hello everyone, I'm owner of 2001 X-Type 3.0 for couple of years. I have done many things to it myself, but this problem seems to be more difficult and I have tried everything I could possibly think of. Once a year I'm going for trip from UK to Poland, about 1000 miles. After driving a while I noticed when I left petrol station that my gears are shifting well to early and to properly accelerate I had to put my foot right down. When I tried to overtake and put my foot down, it felt like its trying to change gear, as it was "catching up" and I could feel shake after each try, but it didn't reduce. When I drive around the town very rarely happening but it does and feels like clutch slipping in manual car and finally it changes the gear, but car jumps forward. Otherwise it's all good. I have noticed if I go from drive to reverse I can hear propshaft knock quite loud, is it because it's soo much slack between gear teeth in gearbox or transmission box maybe? After my trip last year I have replaced gearbox oil with jaguar compatible and also drained and refilled transfer case. Nothing changed since, everytime I go for longer trip my gearbox seems to become slower and sluggish. Is it anything to do with overheating on long distances maybe? Sorry guys for long write up, but I have tried to describe my problems the best I could. Please any ideas would be much appreciated, as I love this car, so don't want to end up scrapping it cause of gearbox or transmission box failure. I have also got another 1000 mile trip coming end of August and I'm scared now that car could not make it and would like to try other things to make it better.

 

Hi Chris,

Glad to hear you enjoy your cat on long road trips, I totally can feel the experience as I do the same.

Regarding the problems with the transmission, try the following.

1.) Check transmission fluid level, you may never know how much is missing.

2.) Try to reset the ecu by leaving the battery disconnected for a night.

3.) Reset transmission adaptations via Jag expert (requires IDS/ SDD).

4.) Update to latest ECM / TCM software. There is actually a bulletin that is talking exactly about shifting issues:

http://www.jagrepair.com/images/TSB/...0Operation.pdf


Good luck and let us know how things went!

 

Thanks for reply, I will check the fluid level, because when I have managed to drain 3 litres out of it, I have only put 1.5 litres in when it started coming out of check valve, which made me thinking if gearbox was overfilled by previous owner or I'm not doing it correctly for some reason and I'm not getting 3 litres back in.
Do you think its worth to replace gearbox oil cooler, or will it be pointless?
Thanks,
Chris.

 

Regarding the cooler I can't help you, but if it's not faulty I wouldn't touch it.

How did you check the oil level? How warm was the car at that moment? It should be checked by a Jag diagnostics tool which shows gearbox temperature and only then, at specific range of temperatures you fill up or change the oil.

Check this FAQ it describes the whole procedure more accurately:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ure-faq-43649/

Best of luck!

 

The most significant thing is that the engine must be running while the gearbox oil level is checked.

 

Will i cause any damage if I overfill gearbox? I know it may be a silly question, but is it better to have less oil or too much in the gearbox?

 

Guys, Many thanks for previous posts - this forum and people are really friendly and helpful. I have just changed gearbox oil and transfer box oil again (4th time within 3 months) and oil that came out looked almost like the one I put in, so this side must be ok. I have drained 5 litres from gearbox and 300ml from transfer box. However I took it for a longer drive yesterday (about 200 miles) to see how car is acting and after good few miles gearbox went really slow and sluggish again, I was on fifth gear and tried to reduce it by pressing foot down lightly and it felt like it's trying to reduce gear cause it did rhythmic shakes, but stayed in same gear, when I press my foot down more still the same situation, shaking but no gear change, finally I put my foot right down to the floor and it reduced gear from fifth to second and revs gone almost to red field...I'm worried that it will reduce it to first gear one day and all will go "bang"! When i stop and start accelerating slowly it changes gears well to early and when I'm doing 30-40 mph it launches fifth gear when on 1000 rpm...it's really annoying as I have checked everything I could, but still the same. I don't get any errors or messages, I have scanned it with my obd reader, but again - no faults. Any of you guys had similar problem? I love my car to bits and I'm really looking after it, but this problem drives me nuts! Maybe there is any easy ways of checking it? Please help guys...

 

I have not had such problem with my X-Type, but what you are describing:

1) "...gears are shifting well to early and to properly accelerate I had to put my foot right down...",
2) "...put my foot down, it felt like its trying to change gear, as it was "catching up" and I could feel shake* after each try...",
3) "...and feels like clutch slipping in manual car and finally it changes the gear, but car jumps forward..."
4) "...if I go from drive to reverse I can hear propshaft knock quite loud..."
5) "...everytime I go for longer trip my gearbox seems to become slower and sluggish..", and
6) "...it felt like it's trying to reduce gear cause it did rhythmic shakes*, but stayed in same gear, when I press my foot down more still the same situation, shaking* but no gear change, finally I put my foot right down to the floor and it reduced gear from fifth to second and revs gone almost to red field..." ;

(* possibly more of a "shudder" than a "shake"?)

all describe a FAILING TORQUE CONVERTOR to me!

(I've suffered a couple of those in different cars through the years)

The good news is: it is failing by slipping, instead of failing by locking-up (with a locked-up torque converter, it is like trying to drive a car with a manual transmission and not use the clutch - almost impossible when stopping or starting)

Here is a nice description of the "dark and mysterious" torque convertor from an Ebay.com posting.

Please know that the US Ebay site lists them for sale from about $65 USD. The trick, of course, is getting one installed.

I can think of three "quick fixes" to avoid changing out the torque convertor before you take your extended travel:

1) pour a very fine grade of sawdust into the transmission fluid,
2) pour a very fine grade of sand (or a kitchen-type abrasive sink cleaner) into the transmission fluid, or
3) pour a bottle or two of high-quality transmission "Stop Auto Tranny Slippage" Instant Transmission Rebuild type of fluid into the transmission.

Of the three choices, I believe #3 might be the most prudent, and least expensive in the long run.

If you were to try it today, you might well see the results you might hope for in the first 100 miles or so. If it did not "take" by then, I would arrange a replacement of the torque convertor or think about driving a different vehicle for your trip.

(driving anything less than your Jaguar should be totally unacceptable!)

Yeah - give a little "Better Living through Chemistry" a shot. It might stave off the not-inexpensive part replacement for (up to) a few thousand miles.

Please do come back and tell us how you fare!

Best 'o luck!

~Bruce

 

Guys,
Sorry for delay with my reply, but I just got back from my holiday. I ended up leaving my car on the driveway and flying to my destination instead, as didn't want to risk it. I had opinion of few different places that deal with auto gearboxes on daily basis and they all pointed torque converter is on it's way. I will be stripping gearbox down soon and if anybody would like to know i have found very reliable and known company while I was on holiday in Poland that refurbishes torque converters for Jags and price is about £150, where you can buy second hand torque converter on ebay for £100, but you don't know if one you buying won't be even in worse condition than yours, so I think it's worth sending it to them. They also mentioned that is best to refit the same torque converter that was originally in the car.
So, when I was away for 3 weeks, my car was sitting on the driveway and when I came back and started it I have noticed that lcd display on instrument cluster doesn't work and when I drove it I noticed that steering wheel needs a lot of power to turn, like PAS is not working. Also when I stopped my speedo was showing 35mph and rev counter 3000 revs! Can you guys point me to any direction please, as when I fix one thing, another one appears and it's neverending...

 

Check your battery and ground points.