Fifinella is driving me crazy!


Saturday. I finally got the new transmission installed, and the proper level of fluid in it, and took her out for a shakedown cruise.


I can feel the satisfying thunk when putting her in drive or reverse, and the transmission shifts smoothly and firmly from one gear to the next.


The problem is, the engine revs up fine, but the car accelerates very, very slowly, like Miss Daisy is trying not to spill her Earl Grey while driving.


A friend who is a retired transmission technician said it sounded like the torque converter.


The rebuilt transmission I bought came with a new torque converter. Now, this is where things get interesting. The tech said he put half a quart of fluid it the converter before installing it. I thought this seemed a little low, but the guy is a pro, so I just installed it as is.


I still have a brand new torque converter I bought when I thought I was going to teach myself to rebuild a transmission, but I really don't want to pull out the gearbox again.


Will driving it around for a while pump the proper level of fluid into the torque converter, or will it burn the converter out?


Do I have any choice other than removing the transmission again?

 

I forgot to mention, I have an ABS warning light lit, and after driving the car a few feet, I get a "Traction Control Fault" error message. I think these two are related to each other, but I don't see how they could be causing my transmission issues.


Or am I wrong?


If they are unrelated to the transmission issues, I'm going to defer fixing them for a while. Transmission, tires, and fixing that annoying power steering leak are higher on the fixit list.


Oh, the joys of driving an old jaguar!

 

The TC will have filled but the vital point is that the trans needs filling with engine running, at the right temperature, and so on. If not done that way it will be a LOT low on fluid.

With those other faults the car may be either protecting itself or unsure WTF is occurring and either way reluctant to accelerate.

Just fix things

 

Yes for our benefit please tell us how the transmission was filled and how you verified the level is correct.

You could have a very simple problem with the transmission fluid level being wrong. Just don't drive it around that way if possible.
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How was it filled? I put the car up on jackstands, getting the nose & tail at the same height.


I tied a funnel to a 6 foot tall (two meters, give or take, for you guys that live in Europe) and ran a rubber hose from the funnel to the fluid fill port in the back of the transmission.


I poured about six quarts of fluid through the funnel, then cranked the engine, and let it run for a while before adding another six quarts. Let the car spend time idling, ran it through all the gears several times, and everything seemed to be working.


I lowered the car to the ground, took it for a test drive (sans mufflers & resonators ) and noticed the problem I described.


I took the car back in the garage. The engine was still running and the transmission was hot to the touch. I jacked up all four corners, removed the little hex plug in the middle of the drain plug, and was surprised that quite a bit of fluid drained out. When it quit draining, I replaced the little hex plug and test drove it again. Still no luck.

 

Sounds underfilled.

 

Fifinella lives!


My last problem appeared to be nothing more than air in the system. Once I got it out, everything was working fine.


The sensor that tells it what gear it's in is slightly misaligned, and it doesn't always register when I put it in park. (It reads the other gears just fine. Go figure...) So I still have to get that dialed in.


Then there are the warning lights for ABS and traction control, and the leaky power steering pump I have to fix. (She wouldn't be a proper British car if something didn't leak!) However, none of those problems are terminal, and as long as I keep an eye on the power steering fluid level, I can drive her again.


I'm happy again!

 

Try to align the shift cable first. Instructions are in the JTIS.

But the cable is known to stretch. So if you can't adjust it you need to replace it.

Also note the early cars like yours have a P/S pressure sensor which can be the leak point instead of the pump. So clean it up and inspect before swapping the pump.

And of course remember the Lincoln LS pump is cheaper and easier to get. I only paid about $68 for the LS one.
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The shifter was working fine before we removed the old gearbox, so I'm thinking the problem is either in the adjustment, or in the alignment of the park/neutral switch on the side of the gearbox. It had been so long since we took it apart I kinda guessed at how everything went back together. The only problem I have is when I put it in park (and the transmission shifts into park just fine), 75% of the time the "R" on the shifter stays lit up. When that happen, I have to shift it into neutral to get the car to fire off.


I was aware of the problems with the pressure sensor, but my car looks like it's leaking from the large rubber hose at the bottom of the reservoir. I don't know if its the hose or the reservoir itself, but that's where the mess starts. I'll spray everything down with some contact cleaner or something to get rid of the mess, and try to keep an eye out for where it's actually coming from.


Thanks for all the advice. Just having her moving under her own power again is amazing!

 

OK that sounds a lot like the problem I had on my 2005 STR. Never did find the leak and it was not big but it did make a mess. Changed the big hose (which has no pressure. It's just a way to remote mount the reservoir) but that did not fix it.

After fiddling around for almost 2 years I found how cheap the P/S pump was and changed it. Fixed my leak. Even after taking the old pump off I could not find the leak.
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