for your oil leak question. The cost of the repair is going to make parts of you pucker. If you do the repair as is stated in the Jaguar repair manual (new oil pan gasket), you are looking at a out the door cost of about $1600. Yes, that number is correct. There is a lot of interference that needs to be removed in order to get to the oil pan. Now, you can get off cheaper, but that would involve having to drill a hole in a support for the transfer case (supposedly doesn't affect the overall integrity of the transfer case, but I question that). But, even that is going to set you back out $800.

Most of us just keep a slightly closer look at the oil level and go from there. From what you are describing, it is not worth the cost to fix the issue.