Is the V6 diesel a mistake? Reliable?

Some say one should avoid this engine (and it’s 2.7 liter predecessor), but I’m hoping what I’ve seen so far is not representative. However, having looked at lots of XF reliability threads, I’ve seen little mention of the diesel one way or another.

P.S. I've posted a similar thread in the X250 forum. Apologies for any redundancy, but as it's not the same engine, and as I fear there may not be many V6 diesel owners in either forum if most members are indeed in the U.S. ... .

Anyway, any insight into how reliable the V6 diesel is and/or how it compares in reliability would be hugely appreciated!

 

You may want to post your enquiry in the UK/Eire forum as most of the members on the X250/260 forums are from North America where JLR never offered a diesel variant for sale.

 

Which is a shame (if it's reliable). I've just driven an X260 with one, and while I've only owned petrol (gasoline) engines so far, several of them more powerful, the 3.0 diesel made a great impression! Instant, smooth thrust from any rpm. In terms of what happens when you touch the throttle, you wouldn't want anything much different in a family car. You might however want more sound, or maybe a different sound - hard to say since it's so quiet.

Anyway, I'll try posting in that forum as well.

Thanks!

 

On the other hand, there are a combined 393 people viewing the two XF forums now, versus 6 on the UK/Eire forum ... . I suppose UK/Eire and European members with an XF will visit the XF forums more often than the regional forums, just as I have done. I guess the takeaway is that anyone reading this who has a view on this engine should not hesitate to post here.

 

The engine was a joint development between Ford/JLR and Peugot. Unlike the other JLR engines, it has a timing belt, and also a belt at the rear to drive the HP fuel pump. The heads are aluminium and the block is cast iron.

Experience of the engines has been mixed. There have been quite a few reports of crankshaft failure do to the lack of beef in the crankwebs, but this fault is usually confined to Land Rover vehicles where the engines can be put under rather too much stress when towing or going into the rough. The real problem as I see it is the duplication of the turbochargers and the exhaust gas recirculation valves. When on of them fails the other is not far away from failing so the replacement cost is double-up. I suppose it's a toss-up between fuel economy and the extra costs of parts peculiar to diesel engines.

 

It appears this item was duplicated so I've copied it across. As other posters have said the USA experience with diesels is very limited as the diesel versions weren't available AFAIK but I thought other forum members might be interested in my 14-years of owning an XF diesel from new:


Hi there ZIMT,

As a relatively new member of these fourms, and not being in anyway technically/mechanically minded as many of our forum are, the only advice I can give you is from an owner/drivers perspective. I brought my 2.7L diesel XF new in August 2008. It was the moxt expensive car I have ever purchased, so it was a big deal for me on a couple of fronts and so I did at the time as much research as I could on the car and the various engine types etc. Noting that as well there was not much known about them (certainly in Australia). In fact I brought the car sight unseen as there were only a couple of cars allocated to the entire country and these were subsequently shipped from state to state for display purposes even though I had already ordered mine.

I think the there were three really big decisions for me in buying the XF. Whilst I was always in love with Jaguars their reputation around reliability (rightly or wrongly) was a concern. Secondly Australia is vast but Jaguar dealerships are few even in the largest of cities so technical support was an issue. Thirdly our summer climate is hot and out on the road, temperatures can be up to 50 degrees celsius so I needed to be assured that I would not have overheating problems.

The one thing I knew I didn't need (and couldn't afford at the time), was a big super powerful V8. As I enjoy long distance touring all I needed was a power train with sufficent power reserve for overtaking so that immediately brought the engine choice down to the 2.7l diesel (the only version available in 2008) or the 3L petrol. The literature at the time as well as the reviews gave me confidence in that under Ford's ownership prior to it being sold to TATA, Ford had focussed on significantly improving production, overall build quality and reliability. Secondly the 2.7Litre diesel had been developed by Ford/Pergeout and it was already being used in models before the XF, so I felt there was sufficient operating experience and real world operating knowledge about the engine and of course the ZF transmission had a superb reputation.
Between ordering my car and its arrival, there were lots of reviews appearing and many referenced the diesel as being extremely capable and foreshadowed that it would be a popular choice with the British market in particular. I was fortunate as well to speak to someone who was associated with Jaguar about the capacity and performance of the cooling system and was assured that it would be highly capable manging our hot climate.

So what has been my 14 years experience with my 2.7L diesel. Totally brilliant is all I can say. It has just ticked over 90,000 km of absolute fault free running. For it's 14 year anniversary we took it for a short 920km day drive on a combination of both highway as well as very twisty tight roads in the Southern Alps which included a lot of running in Sports mode with the paddle gear change holding the engine at times in the 4,000RPM range and no issues with overtaking.

The really big drives for my XF are out into the outback quite often 3,500km to 4,000km over three or 4 days ending up at location 1,500km from a dealer. The car travels effortlessley and several years ago I took it from Melbourne to Alice Springs in Central Australia and took advantage of a section of 500 plus kilometres of highway that has no speed limit and the car ran superbly in the 180km/hr to 220km/he range. The fuel range with the diesel is around 1100km on a tank and the fuel economy running as low as 6.1L/100km but usually 6.6/100 on country cruising versus about 7/100 around town. And that's what my diesel XF is all about long distance country cruising but when needed like overtaking a 4 trailer road trains on a 2-lane road you squeeze the accelerator and the car gets up and goes. It may not emit the stirring noise of a super V8 which is sensational, but there is still quite a nice rise in engine note. The other great thing with the diesel is the torque the engine delivers that means the car maintains speed with no difficulty on long highway inclines.

The only issue for me in relation to my XF is Jaguar itself and the honesty and integrity of those dealerships. I have moved to a private specialist Jaguar maintainer with an outstanding 40-year reputation. They maintain my XF as if it were their own. Knowing I undertake ultra long drives they inspect the car thoroughly and as the car has aged they focus on condition based maintenance and through their long experience they know the problem/critical areas to look for well ahead. The only big maintenance item was the timing belt replacement which was replaced and again they took the opportunity to thoroughly check everything whilst that part of the engine was accessible. The feedback from my maintainer is that it is without doubt the ultra long drives with lots of continuous running is a significant factor in the reliability of the car. The battery for example lasted 13 years before replacement and that is an area that is referred to in many forums that Jaguars do have electrical issues if the battery is not delivery its full output.

So if you are not looking for that bristling performance that a big V8 brings then all I can say is based on my experience is the diesel has performed supebly and exceeded my expectations. Next big drive Melbourne to Queensland in October - 8,000km.

 

Thanks for sharing your long term experience! Sounds like Australia is a great place for long distance driving.

 

Thank you Lordchompybits. Yes Australia is great for long distance driving and being so vast there is also lots of variety in terms of driving terrain so if you have a big V8 you can test out that sparkling performance on hilly, windy, twisty roads as well as the interstate highways etc. Road condition can be a bit variable and I never push the car when the road surface is poor and I avoid unsealed roads as much as I can in order to avoid damage. Our big issue is not hitting kangaroos!!!

 

Thanks, that's good to know! And maybe I should also extend my question a bit - when looking at used cars with the V6 (in my case, the 3 liter), is there anything I (or a mechanic who is not a Jaguar specialist) should look at to determine whether the engine has issues and/or hasn't been treated well?

Thanks!

 

I asked two service guys at a local dealership which XF engines are most/least reliable. (I didn't specify whether X250 or X260.) One told me to avoid 4 cylinder diesels, and that I should aim for under 100k km with the 6 cylinder, and that it's very important the oil is changed when it should be. The other repeated the oil change advice for diesels, and told me diesels are best for long trips, but shouldn't be used in cities, where petrol/gasoline is the best choice. The reason is the regeneration issue mentioned above.

I should ask if extra frequent oil changes make the 6 cylinder diesel OK for city use - and if so, how frequent.

Does anyone here has any views about that?

(P.S. I've posted a similar note in the X250 forum, figuring different people read both forums. I haven't yet made up my mind whether to look just for an X250 or an X260.)