X300 Engine oil.

[richard300]

Hi, looking for some advice having received some conflicting information.

I have a 4.0litre AJ16 in my X330 Daimler and the car is due a service.

I understand that the original specification oil would have been 10/40 semi-synthetic.
However with my car having covered 111000miles someone told me that i should use a 20/50 or 25/50 engine oil?

My car seems to run very well and pulls as it should, doesn’t smoke or anything like that - But does have a 'tick' (not a rattle or anything like that) but increases its frequency as the revs rise but cannot be heard over the normal valve train noises at 2000rpm upwards.

Is this something the thicker oil could cure or is the noise simply just fuel injectors?

Thanks,

Richard.

[NormanD]

richard300 said:

I understand that the original specification oil would have been 10/40 semi-synthetic.
However with my car having covered 111000miles someone told me that i should use a 20/50 or 25/50 engine oil?

111K isn't that high a mileage

I wouldn't go above 10/40 if it's not burning oil

[Jaguar steve]

AJ16 injectors can be heard above an idling engine - they make a light snicking noise, and if that's what you have then there's nothing to worry about.

I'd always use a fully synthetic - not because the AJ16 engine needs the additional protection of a really good quality oil - but to gain the reduction in friction and much better heat transfer the proper synthetics offer and which will you give a usefull improvement in fuel economy and power, but not both at the same time obviously.

I say proper because legislation allows oil companies to market and price a oil as a synthetic when really it's just a puffed up mineral oil. Worth a phone call to Opie Oils to see what real genuine synthetics they have on offer at the moment.

[aide]

hmm...

[.richard]

Always looked after my X300 myself. Put fully synthetic oil in to give it a treat. After that it dropped oil all the time. Then returned to semi. Seemed it had found an escape route and carried on dripping oil. Designed for semi-stick to it. Great engine!

[Jaguar steve]

.richard said:

Always looked after my X300 myself. Put fully synthetic oil in to give it a treat. After that it dropped oil all the time. Then returned to semi. Seemed it had found an escape route and carried on dripping oil. Designed for semi-stick to it. Great engine!

No oil manufacturer is going to last in such a competitive market producing a premium quality oil that actually causes leaks.

There must have been another cause or you've had an unlucky coincidence.

[Jaguar steve]

aide said:

hmm...

I first came across this devious marketing "exercise" about 15 years ago when I was looking for a better lube oil to protect some Rootes blowers on an enormous vacuum system I was maintaining that were pumping a really nasty Silane gas mixture. My nuts were on the line on this and at ten grand a pump I wasn't taking any chances. So it's not just the vehicle market thats affected.

Lots of phone calls later I had all I needed to justify forking out an absolute small fortune on a proper synthetic for the Series 3 I had at the time and saw an immediate improvement in fuel consumption. Now the cost of a proper synthetic has fallen to much more reasonable sum there's no reason for not using it.

[richard300]

Thanks chaps, for the advice and information. I think I’ll stick with my initial thoughts and use Castrol 10W/40 Magnetec.

I am fairly certain that noise I have is fuel injectors... I would describe it as a soft ticking noise that (at idle) ticks about every second and gets faster as the revs increase. Slightly annoying.

[Dominicc01]

I had this in my X300. I put in fully synth, and it disappeared in 1,500 miles. Back to semi-synth 10W/40, and it went back to not using any at all.