Tranny overheated on me and car shut down on the highway briefly. Made it almost home when it shut down and needed about 10 minutes to turn back on. What's going on? Read below for storytime.





Ok so I got this car on the cheap from a buddy, with full knowledge that it needs a new tranny and the gearbox has overheating issues. I took it to a guy and about $400 later he claimed to have fixed/replaced the leaky hose. Hate to sound dumb, but I do NOT know what part this is, I was just told to do it. I do not live in America, and the language they speak I'm only halfway fluent in without all the dialects. Bare with me.

As you may know from another thread of mine, I recently had the oh-so-fun gear stuck in Park episode. Was not sure of the cause. Last night I spoke to the original owner, he told me it's from a gearbox overheating....which I thought I fixed.

This morning I figured I would take the car on a nice cruise, see what's up with the car and if it's drivable on the highway. Well it was beginning of morning rushhour traffic and my song came on, and my foot got heavy and OMG THIS CAR IS FUN TO DRIVE! A 15 minute drive became a 14 minute drive lol, and once at 100 kmp+ I didn't really notice any tranny issues. Outside temp is probably 100+ Fahrenheit.

A few hours later I'm driving back, it's just a few miles and it's full on rushhour, very slow driving and some stop and go. It's an 80KPH road, and I'm probably going 50 most of the time when it's possible. I start to notice tranny issues, but I figure eh with traffic this slow it can't possibly be an overheat (and besides I *fixed* it right?)

Yeah, the car damn near shut down and I had no power, luckily I was going 10kph at the time. Engine started right up tho after I managed to stop for a quick sec on the highway. What's funny is that a thread I read a week ago came straight to my mind, about a guy who was in the left lane having a hell of a time getting to the shoulder.

Finally got off to another highway, and decided to rape the tranny. It messed with me, I messed back. I'm doing a buck forty or better just slowing down for speed cameras. It's an easy 3 klicks max. Tranny gets pissed, starts reving up to near redline and keeps jerking every 10 seconds or so. I decide to slow it down for the last couple hundred meters before my exit. Temp outside? 37 C and it's sunny as hell in the middle east desert.

As I take the exit at maybe 50 kph the car kinda powerslides and I figure it may be old tires and the DSC coming on for whatever reason. Car starts struggling and I make my second to last turn, and the car just loses all power and won't turn back on. I can hear some liquid boiling. Maybe it's my radiator? The temp gauge is good tho? But I only put water in the radiator, not sure if any antifreeze is mixed in! (serves me right for going to the crook mechanic, I had forgotten how to messed up my X5 a year back).

I wait till the car deigns me worthy of powering it back on, and oh wait for it stuck in Park. No prob Bob, I'm safely at the side of a rarely used road and my house is 200 meters away. I walk home, grab my trusty flat end screwdriver (which will permanently reside in the Jag for now and always) and walk back a few minutes later. Flip the override, and drive the last few meters home *slowly*.

The car may or may not be moved until I can replace the tranny. It will not be driven on the highway again, and maybe not more than two blocks away from now on.

 

Can you speak English for me please?
To clarify from your current and previous thread, have you checked the two bolts on the side of the gearbox for the operating cable?
Re: the gearbox. You were told the gearbox needed replacing but took the car out and gave it a good caning was not a great idea if you don`t mind me saying.
The gearbox for the age of car you have given is the 6 speed zf gearbox as fitted to other premium brands of European cars.
On the J gate for the gear lever, if it has a number 5 on it then its the 6 speed box. Good luck finding a reconditioned box.
The other alternative is to have the current box rebuilt.
Coolant has to be to the Jaguar spec and I buy premixed Comma G30. Plain tap water is not a good idea even though the climate is dry and hot.
These older cars require a fair amount of ongoing care and a sympathetic driving technique. Caning it is not a great idea until you have checked and replaced a few things.
They are known for having a sensitive canbus electrical system. So get yourself an OBD-2 scanner suitable for your car. Its going to save you a lot of head scratching when things go wrong,

Welcome to the forum by the way, I missed your introduction.

 

It sounds like your transmission is slipping in gear. Repeatedly "raping" the transmission will do nothing but ensure its early demise. While I understand your frustration, you knowingly purchased a car with a transmission fault and then abuse the car because it misbehaves... Sorry, this makes no sense at all.

One piece of advice I can offer (though I doubt you will listen anyway, judging from your prior thread) is that the transmissions in the S-type are very sensitive to fluid level; if it is low, they will act up. Given that you had a hose (most likely a transmission cooler hose) leak, it is possible that the mechanic did not properly top off the transmission, or topped it off with the wrong type of generic ATF.

Your most logical recourse is the the shop that did the work. They can check the fluid level and also check to see if the ATF smells "burnt" from the ill advised driving detailed in the original post.

 

I dont mind thrashing the tranny since im replacing it anyway.

 

Okaay... You DO realize that the transmission and engine management modules talk to each other over a communications network and if you generate a serious transmission fault, it can stop you in your tracks engine performance-wise, no?

 

Nope, did not know that, because AFAIK no other car does something as retarded and unsafe as that(I'd rather do irreparable damage to the car than to risk my life, let alone my passengers or other drivers'). Seriously though, it's actually why I took the car on a test drive. Junk yards in my country are all located in one big junk yard zone that's about a 45 minute drive out. The last time I took it out was literally a test to see if the mechanic did his job and the if the car was drivable for that distance (vs towing it). Needless to say the car will not be driven more than a 100 meters away from my house from now on till I get it fixed in the near future.

So seems to me that as usual, my mechanic didn't do jack and pocketed $500. I'm waiting for his boss to come back from vacation and am considering threatening him with a lawsuit. Part of the reason why I post here is because a lot of guys on here can troubleshoot and give me the name of the parts that are malfunctioning. Without that info (I'm no gearhead) it is extremely hard to figure out if I'm being messed around with or not (language barrier). Oh, and in my defense, the mechanic told me it was "just fine" to drive...and wants me to come back in next week so he can "change the transmission fluid".

 

Forgot to comment on some stuff: 1) I think I typed out an introduction but maybe it didn't post correctly, I'll try to re-type it. 2) It *has* to be Jaguar spec? I know plain tap water isn't good but I wasn't planning on driving too much anyway, trust me, I had coolant problems before.

 

I'm new to Jaguar myself, this is my first. BMW has been my preferred brand prior to this and usually V8s.
I'm will tell you that they are an extremely knowledgeable and helpful bunch of guys here.
Coolant problems with the S type seem to revolve around cheap plastic components in the cooling pipework which fail due to the extreme cycle
within the cooling system. I see you`ve heard about the DCCV issue. Built in service costs from the Ford years, mind you all premium car brands
are guilty of this practise. The best plan with these is preventative replacement of critical parts which can do the most damage prior to their failure.
Good luck with sorting out the transmission and keep us informed?

 

Lots of cars do it.

You can't help being ignorant of that (until now), but your attitude is not helping you. Lots of people will decide not to reply.

 

Yeah I'm a BMW man myself and part of the problem where I'm living is the extreme heat absolutely destroys cars. The rubber hoses and paint on certain older vehicles just falls apart. I had a great X5 that I had to replace every single cooling system related piece of rubber (and gaskets) to keep the engine from overheating. One hose in particular didn't even show any visible signs of deterioration until I absentmindedly squeezed it and a bunch of coolant squirted out.

 

I can imagine trying to find anywhere to leave the car in shade out there? I love the heat because its the only time my body functions even half properly. But not that kind of heat out there which would kill most cars. I'm a lifetime biker aged 59 and got the scars and metalwork that goes with it. I've got a couple of good bike mates in the oil industry who travel all over the world including some godforsaken places and we meet up when they are back in England.

The Jaguar suits me down to the ground for cruising on country lanes through picture postcard villages. My little lady loves the Jaguar and I have to work harder at letting her drive. We rarely go into town or near large crowds of people..... an unpredictable lot.

​​​​​I talk to a fair few guys stateside on motorcycles on forums so I know the culture and language better.
We sometimes meet up at my local race track Santa Pod when they come over to race.

Well I hope you hang around and share your jaguar experiences. Nice to meet you.
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Thanks and well met.