I own a 2004 XJ8 with 116k on the odometer. The car has suffered from jerky shifting between 1st and 2nd gear, pulling away from a stop sign etc. I would get transmission fault errors that would go away. Sometimes the transmission would go into limp mode and I would have to stop the car turn off the ignition and restart the car and the transmission would be fine. These symptoms would not happen all the time, just occasionally.
A friend of mine told me about having the transmission re-flashed at the Jaguar dealership. He swore by this re-flash to extend the life of the transmission and as a cure to the shifting problems I was having.
I took his advice and dropped the car off at the dealership. At first the dealership did not think the re-flash would have any effect. I insisted on the work be done.
The dealership did the re-flash and checked the transmission fluid level. Cost including the fluid level check was $284.00. I drove the car home very carefully for the next 100 miles. I was preparing the car for a 2,000 mile trip to Hilton Head SC in late July. The transmission performed flawlessly without any shifting problems during the entire trip. No transmission faults appeared. I am very pleased with the re-flash of the transmission and would recommend it if you are experiencing the same symptoms.

 

thanks for the info!
Did you recently have the fluid changed? there is a TSB about cleaning the electrical pins on the connector to the tranny; they get fluid on them and cause issues. I had this after having a ZF specialty shop change the fluid and cooler lines - they cleaned the pins and all better.

 

If you have not done so already, change fluid & filter. It can only help the situation and hopefully extend the life of the tranny.
Good luck. I paid $8k for a factory rebuild from the dealership.

 

If a person disconnects battery cables and touches them together away from the battery for a few seconds, will the trans brain reflash itself when power is restored? My 04 with 116K shifts rough from 1 to 2 but otherwise feels fine. I bought it last year and it has been like this the whole time. Thank you.

 

No, you need dealer level software/hardware to reflash TCM and clear adaptations.

 

Thanks mberman for the suggestion to change my transmission fluid. I agree that is my next step including the filter change. I have a local transmission place that can do the fluid change for me. The car continues to run just fine after the re-flash. The re-flash removes your old transmission software and replaces with new software. Then the transmission re-learns your driving habits. Apparently my old software needed replacing.