My buddy has a 2013 XJ with the six cylinder supercharged engine and has has asked if there is a maintenance interval for a timing chain tensioner. Nothing is in his maintenance book. Is this a keep your fingers crossed part? He has about 80,000 miles on the car and no chain noise at startup but originally asked if had a timing belt..
He thinks I am the person to ask because I have an XKR, and had an XK, two XKS's and three E-Types in the old days. I hate to lose my reputation😊. Can someone help me with a response?.
Thanks
Neil

 

I found nothing official but here's a cautionary tale at 192k miles on the older guides..
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...2/#post1076232

With the newer AJ126, I'm going to follow the supercharger drive belt interval of 10yr/144k miles..

 

Thanks F1 Virginia.
That will surely make my buddy feel better. He was concerned it was overdue.
Best
Neil

 

There is no real official service interval, but do frequent oil changes from the birth of the engine will ensure you never have to do a timing job. Once a year or ever 26,000km is NOT ENOUGH. Seen the results of "recommended" service interval from Jag too many times.

 

Thanks ChaosphereIX, I will make sure to tell him to be fastidious about oil changes..

 

Yes good advice above.
There is no interval and the cars that have needed timing tension/chain replacement have had vastly different miles on them. I do know one ex member Bigg Will had a early 2010 XFR that he modded and drove hard that had no problems of any kind when he sold it with well over 100K miles on it. He method was 2K oil change intervals using Walmart full synthetic oil!

So I have adopted a 6K-8K interval and use any brand name 5w-30 Synthetic oil in my 2014 XJR as the Jaguar spec oil is somewhat difficult to find. Also as the years went on Jaguar did make improvements so your friends 2013 is at least not one of the early more failure prone models. We also see far less 6 cylinder issues but that maybe for other reasons as well.

Tell him to start the car with the radio off so he knows what it's suppose to sound like. If problems start to happen you will hear them IF you listen for them. To me ALL these DI engines make way to much noise and clatter almost like Diesels! But with the extreme fuel pressure the pumps have to work very hard.
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The x152 forum here includes a good thread on oil requirements of both AJ engines.

The JLR 51.5122 oil spec (eg. (Castrol Edge
Professional E, et. al.) must contain some amazing properties if 16k miles/12 months intervals are included in EliteCare and doesn't result in journal/bearing failures.

I'm exactly 8k and 6 months from my next included oil change and will run and post here my Blackstone results.

As the timing chain guides' longevity rely on this spec & change interval, I'll switch to 8k/6month intervals @60k miles.

Great thread topic!
p.s. attached below is the first/oldest exhibit from Topix I could find regarding 5122; included for background.

 

I personally do 0w20 yearly, synthetic Walmart brand oil. I drive my XJ about 1500-2000mi a year, so doing it every 6 months feels like overkill. The thin 0w oil helps lubricate faster on startup and I believe become quietly recommended by Jaguar

 

discussing oil in car forums is like discussing which colour is the best, but IMO 20k miles between oil changes, no matter the spec, seems like a long long time between fresh oil. It is that kind of interval that leads to timing chains being needed, according to my technicians.

My suggestion, seeing from what comes in and out of the shop, is to do the oil every 10k KILOMETRES at the very least, and more than once a year.

It is your engine, but do not be surprised if the chains need doing eventually with service intervals like that.

 

2,000 miles a year, not 20,000! That would be crazy.

I could change every 6 months instead of 12. I use an extractor so it's super simple with this car. I do all of my cars at 1 year intervals, all driven around 1500 miles, and the stuff that comes out isn't that much different looking than the stuff that goes in.Not really a professional analysis though.

 

Oh sorry, I misread. Yeah you are doing more than enough for the car then!

 

I forgot but Silvertonesx24 brings up a good point and another bit of confusion from Jaguar. At first they specified 5w-20 then for the exact same engines they changed it to 0w-20 after several years. You can see this on your oil fill cap as it's labeled with either of these numbers. Some said it was for slightly better gas mileage others said because of timing tensioner problems they went to a thinner oil? But we never got any official answer from Jaguar.

It's so confusing that even Jaguars own dealers can't get it right! When my 2014 XJR was still under warranty I used Jaguar to get my oil changed and normally I always do my own changes. Instead of the proper Castrol oil I got a Pennzoil product which I am sure was adequate but it DOES NOT meet Jaguars own oil specs. I argued all the way to the UK Engineering department before they finally admitted that it did not meet the factory recommended spec. Jaguar then swapped the oil for the magic Castrol oil at that same dealer on their own dime. Very confusing to say the least! To top it all off I had the Jaguar service manager tell me that in the US Jaguar has an agreement with Shell to use their products.
Wrong Oil Put in Car

Also the special Jaguar oil rating might be met by many other oils but again as people have pointed out it takes time and money to run the tests and get the oil certified. There are so many different oil spec's that its almost impossible for an oil company to do them all especially with Jaguar being one of the smaller car companies. So all that work would generate far less sales than say meeting a more common specification for Ford/GM/Toyota/Fiat.

Finally we need to remember that Jaguar and BP signed a world wide agreement that Jaguar would only specify BP products and of course Castrol is a BP engine oil. So we will never get anything out of Jaguar except a recommendation to us a BP lubricating product.
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When I had to take my XJ to a shop last year, one of the first things the owner asked was how often I do oil changes. He was well aware that prolonged change intervals results in timing chain problems with these engines.

 

My dealership (I am a JLR service advisor) only uses OEM Castrol 0w20 for both specs. Drums of it in our shop, glad I can get it cheap. I was told by a Jag engineer that the 0w spec change was indeed for cold starts to preserve the timing system. Grain of salt, and all that.

In the end, frequent changes of the proper grade oil and occasional Blackstone reports and you are doing the best for your engine that you can.

 

I found several Castrol Edge oils and its very confusing?
Castrol Edge Supercar - This was a new one on me??
Castrol Edge Extended Performance
Castrol Edge
Castrol Edge Professional OE. This is very hard to find at least in the US and is the one Jaguar wants us to use.
Castrol Edge High Mileage
Castrol Edge Professional. Which also states is co-developed with Jaguar.
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our drums say Castrol Edge Professional E 0w20. That is what I use, that is what my shop uses exclusively.

Over the counter? Get whatever you can and are happy with.

 

I use Motul Specfic JLR 5122. 0w20

It is readily available on Amazon, eBay and through various other vendors. It meets, and is designed for, all the criteria required for our engines. Two day delivery, and costs @$53 for 5qts.

Another forum member, too my sorrow I forget who, noted that there is a specific ingredient in the JLR required spec, that protects parts of the valve train that others do not.

Use what you feel comfortable with, it's your engine, and wallet if something goes wrong.

wombat

 

I guess I'll finally log into this conversation. I ordered my 2013 XJ SuperSport in early 2012 as a 2012 and was able to convert to a 2013 due to manufacturing dates slipping as I had ordered the Speed option. So I took delivery of my 2013 on October 26, 2012. I have in excess of 118k miles now and have had all work done by my delivering dealer, including oil service at 6 month/or 7500 mile intervals. Obviously the first years the dealer used the 5w-20 Castrol. Even with meticulous care I had to have the guides and tensioners replaced. Sometime in 2013 after my XJ was built the factory changed the guide design and all is well since. I point this out as just being conscientious the old style guides and tensioners will wear..



The old guides from my XJ were worn and I had a lot of chain slap.

The revised guides have a hardened tensioner guide interface. My chains are now quiet and there is less hesitation from start/stop re ignition

 

You are exactly right, those early timing parts were bound to fail. With revised parts, as you have now, and continuing with your very proper OCI, you should be good for a long, long time now.

 

Why you should only use Castrol Edge WSS-m2c925A (5w-20) or STJLR51.5122 ((0w-20) new spec)

Posted by Member “Queen and Country” from the UK on the F-Type Forum 02-22-2019



“Jaguar has a Patent on the cam mechanism that not a lot of folks know about. It even licenses this technology to Ford.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US7841310B2/en
Basically if you open an engine from a regular car or even previous Jaguar's, you will find that oil naturally cooks on to many surfaces.
But it does not matter. These engines are fairly low tech when it comes to oil.

Your Jaguar engine get amazing performance (low end torque) by doing things with oil that no other manufacturer does.
It’s like a Swiss watch of delicate parts. The patent above is for a small pin that slides in and out. Oil moves this pin. No other engine in the world other than JLR and Ford have it.
What do you think will happen if you use oil that cooks quickly (becomes coke). Where after you turn the engine off you have heat soak.

Your engine is not built the same as other engines.
It needs just 3 things from the oil.
1. Good cleaning abilities
2. Ability to clean after long term use.
3. Not leave too much deposit.
Now you can become an engineer and figure out the perfect oil, or just use the one their engineers already blended. (WSS-m2c925A)”



Also posted by Q and C



“I can explain it in a simple way.


In other cars oil is used for lubrication, cleaning and cooling only.
In our cars it’s also used for controlling the timing of the engine.”



Lastly, in the owner’s manual it reads “Castrol is "recommended" oil. WSS-m2c925A or STJLR51.5122 is the REQUIRED spec oil.