This website was helpful to me, so I thought I would contribute my recent success. My 2005 S-Type R suddenly wouldn't start. I had just driven it and everything was fine 5 minutes ago but now it won't start. All of a sudden dead, except the battery was good and the ignition was good. When you turned the key it did nothing, just dead. What the heck??

Closer examination showed that it was indicating Reverse, even though the shifter was actually in Park. I couldn't move the shifter at all, it was stuck. So I was dead in the water. Quick answer: A small 8 mm bolt had fallen out off the side of the transmission case.

There are 2 bolts that hold a plate onto the side of the transmission and the plate holds the shift cable. One bolt was in and the other one was sitting on the ground. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. You need to jack the car up such that the front driver side wheel is about 2 or 3 inches off the ground. And now the fun begins. Shimmy your way under there to discover a tight opening that barely has enough space to get the bolt into place. Forget about using a socket wrench, only an open-end wrench will work. But that's not the hardest part. It's hard to properly describe what it's like to try and move the plate into position so that the bolt can reach the hole because you can't see the hole, it's dark, you're crammed under the car and twisting your arms and hands to get into this tight place where your fingers can barely reach and you can't grip the bolt. You're forced to gently turn the bolt with the sides of your straight fingers. You know it will eventually bite once the planets are in proper alignment, but it takes you about 45 minutes and dropping the bolt a dozen times. It's a major pain in the neck. But it's a fairly simple and zero cost fix. When you finally do get it in, presto, you're back in business.

 

I've lost track of the number of times we've posted about those 2 bolts!

 

Glad to see you got it fixed. This is a very common problem and the current advice is to check those 2 bolts at every oil change.

I have found them to be tight but I can usually add another 1/4 to 1/2 turn to snug them up good. Just be gentle as they are very small bolts.
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Yep, whenever I do an oil & filter change / tire rotation, I take my 8mm box wrench and snug those two bolts up. Made sure I did so once again this past Tuesday at Rick's house when we had the car up on jack stands for my ZF 6HP26 ATF drain-and-fill. Both bolts tightened up about a quarter-turn each. It's always 30 seconds well-spent when you check these bolts....

 

You know, that is a good idea to check them periodically. I was scratching my head on how they could remain torqued for 10 years and 105,000 miles and then pow, just decided to loosen up. It's a real show stopper.

I know my post was somewhat redundant because it's been covered numerous times, but I think it serves a purpose. Half the posts for my symptoms suggested that I tear into the console to examine that little plastic part on the shifter that can break. Best to look under the car first and check those bolts first before (needlessly) opening up other things.

Also, it was odd to have the car be electrically dead all of a sudden, even though the battery seemed fine. Initially it seemed like a master fuse or starter problem, until I noticed the "R" light on the J-gate panel. The light was faint and the shifter was in Park and it would be very easy for someone to overlook this, like I did for 3 days.

 

I agree it's odd but it must be something like a particular pot hole or whatever. One of my bolts was finally loose after 6 years ownership. I check them at least once a year and they were never loose till one was this year. Not much, but a bit.

119K miles on the car, 11 years old. What changed? No idea.

I change my own oil so I'm near the bolts then.

 

I'm always surprised by how many people find the bolts on the ground.

 

Something like they put it in park, bolt drops out, won't move from park, they post here and we tell 'em to check the bolts.....

I reckon the bolts needed some thread lock at the factory

 

Well, that's gravity for ya.

 

I'm aware how gravity works thanks.
In my experience when pieces fall off my cars, which has happened more often than I care to remember, I don't usually find them just lying there, so why do these bolts fall off the last thread they are hanging by when the car is stationary?
If i never find the answer I shan't lose sleep.

 

My weak attempt at humour.

The bolts are put under significant load when shifting in or out of park which is only done when the car is stopped. Perhaps an owner who made extensive use of the J gate would lose them while in motion and probably more often.

 

Sorry Mikey should have had one of these

 

Does anyone have a picture of these bolts or a figure showing them?

I'd really like to see one so that the next time I'm under the car I will recognize them.
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Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car
Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, and
Torque is how far you take the wall with you

 

Look at trans side and you'll see the gear shift cable - which is held by the 2 bolts.

 

They are on the U.S. driver's side of the ZF unit, just above where the plastic pan bolts into its metal frame. Follow the shift cable back from where it exits the cabin underneath the car and you'll run right into those two 8mm bolts....

 

Got it

thanks
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Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons
Current: '08 Jaguar S-Type 4.2 "Satin Edition" (250.06 whp / 259.67 torque)
Past: '05 X-Type 3.0/auto Jaguar Racing Green

 

The two bolts mentioned here are fairly small 8 mm bolts with a "skirt" around the bottom of head where the threads end. I guess the idea is to give it more surface area to torque down on in order to make them grab and hopefully hold them in place. They look like galvanized steel bolts because they have a dull whitish tint to them and they no corrosion.

Now looking at these bolts is a major pain in the butt. You need to jack the car up (use stands to be safe!) and then crawl under the car from the driver's side. You should be able to look up in the middle and see the drive shaft coming out of the trans. And you will see some shiney perforated heat shield around the drive shaft and trans area. This will indicate that you're in the right neighborhood. The dead give away for locating these bolts is to look for a thick black cable going to the side of the transmission. It looks like a heavy bicycle brake cable or motorcycle cable. This is the shift cable coming from the driver's shifter. When you look in the space allotted for the drive shaft, you will see this black cable just above the drive shaft. You can't miss it because it's going to the side of the transmission and it's the only cable in that area. Then you will see the cable going to a plate on the side of the transmission and that plate has the 2 screws we're talking about. But it's a really tight fit and it's hard to see and you will probably need a flashlight. And you must be all the way under the car in order to look straight up in the middle part of the car. It's not a simple task unless you have a hydraulic lift in your garage.

I think you guys nailed it when you said the bolt falls out when you park and then you're stuck, so the bolt is usually right there. It happens that way much too often to just be blind luck.

 

Just wanted to let you know that this situation is real!

When I was having my local garage do an oil-change on Saturday I printed off the instructions from the first post to this thread and brought it to him and asked that he check.

When I came to pick up the car he said that it was incredible but everything in the instructions was right. Both bolts were loose and did required ~1/2 turn to tighten. He said that no one would have ever checked that as part of a regular service.

This is EXCELLENT, everyone should have those bolts tightened next time you do an oil-change!!!!
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Jaguar: Grace, Pace, and Space - Sir William Lyons
Current Hers: '13 Lexus ES350
Current Mine: '08 Jaguar S-Type 4.2 "Satin Edition" (250.06 whp / 259.67 torque)
Past Ours: '05 X-Type 3.0/auto Jaguar Racing Green

 

I check 'em then, too. (And any other time I'm under the car nearby.)