OK, it was time to write another DIY guide:

A problem many people come across is how to figure out their AFT (Automatic Transmission Fluid) level in the Jatco JF506E transmission (tranny) of the X-Type and how to figure out, if the level is correct…

I’ll start with bad news for those, who do still believe in Santa Clause: The ATF in the tranny is not in there for life as per Jaguar instructions, esp. sales-advertisement. This would be true only, if you want to pre-define the “Time of death” of the X-Type at 100.000 miles (160.000 km) at the very latest – in that case, the original ATF can stay in the X-Type for all this limited life, yes.

Whatever you do: Do not open a bolt on the side of the tranny behind the left frt. wheel: There is a bolt, which can easily be mistaken for a ATF-check-level bolt, but it isn’t: If you remove (or loosen) this bolt, you will open a brake-band inside of the tranny to the effect that you will lose your reverse gear…

Yes, I know, there is this procedure to check the ATF level – it can be compared to jumping around on one foot, holding your left ear with your right hand and holding a little mirror in front of your nose with the left hand, so that you can see the clock on the wall behind you to be able to tell the time… (the actual procedure is to first position the X-Type elevated on 4 stands, then let the engine run, switch thru all the gears and loosen a bolt under the car next to where the gear-selector-cable hooks onto the tranny and observe, if there is ATF dripping out – I think the idea is to observe the ATF dripping which you are sitting in the car going thru the gears. Apart from this procedure being ridiculously complicated, I do not even believe that it give you a correct result. Whenever I did that, the AFT came just POORING out, i.e. if I would believe in this procedure, I would probably drive with way too less ATF – that is what I think. Additionally, the X-Type (2004, 2.5L), on which I am working at the moment, has got an additional problem: The thread, which holds the check-AFT-level-bolt/plug in place was utterly buggered. The only way to fix this was to remove the pipe, which is screwed into the same thread (but higher up) and use the new-found thread length to screw in a longer not-nay-more-check-ATF-bolt/plug in there ilo. the old plug. This means: Even if I would believe in this method of checking ATF level, I could no do this anymore.

Hence, I came up with a new method – one, I never heard of before from anybody. But actually, I was only doing, what was neglected to be added during the X400-design: Adding an AFT-dip-stick:






I simply sacrificed on old metal 30cm-ruler and I used metal-cutting-scissors to cut off a straight 3mm wide strip of it.

This I stuck (wiggled) in by the opening on top of the tranny (where the rubber plug is, which you remove, before you fill in ATF there).

Obviously while the engine is not running and the car is standing on a flat surface. It requires a bit of patience and wiggling (mainly trying to find a gab true the bits and pieces in the tranny. I found that it easiest, if you try to direct the stick a bit towards the front of the car, once you entered the tranny. When you managed to stick the stick in over length of 26.4cm, you would have reached the bottom of the tranny in that x-section. Then you pull it out again. My measurement (you can see the reddish ATF next to the ruler) was: 1.6cm (16mm).

I currently suspect this to be the correct ATF level. But I am inviting other opinions: Maybe you have a way of being absolutely sure that you have the correct AFT level in your Jatco JF506E, and you made a dip-stick as I described here, which showed a different measurement result… - let me know.

This is how I came to the conclusion, that I currently (at the time of measurement) had the correct amount of ATF in my tranny:

I had just removed the tranny from my X-Type, I blew out the remaining ATF from the radiator, I removed the torque converter, and emptied it out about 10 times. According to the information, which I found over time, the correct amount of ATF I the Jatco JF506E is 7.7L. After all I did above I filled 7L of ATF into the reinstalled tranny, simply assuming that the tiny bit of ATF, which still sits in the torque converter (after turning it over 10 times) and the remainder of the ATF in the valve body are probably somewhere in the region of 0.7L…

And if you want to know, which ATF I use or how to do a proper ATF change on a Jatco JF506E (i.e. not doing the silly and extremely wasteful and not very effective 3-times drain and refill method):

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...change-266693/

 

Peter, I like this idea of yours, but can I ask where you found the gearbox capacity figure of 7.7 litres. All the relevant Jaguar documentation that I have agrees on a figure of 8.8 litres which is quite a difference when you're trying to specify definitive dipstick dimensions for the rest of us.

 

 

Astromorg, thanks for the feedback.
Note, that I specifically wrote "I currently suspect this to be the correct ATF level. But I am inviting other opinions".
My thread above is about the idea of an easy DIY dip stick - I am NOT "trying to specify definitive dipstick dimensions for the rest of "you" "!

The idea of such a dip stick would come in especially handy, if you measure before you do any work on the tranny (ATF change or other) and then you check again when you have finished. Especially, if you remove the tranny, you will have a bit of ATF leaking in the process and you would not be able to measure, how much you lost that way. Same applies, if something goes wrong during an ATF change, even if it is just that you lost count of the amount of ATF, which you removed...
Or simply: If you suspect that your current ATF level is correct, then better take a dip stick measurement and write it down, because if a leak develops in the future, you will need this information!

So, thanks for your input. I checked and you seem to be right. I just had the figure of 7.7L in my mind.
I also double-checked what I wrote in my other thread, the ATF full flush, where I was able to remove 7.9L, but as someone back then correctly stated, I would not be able to empty the torque converter that way, this leads again to the conclusion: Yes, 8.8L in total.

Thus, I will now add another liter (1L) of ATF under the assumption the I still had 0.8L of old ATF lingering in the system by the time I started refill.
I will then report about the new measurement on my dip stick.

PS: And yes, Dell, you just posted above while I was writing...

UPDATE:
OK, I took on the advise above and I added another liter of ATF (I definitely did not want to overfill the ATF.)
Also, it looks like I messed up the dip stick measurement before.
Thus:
When I had somewhere between 7 and 7.7L of ATF in the tranny, my dip stick measured an ATF-level of 50mm (this is a correction of my initial post).
When I added 1L, bringing me up to somewhere between 8 and 8.8L, my did stick measured an ATF-level of 75mm.

If you find the time to measure your ATF level, please write below, what your measurement was...

Measurement conditions: The dip-stick is submerged 26.4mm into the tranny measured from the top of the filler (see picture above).
The dip-stick is 3mm wide and 1mm thick - having it any bigger would be a problem, as it is already a struggle to get this one in there.
The engine is not running while measuring, and I recommend to wait for at least a day after running the engine last (giving the ATF time to settle).
The car was straight and level ( measured it with a spirit-level).
Do not forget to remove the dip-stick and putting the filler-cap back on, before running the engine next.

 

I used a homemade dipstick too, and marking it was easier after I checked a few lengths against a digital ruler, which kept things consistent while I trimmed the rod to match the sump depth
Keeping measurements repeatable made it simpler to spot small changes in fluid height once everything was at the right temperature