I have owned my 2008 S Type for 12 years. Since the purchase the transmission sometimes has a hard shift from 1st to 2nd. Also, when approaching a stop, I must stop completely or else the shift into 1st gear is very hard and and abrupt. Any suggestion for a cure?

 

Read up on
The Lurch

seem similar?

 

CLEAR ADAPTATIONS is what I would try first to fix 'THE LURCH'.

 

I do not know, what or who the lurch is,
To answer the above question: I'd start with checking the ATF (automatic transmission fluid) level, where you will probably find that it needs to be topped up or better still: A full flush.

That's my thread about the full flush:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-flush-265900/

PS: Update - when I wrote above, I somehow thought the question comes from the X308 forum. Thus, the link above is for the X308 (maybe there is something useful for the S-Type anyway, but this is my thread for the S-Type:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...s-type-264102/

 

You need to have long experience with S-Types to know about "The Lurch"!
At one time it was a big thing!

Take a look and yes he has a bit of a tin foil hat BUT at that time he did gather and post a LOT of information about this. He must have been pretty mad as the web site is called "The Lurch"! Plus that web site is many years out of date and has not been kept up. A bit surprised it still is up and working.
ZF Transmission Problems

Do you have the TSB's from JLR on this problem? I have attached the ones I have as there was a bunch of things done and it was mainly the early 2003 cars with the shifting problems. But you can see there were a number of separate problems.
With a 2008 model I am surprised all of that was NOT taken care of?

How many miles on the car? Has the transmission ever been serviced? We know the JLR sealed for life stuff is wrong. ZF themselves post a 60K-80K drain interval.
Now the first thing to do is to check the fluid level. Do you know how to do that?

Strongly do NOT recommend a flush of any kind. Too many problems have been posted. Just a pan drop and filter change. Then do it again if things are not working right. Also the fluid is Mercon SP or Lifeguard 6. Mercon is cheaper and is getting harder to find. At least the Lifguard 6 has come down in price but again it's not real common either.

Post back what you do and how the car behaves. Don't forget the adaptation (Drive Cycle Procedure) process that requires a working SDD system.
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I had the same issue on my 2006 S Type R and replaced the solenoid block with all new solenoids plus put in and transmission additive
also at the same time replaced the filter AND reset everything by shorting out the two battery wires (do disconnect them from the battery first)
then for good measure drove without the (sport mode) for roughly 200 miles before using it.
It worked for me, it is now a lot better but not as smooth as I would like.
When I took the old solenoids out there was crude in them with a clean 'may' have cured it.
Check out my video it might be of some help.

 

to do a reset of the trans adaptations you have to use jaguar software or similar. If you can get this done and do the drive cycle again i bet it would make a huge difference

 

+1 for doing this as a start.

I had the same om my 2004; had my local specialist clear everything. Then drove away, very short learning cycle and then it shifted smooth like you wouldn't believe.