Hi,
I just purchased a 2007 X-type, with 70K miles. Very nice car. I am planning on having the local dealer drain and fill the differentials and auto trans, and the coolant, also.

Any thoughts on what that might cost me here in Iowa?

I am going to do the engine oil and filter myself.

Thanks and all suggestions are welcome.

 

Brucelee, first off, welcome to the Jagforums. I think you will find a lot of very useful information here. We do ask that you stop by the "New Member" forums and do an introduction. We like to get to know each other and as you will find out, we are slightly different than a lot of other car clubs and tend to be a tight group. You will also find that we share honest opinions about things.

As for your question, there is one thing that I recommend you do a lot of research into before you start the whole maintenance plan you have in mind. The transfer case is not a simple "drain and refill" service. I'm sure some other members will have other words of caution on this. Draining out the fluid is easy. You remove the drain plug and out it comes. The filling. That is where the tricky part comes. The fill plug is tucked between the engine and the transfer case and can not be removed unless you drop the transfer case (about 6 hours of labor). Now, we have come up with a few ways to get around this. But, ask whoever is going to be doing the work how they plan on getting the fluid back into the transfer case. I also recommend that you ask them how much fluid came out of the transfer case. Please don't be alarmed when they say that they got no fluid out. It is not uncommon and the transfer cases seem to handle this just fine as long as you are not hard on the gas. If you do end up in this situation, odds are your leak is from the output shaft for the rear driveshaft. The repair is nothing more than removing the rear driveshaft on one end, removing a nut, pulling a washer, putting some RTV on the backside of the washer, reassembling everything.

The rear differential you can do yourself if you can do an oil change. The big thing you will need is a vacuum pump (hand held ones can be had for $15).

As for costs, this is a very subjective thing. The prices that I am going to quote are probably on the low end of things. if you take the car to a dealership, you can plan on spending a pretty penny. Some of the Jaguar specialty shops will get you too. Now, I would trust them a lot more than "Jimmy Joe Bob's Garage" down on the corner. There are some quirks to some of this stuff.

Rear Differential: $100 ($30 in fluids, $70 in labor, half hour of labor)
Transfer case: $200 ($20 in fluids, most shops are going to have to play around and you can plan on about 1-2 hours of labor)
Tranny service: $150 ($50 in fluid, an hour of labor)
Coolant service: $150 ($50 in fluids, an hour of labor).

The best advice that I can tell you is to call around, see what people are going to charge you. while I am not questioning the quality of local "quick lube places", most of the horror stories I have heard have been after a place like this has touched the car. Also, they tend to work on everything, so, they will more than likely not be an expert on a car like the X-Type.

if you need any more info, let us know. Personally, if you have the ability to do this stuff yourself, take some time to get to know the car. You will save yourself a lot of money and you will know that things were done correctly. there's enough of us around here that we can walk you through about anything you will be willing to do to the car.

 

Thanks very much. I am generally comfy on things that I can get to fairly easily. The rear diff seems doable and certainly the engine oil/filter. The trans case is another matter. I was planning on waiting a bit on that so that I could gther more information.

Am I correct in that there is a front diff or is that integrated with the auto trans or transfer case?

Thanks again. I will post pix when the car arrives (it is on the way from Texas).

 

The transfer case also does the job of a front differential.

 

Great, thanks for that!

 

I am planning on using Pennzoil Platinum Synthetic for the engine oil. Any issues with that?

 

brucelee, when it comes to synthetic oil, you will find lots of opinions about it. Use of full synthetic oil has been used by many members with no ill effects. Are you going to gain mileage because of the oil? Most members have reported back that their mileage remained essentially the same from before and after full synthetic. Durability of the engine, I don't think anyone has gone that far to even begin to be able to say a yes or no to this.

If that is the oil you want to use, go for it. Call me a dinosaur, but I am still on the old dino oil.

 

Thank, Chris