BEST ENGINE OIL FOR 99 DAIMLER V8 Please?

[TAIPAN]

i do love the seafrost colour and from a distance my car looks quite presentable hopefully they will finish the welding today and can then crack on with the service itenms and check the top tensioner !

[TAIPAN]

welding work now completed and ive asked my mechanic to now turn his attention to checking the top tensioner to see if its orangey plastic or not. is it possible to see this just be removing the engine cover or not? he seems to think that hes got to strip off quite a lot just to ascertain if my car has plastic or metal tensioners...thanks

[J44EAG]

Worth noting that being a V8 engine means that there are TWO top secondary chain tensioners...one on each cylinder bank which will need replacing if plastic units are still present.

Mike K

[TAIPAN]

thanks Mike and can these be seen after removing engine covers, or is it necessary to strip down plenty of other items to see?

[RichardSEL]

I've got that colour on my bargain eBay buy: Mistral Blue. I'd never had that colour before on anything but I do get admiring glances when out. The car's colour looks good too

See from your MOT that you've got all things done now Appears IMO £1,100 a tad heavy for welding what's left after changing
out rear sub-frame? Croydon firm has them ex-stock with new rubbers and charge £350 inc labour AFAICR

Yes, you can see one tensioner at the top of one rocker cover AFAIK -- Hyper XJR in Thame did mine: the Sport's were already done (£60 for the check) but my eBay bargain's were't. They were green plastic both of which had cracks lengthwise and were just waiting to give way. (£450 inc)

BTW, you can't tell from the engine build date whether you've got the latest tensioners or not.
My Sport has an earlier build date than the Exec but the Sport has latest tensioner type fitted.
A previous keeper must've been an enthusiast -- but there's no receipt in the file

[TAIPAN]

hi Richard

yes the colour is what i love the most. With the chrome and gold accents from the Daimler badges, the whole combination is fabulous.all welding and service items are now done, so oils and filters inc.please tell me from the photo i posted, but the rear a frame looks to have been wax oiled and in decent nick from what i can tell..

thanks

[RichardSEL]

hi Richard
yes the colour is what i love the most. With the chrome and gold accents from the Daimler badges, the whole combination is fabulous.all welding and service items are now done, so oils and filters inc.please tell me from the photo i posted, but the rear a frame looks to have been wax oiled and in decent nick from what i can tell..
thanks

I thought your MOT was saying that the sub-frame was rusted? And that's what was contributing to your £1,500 welding bill?
Can't fully tell from the angle of the underside pix you posted, but your sub-frame appears alright?
I'd expect £200 to £300 max per location for a garage to weld -- less from a body shop. So couldn't see how £1,500 spend was reached

[TAIPAN]

i was told that there were 8 areas of welding that needed to be done for the MOT. my mechanic has sent me photos and it looked quite bad to be honest, more holes than a swiss cheese. the sub frame was actually listed as one of the items it failed on, so i expecty hes done something to rectify, but what im not entirely sure

[Andy P]

Hi T,
I think the answer your looking for is the engine cover's are removed to reveal the rocker cover's which have to be removed to see what tensioners you have,the side of the A-Frame which is visible looks o.k. to me,but if it was mine I would take it off and clean it up properly and then rust proof it considering they cost £600+ new(yes I was surprised as well,sad but true) .
http://www.jagspares.co.uk/Manners/part ... no=C2N1017
That's why I did mine.But I'm a bit OCD when it comes to cleaning,I get carried away and what should take an hour can take me three
viewtopic.php?f=95&t=11902
Hope the answer helps anyway.
Good Luck
Andy

[TAIPAN]

thanks Andy, appreciated from what ive heard back we have metal tensioners, so that will do for me. im happy with what theyve done underneath, although im not sure how much longer before the exhaust starts blowing...it doesnt look in such good shape.
ive actually spent most of the weekend underneath my RR P38, cleaning and wax oiling it.....so much easier when you can slide under without having to use a jack or ramps

[RichardSEL]

Surrey Jaguar in Croydon -- Ray's the guru down there -- £350 inc was last year's price;
they've moved to new premises since so their prices could be up from that for a
reconditioned X308 rear sub-frame with new bushes and fitting.

[TAIPAN]

thank you all for your helpful advice and information. Mechanically at least, im reasonably happy with my Daimler for the time being, next on the list will be a furniture clinic interior dye and repair kit

[DougX]

I note everyone's responses to what engine oil to use for a 1999 X308, but I too am confused at all the different oils suggested on various oil related suppliers websites. Can anyone be more specific? I have a litre of Castrol Magnatec (stop - start) 5W-30 A5. Is this suitable? Obviously my X308 hasn't got 'Stop and Start' technology, but does this matter?

[Andy P]

Hi Doug,
That's exactly what I used the last time I did an oil and filter change.
Tesco's were selling it at £8.50 for 4L so I bought 20L of the stuff.
No issues so far .
Take care.
Andy

[DougX]

Thanks AJP. Looked up what I used last year and found it was Millers XF Longlife ECO 5W-30 Fully Synthetic Engine Oil. Paid around £42 for 6 litres. Just seen it on E-Bay for £31.50 inc. free P & P for 6 litres. No contest!!! Ordered some today! E-Bay item number:154027106763 if anyone is interested.