Tell me more, why did you choose 5w30 and 0w40 for your AJ133 5.0 V8?
The original spec was 5w20 and then changed to 0w20
I’ve done so much research on all this it makes my head spin. In the end I ended up leaning towards a euro spec 0w30 but I’m really not sure.
I haven’t changed it yet, still currently has whatever the dealer put in it.
Yes, it will make your head spin. I've hemmed and hawed over it as well.
Without speaking to an engineer at JLR who designed the motor, we will never know what's best. The timing chain failure is something we all want to avoid in these motors, so that's what we are all trying to avoid. In the earlier motors, there was a different design, and it's totally possible that no matter what you do with oil, how you drive, etc, it will just fail. The later (MY13+, or late even very MY12 if you are to believe what you read.. some say you need a MY14 or newer with the Jags) have updated timing chain guides. Many of these trucks (if you read the internet) still have issues and need timing chain rebuilds.Why do they fail?
- Extended oil change intervals?
- Too much stop and go driving and short trips, or poor driving in general (not letting the truck warm up, being abusive, etc)
- Dealer recommended 0w20 spec is not up to the task? Maybe its fine for 5k miles and not 10k.
Who knows. Could be anything, we are all just guessing. Some say you need the 0w20 to get oil to the guides faster, and running heavier oil won't do that.. which is BS. There are 5w30s with lower pour points than some 0w20s. I've done lots of web-wheeling and keyboard cruising on this issue.. I didn't jump right to 0w40 at first but now that I have I recommend it. A quality euro spec oil with MB229.5 and/or Porsche A40 is going to provide more protection than most 0w20s (which was lowered from 5w20 for FE standards to fulfill CAFE requirements for JLR) not solely because of the weight, but because of the additive packs.
There is so much anecdotal evidence out there on these motors. Someone was selling a 175k mile '13 on a forum earlier this year IIRC he bought new. Never touched timing chains and never changed out the coolant crossover pipes. Someone on Discoweb changed the coolant pipes THREE TIMES in 2 years due to leaks. Someone on this forum bought a L405 new with the 5.0 and with 5-6k OCIs did the timing chains at like 65k.
You also need to remember these are (were) mostly hand built before the Tata handover. A truck build on a Monday morning is not the same one built on a Tuesday afternoon. I think the best thing to do, now that they're starting to be old Land Rovers, is to treat them as such. Just fix what's broken, treat and run them like heavy duty farm equipment. That's what they like best.