I was advised by the dealer that the gearbox is sealed for life (how long is 'life', i dunno...) and it's not necessary to replace the ATF ... but is that really true? Should i just go to another mechanic to have it replaced?? Anyone hasn't done the change and travelling more than 100,000 miles?

 

is it necessary to bathe? depends on your needs. The need to change fluids in modern cars is decided by the wise owner. The dealer's business is to get you past warranty, nothing more.
Dont ask an engineer.... you wont like the truth.

 

ouch ... [&:][&:][&:]

 

This discussion comes up every other week with newbies if not more..Those of us that want to keep our car running good past the warranty will eventually change the transmission fluid..problem is, is finding a cheaper compatible fluid with what is in the tranny from the factory..JATCO has a proprietary fluid that costs anywhere from $45.00 to $55.00 a qt....To drain and refill takes about 8 qts..There is several brands on the open market that is cheaper and will work,but none claim to be compatible with the JATCO fluid and that is our mainconcern..Because a simpledrain and refill will leave quite a bit of the old fluid still in the tranny.

But as far as "Filled for Life"..well, that is bunch of crap..Many of us have change the Transfer case lube and Rear differential Lube and found it to be; 1. Low, 2. Empty, or 3. Burnt and tar like...And the leading cause for failure in these components is the lack or low fluid levels..so much for Filled for Life..

 

No oil lasts for "life" it gets contaminated with whatever. I always change all the oils in the car. Most people are only brainwashed into changing engine oil....becasue it keeps other people in business...however, we all should get in the habit of changing all the oils in a regular basis.

1. Brake fluid
2. Trans fluid
3. Transfer case, rear end
4. Cooling system

all should be changed at least once every two years, or every 30K miles, depending on your driving habits, with the exception of the brake fluid which i change every time i do a break job.

 

Excellent advice..

 

Thank you guys for the advise .. i suppose we should make one of these posts a sticky so that newies won't be asking again and again .. :P

i suppose JATCO is the brand of ATF that jaguar uses?

 

That's what the "Search" box is for...

 

J=JAPANESE
A=AUTOMATIC
T-TRANSMISSION
C0=COMPANY
ALSO USED IN LEXUS AND OTHERS
ANF FILLED FOR LIFE IF DEFINED AS THE USEFULL INITIAL PURCHASERS OWNERSHIP PERIOD AS AN AVG. sO GO FIGURE THE INITIAL WARRANTY PERIOD. AFTER THAT I WOULD CHANGE ALL CONSISTENTLY.
AND NOOUR JOB IS NOT TO GET THE CUSTOMER PAST THE WARRANTY PERIOD. ITS TO MAINTAIN A WORKING RELATIONSHIP BOTH BEFORE, DURING AND WHEN THE TIME COMES FOR A NEW ONE THE HOPE THAT THE WHOLE RELATIONSHIP WAS A GOOD ONE AND ANOTHER NEW CAR IS PURCHASED WITH US AGAIN ALONG WITH REFFERALLS. AND WE(I) STRIVE TO FIX CARS PROPERLY AND AS QUICKLY AND ACCURATLY AS POSSIBLE SO WHEN YOU ARE FOOTING THE BILL AFTER WARRANTY PERIOD YOU WANT TO CONTINUE TO TRUST THAT WE'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU, AND N OT RUN OFF TO TAKE YOUR CHANCES WITH A LESSOR COST AND EXPERIENCE PERSON.AND THAT STARTS FROM DAY 1

 

It is either of these: IDEMITSU K17; JATCO 3100 PL085

 

oops.

 

okay ... thank you. "life" is defined as around 3 years or 100,000 km in this instance i suppose ... Which also means it's about time for me to go replace the ATF! Blardy hell! [:@]After which i suppose every 30,000 km or so would be just fine, i believe?

And also thanks Dennis for sharing the two 'approved' ATFs to replace. Will go source for a quote for these soon. Thanks again.

 

Good luck with the search. See you next month. Sealed for life means the life expectancy of the component, not for our lives. If you want the component, Trans, TC, diff to last longer than what is reasonably expected, then changing the fluids can help as long as the new fluid is compatible with the residual fluid that doesn't get cleared unless it's completely drained. Thus, the search for an alternate supply of the ATF.Is that correct all you Techs?

 

Does anyone know of a good, honest Jag mechanic that can service all of the issues discussed here? In Central Florida, Orlando.

Troy

 

An Honest person in Florida..... NO.

 

OK, I believe you. So what's the cost of a tranny fluid change at your dealership, and do you use the JATCO fluid?

 

BRUTALS right and it's frustrating as hell to have the customers you've treated fairly for 50k miles run down to Billybobs Brake Job Bungalow to save $40 on a brake job that includes no name Mexican rotors. Then 2 months later their back in the dealership wondering why they never had a pulsation in 50k miles but now they do, must be this POS Jaguar. A little off topic but you get the point.

Cost for drain and fill on the JATCO box; Lets say 8 litres of fluid for the sake of argument $440 and 1 hour labor $115 for a total of $555. You may be able to cut this down a little by working with your service advisor. I used the 8 litre figure because that is what gets thrown around the forum but I think it's more like 6 but it's been a while since I actually did one. Maybe another tech has more recent experience. I used the 1 hour figure due to the fact that to do the job properly you need to use the IDS to monitor trans fluid temp. The actual drain and fill is about the same as an engine oil change. I think I mentioned this in another post somewhere, it's hard for me to get my customers to spring for a $555 trans fluid change regardless of how you approach the sale. Most of the people on this forum are ENTHUSIASTS and most average Jaguar drivers are lessees. The customers that bought a used Jag without doing any research usually freak out when presented with their first repair estimate. They usually assume the X-type is just like their old Chevy, just needs a fuse, yeah right. It's easy to get my enthusiast customers to spend to preserve their cars but those customers are at most 5% of the total work load in the shop.

 

Will the Jag dealer actually completely evacuate the transmission and eliminate all old fluid, through vacuum or other means, rather than simply drain the pan and refill?

 

Nothing in the procedure is difficult, the trans lines are held on with a quick connect and take about 5 seconds to remove. Whenever a transmission is changed Jaguar requires replacement of the cooler as well. The cooler can be hard to flush properly due to a built in thermostat that bypases the cooler when the engine is cold. Unless you have heated the trans fluid first you aren't clearing the cooler. The only way to truly drain the converter is to drill a hole in it and install a plug. I dont care how long you run a flush machine or run the engine there will still be old fluid in the converter. It's just the way it is and has been that way since converters have been used, the JATCO is no different.

 

ok so let me make a post here, and i dont' wanna get harassed by anyone who might know more than me this is my input sooooo u can except it or not.........one of my mom's best friends is a jag technician for a jaguar dealer in NY.........he has delt with 1000's of xtypes some good situations, some really bad, some that he refuses to tell me about.....so after seeing this thread i mentioned to him that i was wondering if he could change my atf for me, and that i would compensate him accordingly......his suggestion was that on a higher mileage car u don't wanna do it because these cars can be very fragile and sometime by cleaning out the thick gunked up fluid tooooo new fresh fluid u can actually hurt more then help, he's seen several customers have this done and it turn into a small leak, or problems with i believ he said the transfter boxes.....now i'm not saying what he's saying is 100% right, and i can honestly say i'm new to this jag circile ive only had my car for three months, but i can tell u that he's a really nice honest guy and he was talking to me as a friend and not a way to make money..............PS he's sooooo kool he getting and install a whole j-gate for me for absolutely free when the dealer charges u 1100 just for the piece. Once again this is just what ive heard on this and i'm not looking for any agruements thank you