Hello all,

I have an '04 VDP. Recently (over the last week) I have been getting a "Gearbox Fault" message. It comes on only occassionally and only after the car has been on the road. It then stays on but will disappear if I turn off the ignition and restart.

Anyway, I took it to my favorite mechanic but he did not have the capacity to scan for transmission issues - only engine problems. He did scan for an engine problem (for free) and didn't find anything. It took a couple of minutes. So he suggested I go to a dealer who could do a dedicated transmission scan. The dealer will charge me $130 for the diagnosis which, according to the service rep, normally takes an hour. Is that a reasonable price and amount of time?

Thanks.

 

First question is has the car had the transmission program update ? This was a recall for early X350s. As a 2004, yours will be among those affected, I would think. Any Jaguar main agent should be able to tell you if it has or not, and you should not be charged for the update as it is a recall, not just a service bulletin.

 

Thanks. I checked and the recall work was done in 2009.

 

I thought the recall date was much earlier than 2009, in which case, your car has been done very late. This late update may have caused damage to occur to your transmission, as it was a recall, not just a service bulletin, indicating the urgency of the job.