Good day all. My name is Steve, and I am a Brit, now retired and living in Florida. I brought my latest cat home just a few weeks ago - a pristine 2004 XJ8 (x350) with only 69000 miles on her. I collect and restore British classic cars and sold my beloved XKE coupe just a few months ago but just had to get back into a Jaaaag. My MGC GT has had to wait in the wings while I got a couple of Jag jobs out of the way. I sold a 1960 classic mini and with the proceeds bought my Jag and even had some money left over.

Just one week after bringing her home , I started to get the air suspension error message. I invested in an iCarsoft LR V2 OBD reader (a great investment) and determined the fault to be a tired air compressor. Bagpipingandy provided a nice kit to rebuild the compressor and after only a couple of easy hours work, job done. Possibly one of the cheapest Jag repairs ever at less than $50.

My next error message was a transmission error (gear load 5/6) and I had also noticed hard shifts up from 1st to second. These errors are scary but I figured with less than 70K mileage on a full service history car, I might get lucky. I ordered a genuine ZF transmission pan, which came with 5 extra pan bolts, TCM plug seal, a new filler plug and 6 liters of ZF Lifeguard 6. I also ordered a ZF oil seal kit.

My biggest issue was caused by a couple of stripped transmission pan bolts. I eventually used a 3/16" bit to remove their heads and the pan was off. I decided not to wrestle with removal of the TCM socket seal (arthritic hands can be a real problem). I used a padded jack to support the transmission while I removed the transmission mount. Easy enough then to remove the connector and rubber seal. Temporarily replacing the rear mount, I removed the jack to loosen the 10 torx bolts on the valve body and employed the padded jack again to lower the valve body. Removing the damaged pan bolts and replacing the "goggles" seal and 4 x rubber "hose" seals took only a few minutes and then I had my bride insert a couple of bolts while I offered the valve body back up to the transmission. Once this was done, reassembly was easy though I did have to run out to Harbor Fright to pick up a small torque wrench.

A $6 hand pump - also courtesy of Harbor Fright did a great job pumping the new fluid back into the transmission pan. Following the recommended process I got all 6 liters back into the pan with the engine running but still not quite enough to get the stream of overflow from the filler plug but very close. I have ordered another liter of fluid but can already tell that the gear changes are much smoother and my jack rabbit kick from 1st to 2nd gear has resolved itself.

The oil I removed was very thin and back in color. Changing it every 50,000 miles as recommended by ZF is well worth the expense and the trouble and may well keep my Jag running sweetly for another 50K miles without a transmission replacement. The whole job excluding trips to HF took less than 3 hours but I do have a four post lift which made it much easier than otherwise. Total cost in parts and fluid was about $450 but I am happy the job was done right.

These X350 are a stunning bargain at current prices and repairs like those I did described here are really not too difficult or too expensive. If your X350 needs these jobs doing my advice is to bite the bullet. If anybody would like further info on anything posted here, please send me an eMail and I will help where I can

Steve

 

If the fluid does not smell burnt, with just oily type graphite feeling gook on the magnets, things should be fine. The fluid level needs to be at the proper level, to insure things go well. But a LITTLE BIT LOW, would be much better, than too much, from what i understand, in my reading.

 

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the Jaguar Forums! It's great to have you with us.

Cheers,

Don