I like to top off my oil before a trip. The digital reading says it is "OK" but it does show 4 notches below full. If add a little oil to the engine can I recheck it right after that or do I need to shut off the digital read out and recheck a few hours later? I am the type that likes to put my fingers on the dips tip to feel for grit in the oil... I hate this new system.

Maybe I am missing something ???

Any ideas you can give me to make the top off easier? Or should I stop being so **** and forget it??

 

I wondered this myself, but eventually convinced myself to stop being so **** as long as it says OK. I dont really like it, and hopefully another member can chime in with some info on just how to know. I am not thrilled with this stupid digital gauge **** either. At least have a redundant dipstick for those of us who are capable of checking our own oil.

 

Jozjag, there is a way to put the oil level into "live mode" to allow you to check the level instantaneously. I don't recall the exact process but it was something to the effect of pressing and holding the CANCEL putton (right side of the steering wheel at the 3 o'clock positon) and then leaving your foot off of the brake, depress the START/STOP button. this will bring the car to life, but not start the engine and it will allow you to view the oil level in real time. That way you can add oil and see the level change. If you do a search here or on the internet, look up "live oil check" and you should find the details.

 

Chris. I will do the search and give it a go.. I can not thank you enough for that tip...

 

I did the search on Google and this this forum. This is how the oil is checked in "Live Mode."

This works like a charm. Thank to you all for helping.

1. Open the Hood

2. Get in the car with the key-fob and close the doors

3. Push start button without touching the brake

4. Let all the electronics settle down and then use the Menu/OK button on the left side of the steering wheel...navigate around until you get the "Vehicle Information" screen..

5. Select "Oil Level"..If it says "information not available"...Press the cruise control "CANcel" button twice..the Oil Level will then be displayed.

 

This is a follow up on my previous post about how to check the oil level in live mode. I was curious if the Jaguar dealer would be kind enough to give out this information. So, I called them and spoke to someone in their service department. This is a quote to their response.

" No sir, you have to bring the car in for us to check your oil level if it says " Information not available". We have special equipment to read the level when the comport will not,"


I did not argue... I thanked them for their input. One never knows when you might need them in a pinch.

No surprises here....

 

JozJag, there are a lot of hidden things inside your car. There is a sticky here for the newer XJ's that I started about little tricks and whatnots about the car. You want to play, start up your car and on the main screen of your radio, put your finger on the "VALET" button for about 15 seconds. You will see the screen change. This is putting the radio into its diagnostic mode and you have access to a lot of interesting functions. Just a warning though, one of the buttons is for updating software, you want to stay away from that one. It takes two button presses to do anything bad (ie, wipe the memory from the radio for all functions, turns the radio into a big block of plastic), but best to keep those two layers of protection. But, this also gives you access to bass and treble adjustments and being able to adjust the left/right/front/rear balance of the stereo system.

Another trick is to get into the car and close the door. Press and hold the "TRIP" button for 3 seconds. While still holding the TRIP button, put your foot on the brake for 3 seconds. With both things depressed, start the car. once the car is started, you can release both. This will put the instrument cluster into diagnostic mode. From there, you can look at a lot of parameters that probably won't mean much to you. But, if you have the decipher list (still looking for this), it can tell you a lot about the car like exactly what assembly line it was built on, when, the firmware versions of all the computers, etc. This was especially useful on the older cars as you could get the reading of the various sensors as the computer saw them. So, lets say your gas gauge was reading erroneously. You could go into this mode and push the trip button a bunch of times to get to the fuel level indication. This would give you a number (normally between 0 and 255, with 0 being empty and 255 being full) which you could then convert to the level the sensor is seeing. If you had just filled up your tank, you should see it up around say 250. if it was only reading say 128, then you knew your sensor was bad. But, if it was saying 250, but the gauge on the dash was saying 1/2, then you knew the instrument cluster had a problem. It would appear that you can do the same thing with our cars, but I haven't been able to figure out how to convert the information it gives you to something that we can understand. If you want to get out of this mode, you simply either turn the car off or you can press the TRIP button for 3 seconds and it will exit that way.

 

JozJag, the Tech Tricks posting can be found here: https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...tricks-195778/. Some things there you might find of interest.

 

 

 

It appears that this changed beginning with the 2013 models and the introduction of the Meridian Surround Sound System, as all of those adjustments and more are available on the touchscreen. There's no need to go into the diagnostics menu.

 

JozJag, reading the owners manual, it doesn't say how much each hash mark is good for. I would say to simply try adding say a 1/2 quart to the car and see how far the level changes. I seem to recall that someone else did this and the scale was right around a quart to go from the low mark to the high mark.

 

Stuart, it may still be interesting to go into the menu. There may be some adjustments that you can't access elsewhere. Not having a 2013 or newer to play with, I can't speak to what is in there for you to find.

 

Thermo, What you say makes sense. I will post what I find.
Thank you for all the time and knowledge you put out here for us.

 

 

 

Thank you for this! Finally a quicker way to check BEFORE I take off somewhere.

 

Let me add. What prompted me to do the research was I had a low oil reading on the readout. I was thinking it look about a quart low But to be safe I added a very little bit of oil at a time and rechecked the reading. It did not take much oil at all to get a full reading. Maybe about a 1/4 of a qt from about half way down the meter. Be carful and not over fill the system. The readout makes it look like it is lower than it is. If you do addd, do so in tiny increments. The recheck.

 

Thanks, I will. This was my reading 2 days ago. I didn't take a picture this morning after doing a live reading but it's one more notch above this. This seems rather low to me since my Jag is only 22 days old. Been keeping within the recommended guidelines for break in...was 8 miles on the odometer when I took delivery. Now approaching 600 miles. This is cold reading tho....aren't you really supposed to check after it's been driven?

Sorry the attachment is so large. iPhone takes huge files. I will edit down next time.

Jax

 

My XJ hasn't been driven in 5 days, so I decided to check the oil level. With my foot off the brake pedal, I pressed the START button and woke up the speedo display. I then pressed the OK button on the right side of the steering wheel, which brought up the menu. I scrolled down to Service and selected Oil Level and the readout showed about 3/4 full. So I started the engine and went on my way.

My XJ was parked for around 2 hours and when I returned I decided to check the oil again. Repeating the above steps, I was surprised to see that the readout showed the oil level as completely full!

My point in posting this is to warn you to not be fooled into adding oil and inadvertently overfilling the crankcase.

Drive the car long enough for the engine to reach normal operating temperature, then stop in a level parking spot and shut the engine off. Wait for 10 minutes to allow the oil to drain back into the crankcase and then check the oil level for the most accurate reading.