I'm glad your problem seems to be resolved! When you do the rebuild, take lots of pictures for future DIYers.

 

Ok, did a tear down and found that the reverse gear clutches and the 1-2 clutches are worn really badly. This verifies the theory that both reverse and 1-2 clutch drums were running at the same time and also accounts for the drag. It also verifies why the car moves backwards while in neutral. Without knowing for sure on the solenoids, I can safely guess that at the very least, the reverse solenoid has failed and is locked on. I will know for sure after I get an analysis back from the solenoid testing facility. Hopefully the Megatronix computer in the transmission is not faulty either. Looking at the prices though, it might be cheaper for me to buy a rebuilt transmission than replacing all the suspected deficient parts. So I need to make a decision.

But so far, the car appears to be fixed. It only cost me about $800 for a good used takeout transmission with less than 50k miles which was tested before being shipped. Shipping price to Guam was included in the cost. That is a bargain compared to what it may cost for just solenoids, oil filter and valvebody plate replacement.

Hopefully, this diagnosis will help someone else to fix their problem economically. Mine because of the wrong diagnosis at the beginning cost me around $1500 plus a few weeks of being without my car. The dealer if I had been closer to one would have cost me around $3000-4500 for a trans replacement which they more than likely would have automatically done. I also learned that the ZF trans is very good but is prone to solenoid and monoblock failures. Also, whoever thought of a dipstickless transmission is stupid. The procedure for checking and refilling the trans oil is ridiculous especially in a Jag XF where the fill plug is extremely close to the transmission tunnel sheetmetal and exhaust. I had to cut an allen wrench just to be able to loosen it.

 

I agree, wholeheartedly!! I've owned a number of General Motors vehicles, over the years, and every last one of them had a dipstick and filler tube, as part of the transmission. It served two purposes, as you could A) EASILY check the fluid level and the condition, as well as B) "top off" of completely fill the transmission, as necessary.


Being the "maintenance freak" that I am, I changed the fluid and filter every other year, regardless of mileage, and never had any issues with the transmissions in my GM cars. Being able to fill the transmission through the dipstick made this task both feasible, as well as simple.


I came to the XF by way of a Lincoln LS, which we bought in 2000. It's my understanding the Ford/Jaguar designed this platform, initially shared by the LS and S-Type respectively, a little on the "tight side", and room for a transmission dipstick would have unduly encroached into the passenger footwell space. Aided by the "sealed for life" idea behind the transmission of the day, they went with this, and we, the consumers are either faced with "keeping our fingers crossed" with the transmission, or if we actually want to service the unit, spending quite a bit of money to have it professionally done.....






"Mr Sharky", I sincerely hope that your new transmission works out well for you.

 

I still own a bunch of GM and Ford vehicles that do have trans dip sticks. And like you am a maintenance freak. I like to know that my vehicles remain reliable and well maintained. Thanks for the best wishes on the trans. So far, it has been great!

 

I also came from the Lincoln LS and loved that car but was sad when Lincoln stopped developing the car and killed it.

The Ford 5 speed was used in many cars beside the LS so the lack of dip stick had nothing to do with the LS. I agree with you but we need to understand most cars are simply never maintained at all. So all the dip stick tube was just another entry point for dirt and water. GM even started putting nice O-ring seals at the top of the dip stick tube to reduce this.

Along with this idea is the concept of filled for life so there is no need to even check the level. Well we all know how that worked out and it's 100% wrong for anyone except a car /transmission manufacturer. Remember we are suppose to buy new and NEVER repair anything.

Of course this forum's main purpose is exactly opposite of this concept!
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Back "in the day", the Edmunds.com website initiated a tremendous amount of interest in the Lincoln LS, when the car was first introduced. After a time, Edmunds got a little annoyed that so many people were occupying their bandwidth, while discussing the LS. At that point, around early 2001, the Lincoln LS Owners Club (LLSOC) was formed. I was one of the original members of that organization, and remained an active member through 2009, when we traded off our beloved LS for our current XF.


There were several Ford engineers that were involved in the website's various discussions, and although I could be wrong, after all these years, but I think that when we members griped about the lack of a transmission dipstick, they cited the "lack of real estate in the tranny tunnel" as part of the reason.....

 

I have to agree and after buying a dealer computer to maintain my XF, I now understand the concept to have "proprietary control" of many of the repair services on this car. The constant need to upgrade system software and diagnostics makes it very difficult for the average mechanic to diagnose and repair these cars. I have over forty years of working on cars, trucks, and heavy equipment. Twenty of those are working on import cars. I have owned several Jags, several Mercedes, about a dozen BMWs, and countless Toyotas, Lexus and Nissans. And I still struggle on working on new technology on some of these cars when I don't have the proprietary computer diagnostics software.

 

Sounds like multiple failures to me, bad solenoid causes an application drum to go weak, which applies a band too weak causing a slip that progressively got worse until failure. Slip marks on your planetary gear set will be the tell tell when you open it up.

 

The solenoids actually got stuck in the "open" position applying both the low gear and the reverse bands to apply at the same time. The reverse solenoid would engage the bands on start up in the park position. But it would disengage after the car went in to third gear. So if you started the car and put it in neutral and revved the engine, the car would move backwards. And in drive, it would fight the forward gears and seem as though the parking brake was still applied. Once it shifted a couple of gears, the car would operate fine. But once it downshifted, it would bind again. You almost did not need brakes to slow down. I tried all the fixes that everyone here told me. I spent tons of money on spacer monoblocks, oil filter pans and oil changes, seals, and even shifter control console. None worked. I did not have any luck until the trans made lots of noise in every gear and I experienced a nearly total trans failure. So I replaced the trans with a low mileage unit out of a low mileage car and all worked just fine. I then opened up the original transmission and upon disassembly found the culprit along with all the damage caused by the friction surfaces on the reverse drum being burned from over engagement while the trans was in forward gears. The low gear clutch was also worn slightly more than they should. Sadly the cost of replacing the worn parts and the solenoids as a package is more than the purchase of a good "take out" transmission replacement but still cheaper than an overhauled transmission, but not by a whole bunch. I think that my replacement trans "take out" will give me many years of reliable service with the normal amount of transmission fluid changes. So being that I am in the middle of nowhere, it probably would not pay off for me to spend the money to rebuild my original trans since I have the only XF out here since I believe that the case is unique to the Jag XF and is not similar to Mercedes Ford and BMW cars that run that type of ZF transmission.