sounds like its exhibiting signs of 'the lurch', which makes one think it could be related to the TCM.... mine was recently rebuilt, and it didnt come out perfect imo, but almost there. I get an occasional lurch symptom, as well as a slip from 5th to 6th... Nothing nearly as bad as your description though. worries me these transmissions dont 'rebuild' good.
Definetly bring back to the shop though, and insist they do something, there is no conceivable way after $5k spent on the overhaul it should be worse than it started. I wouldnt even speculate with them on possible causes, just insist they take it and troubleshoot on their own.

 

Charley, though it's all a pain in the ***...the good news is that it'll all work out due to the (now in place) trans. repair warranty. It's incumbent of the trans, shop to inspect the trans. rebuild, torque converter, and the TCM (internally placed). Be sure they replace the formally new fluid and trans. pan with built in filter.

 

Got the car back again tonight. The shop did a great job on the rebuild even took the time to coat all of the metal surfaces with anti-cease. So in short everything was replaced front to back including that wonderful 2003 ZF6HP26 valve body. I was still having a terrible time with the 1-2 up and 2-1 down the "lurch" was the worst ever!

In the end the shop did forget a step... Turns out they forgot to clear / reprogram the TCM which was causing the problem especially as they used the new upgraded version of the valve body. As of right now the shifting is smooth as silk, there is still a slight almost a slip occuring on the 1-2 up shift but nothing on the down shift and when I say slight, I mean slight. The shop told me to give it two weeks / 200 miles and bring it back in for a checkup to make sure the "lurch" was completely gone, no leaks had occured and give it an overall checkup.

I know these things have that adaptive learning crap that the transmission goes through and they are claiming that once the car has a chance to rebuild the shift patterns the slight 1-2 up shift "lurch" will subside.

Does that sound reasonable to the group here or are they trying to pull the wool over my eyes. I dont suppose it matters either way as bfsgross pointed out the warranty is in effect for the next 2 years. Just thought I would let you all know my experience and see if my expectations were accurate.

Oh by the way the drive shaft couplers were also to blame for the freeway shimmy. Both of the couplers were replaced at a cost of just under $300 but for a 10 year old 140K+ mile car she glides down the road now!

 

I just came across your post on the ZF trans in your car and I want to tell you that I am having the same problem 1st to 2nd sluggish slam into gear but mine does only when it is cold first run in the morning. I had the trans rebuilt 2 and the converter changed both times I should also add that the valve body and shifter selector switch was replaced the second time. I called ZF and wanted to suggest making tests suggesting that the transmission was not getting the correct signal to shift. I then put the car on the lift and began checking ALL connections. First I found that the bayonet connector to the trans was not locked in so I pulled it and cleaned the connections and reattached properly. I then pulled the TCM< and checked all the connections cleaned them and reattached them and did a hard reset. The car ran great with no side effects for about a month and then a slight shift delay again. I called a shop that rebuilds the TCM and asked if they could test it and see if a problem exists and let me know, they said they could. My next step is to have the TCM tested and see how it goes if this in mot a fix the next step is to have the TCM & ECU reflashed.

 

cbharley - you should have dumped the car and got a newer one.

 

The proper jag way seems to be:
clear TCM adaptions
reflash
drive in specified manner, with passenger having IDS / SDD who watches the laptop screen showing the clutches as they adapt (relearn).

I wonder if the shop did that?

The "adaptive trans" meaning is subsequent and refers to it learning your driving style rather than the above.

 

Hey cbharley, just curious, by 'shimmy' do you mean a side-to-side shimmy in the steering wheel, or something else? thanks

 

You are the only one I have known so far that has replaced the Giubo on both ends.

I hear a lot about these on the BMW boards. They don't seem to fail too often on the S Type.
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The shimmy was in the whole car... You could feel it from feet to seat. Was pretty bad, rather annoying. I had gone through everything to fix it to no avail until the trans went. I tried suspension, tires, wheels, balancing, alignment, brakes - rotors, pads etc etc. Turns out it was either the drive shaft couplers or the transmission mounts.

As I said she is smooth as glass now down the road. Hopefully the adaptive learning of the TCM will smooth out the 1-2 up here in the next few weeks, I will definitely keep the group aprised of how it goes.

Not sure on the couplers though, I basically told th mechanic "hood's up do the work" figured bad or not, they had 140K on them so for $150 bucks couldnt hurt to replace them while they had it all apart anyway...

Cheers

 

A ZF transmission is a ZF no matter what car it is in.

 

I guess but the Ford transmission uses a Giubo in the Lincoln LS and S Type too. So it's not related to the ZF anymore than u-joints are.
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