Xj8 petrol additive yes/no?

[Euro5stars]

Evening All

Got my first Big Cat end of July (3.2 Auto 98 R reg and 98k on the clock), at the age of 55 and haven't stopped loving the beast or smiling. Even it falls down, I've probably had the best experience in a motor (other than that night in June 95). Will be getting it in to Swallows in Rooksbridge for some work, soon. In the meantime........Did I read or hear somewhere that filling up every 3rd or 4th go with Premium Unleaded will help? What with?????? Does it clean/ improve performance?? Is it worth putting in additives, regularly at each fill-up/ occasionally? If so, any recommendations?

[NormanD]

Modern standard petrol is fine for it

Infact modern petrol is better than was available when the engine was designed

[Rob34]

Greetings fellow XJ8 3.2 owner! Bought my first one at the end of August so we're probably wondering the same sort of things. Normal petrol should be fine, but I'd use a big brand like Shell rather than using supermarket rubbish. I understand with the whole Nikasil thing that XJ8 owners who filled up at reputable petrol stations in the late 90s weren't affected by bore wear in the same way that owners who filled up at the supermarket were. I know that sulpher issue doesn't apply anymore, but the principle is the same - supermarkets will sell any old cheap rubbish they can get away with but big brands have a reputation to consider. I think there was an issue with Tesco diesel about five years ago, which was destroying sophisticated diesel engines. Hope that is some help...

By the way I might try Swallows in the future, so let me know how you get on with them. What things are you going to have them do?

[NormanD]

Rob34 said:

I know that sulpher issue doesn't apply anymore, but the principle is the same - supermarkets will sell any old cheap rubbish they can get away with but big brands have a reputation to consider.

I use the local Sainsburys, handy and the cheapest in the area

I've not had any problems in any of the cars


Forgot to mention, my engine isn't standard so if there was any problems that would show up quite quickly

Edited by NormanD on Tuesday 18th September 23:33

[Jaguar steve]

I tried premium 99 octane fuel for around 1000 miles in my previous XJ8 and found no difference in fuel consumption or performance.

You're better off spending a little more money on fully synthetic engine oil if you want to keep your engine clean and running as efficently as possible and using hypermiling techniques to keep fuel consumption down IMO.

[NormanD]

Jaguar steve said:

You're better off spending a little more money on fully synthetic engine oil if you want to keep your engine clean and running as efficently as possible and using hypermiling techniques to keep fuel consumption down IMO.

Jaguar say you should use fully synthetic and changing it every 10,000 miles

I like to change mine every 5,000 miles

I sometimes send a sample off to be analysed, after 5,000 it would be getting quite contaminated, 10,000 is stretching it to far

[V12 Migaloo]

hey Norman, who do you use for your servicing/oil changes etc...?

[Jaguar steve]

NormanD said:

Jaguar steve said:

You're better off spending a little more money on fully synthetic engine oil if you want to keep your engine clean and running as efficently as possible and using hypermiling techniques to keep fuel consumption down IMO.

Jaguar say you should use fully synthetic and changing it every 10,000 miles

I like to change mine every 5,000 miles

I sometimes send a sample off to be analysed, after 5,000 it would be getting quite contaminated, 10,000 is stretching it to far

You need to be very carefull about exactly what you're getting when you buy engine oil. There was a court case in the States years ago, the outcome of which meant manufactures are allowed to label either blended or hydrocracked mineral oil as a synthetic product or call it a synthetic with an addative package to give it similar performance in some aspects as a synthetic when it's fresh in the bottle.

This applies to most modern "long life" oils with a synthetic label - they aren't the real deal. This is a well kept secret in the industry who quite naturally don't want consumers to find out as they can charge more for anything with synthetic written on the container. What you need for a real genuine synthetic and all the advantages that go with using it is an artificial oil made in a lab not a refined/blended/pumped up with short life additive package mineral oil sucked out of the ground.

Loads more about this on the Opie Oils site

[NormanD]

V12 Migaloo said:

hey Norman, who do you use for your servicing/oil changes etc...?

I use Tom at TLJaguar RG40 4TS phone [phone]

Regarding the oil I use Mobil 1 0W-40

I'm over there tomorrow the XJR neads a front wheel bearing and hope to trial fit the new bell housing and manual gearbox into the XKR

[V12 Migaloo]

Looking forward to hearing you "blip" the throttle on your way through Bisley!