My 06 XJ just hit 60k and going to do the trans service this weekend. One simple question on jacking - Typically when jacking the car I pull fuses 12/52 (I think - have them marked in the trunk) and the air suspension has been just fine. Obviously this time I'll be running the car in the air on jack stands, is there anything I need to do to make sure the air system doesn't have any issues? Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere and I'm sure it'll be fine, but thought it better to ask in advance in case I'm missing something.

 

I did mine recently twice (was that bad), had no issues. The suspension stays in jacking mode, for want of a better term, and feels stiff for the first minute of driving before settling down, but that's all I noticed. I pulled no fuses, used a lift, all good, both times.

 

Perfect, thank you. Guess I wont bother pulling fuses at all anymore when jacking, seems like its not necessary.

 

Seconded. At least a 2005 X350 has always sorted itself out OK.

It's the multi-ride-level, longer-travel 2011 Rover as can call for a "calibration" cycle.... but even that "not often".

 

I concur that the car is just fine however you jack it up. One trick that seems to help the car go into Jack Mode more quickly (and therefore recover more quickly when it is let down) is to start with the Left Front. This is where the front height sensor is located and you can hear the control valves trying to compensate for the sudden change to the wheel height but only for a few jacks and then it realizes that it's being lifted and shuts all the valves...

Jeff

 

I could have sworn the front sensor was on the right (passenger) side? I could be wrong though, either way I'll lift that corner first. Thanks again for the confirmation.

 

VERY early cars have a front height sensor on BOTH sides but all the rest of them were on the LEFT...In US... AFIK

 

Sounds good, thanks again! I've had the car in the air plenty, but never with the car on/engine running. Just wanted to make sure that wouldn't cause any issues. Sounds like I'm good to go. Looking forward to being under there filling the trans with the engine running Would it have killed ZF to use a dipstick? Haha.

 

ZF probably used lack-of as a selling point if even they were involved in the decision.

Look at where it would have to be accessed from. Probably where the shifter is on the Jaguar, or right inside the refrigerator on my Rover!

And then it drips ATF as you check it?

Nice slice of fruit pie with yer pastrami samwidge for a road lunch?

Not no more, it ain't!

 

Would have been a looong dipstick to come out under hood, that's for sure.

 

Yes, and if you remember those, they weren't worth a damn for accuracy as the 'stick' dragged up a long and often curved tube, smearing the ATF 'til you were hard-pressed to ascertain where the level REALLY was.

Among other things, the ZF clan are far too picky about their ATF level to trust to that level of sloppiness. The way they want filled can be a tad sloppy, what with pump-fill 'til it runs back out, but once you hit that level and close it up, they can go a helluva long time with no further ado.

 

Yea, my x308 XJR was a pain with that Mercedes aftermarket dipstick you had to buy in order to check & fill the fluid. Looking forward to changing it, car just hit 60k and shifts great but want it to last a long time.

 

I was considering "making" one.. 'sort of'.

McMaster-Carr sells about a hundred different types of "sight glass" gadgetry and related plumbing..

I could have "read" the level with my endoscope.. or even mounted a bespoke camera, cheap as those can be.

Once the 'retraining' cycle competed successfully after I hired the flush done, (as it is a multi-pass pain in the a..natomy) I did my usual 'Faggedaboudit".

What's in it now is probably ...finally... "honest" about "lifetime", given I am in my 80th year, driving the Rover, mostly, and planning to hang-up spurs age 90 if even I make it that far!

 

Looking forward to being under there you say.... Maybe it's just me but oil dripping down your arm made it the most annoying job I've had to do and I did it twice!! In part because I wanted to do a double refresh but also because I messed up the mechatronic connector sleeve install and didn't push it in all the way and caused it to leak. You think that the clip won't go back in if the sleeve is not where it needs to be but no, the clip doesn't care.... I found that the sleeve is tricky to push back in without risking damage so I installed it as far as it would go, installed the connector and pushed the whole lot in with a gentle pry being careful to not squash any cables obviously. Worked a charm. Once installed, the connector should be flush with the case minus a couple of mils.

 

Not sure I even paid attention to see if hiring it was "itemized", but it was part of all-new belts, coolant and power-steering hoses, PS, Coolant, and ABS flush & refill, A/C purge & re-charge.. about seven years ago @ USD$ 4,000.

Concurrent, and near-identical "refresh" to same-year used (2005) ignorant Chrysler Town & Country Touring car-a-van (its transmission included) was $4,500, so I ceased throwing stones at JLR for being any more costly to maintain than any other motorcar with enough electrical gadgetry to run the energy-management system of the Chrysler ... building, if not-also motorcar.

An Alvis "Speed 20" or a Swallow-Sidecar // Jaguar "SS"-100 was a "motorcar".

What we have NOW is a tribe of computers programmed as a committee of anarchistic Artificial Idiots .... with nice seats and better tires on alloy wheels, not wire.

Mind.. if the SS-100 but had "airbags", we might not have lost three family members plus an innocent Frenchman in one "wrong side of the road" head-on impact.

Speeds of that era were actually rather low, but seat-belts were for combat aircraft, and motorcar cockpit and coachwork arrangements had never taken-into-account that a body might prang them with any sort of violence. A "proper gentlemen" simply did NOT prang a motorcar. Unless forgetting he was now in France. Not England. Considering the entire French "race" "improper", as was England's wont, cut no slack with the Laws of Physics.


"DIY" ZF flush & service? Only worth the savings if I had to do it once month intead of once in ten or so years.. and/or was a Masochist as well.

Could was I AM such, with nowt but JLR motorcars, these days?

But I kinda "ration out" the pain in installments! "Edging" is that?

Wenching. Wrenching. What's the diff?

"JLR" is just an acronym for "kinkey-f**kery", after all!