Stupid question......
 

we own a 04 3.0 X type and a 05 XJ Super v8. these cars were always serviced at our local jag dealer. this year we decided to have our oil changed by an ex jag mechanic who opened up his own place.
when i asked him to check and top all fliuds ,i noticed he did not try to check the transmission fluid . when i reminded him ,to my suprise he told me that there is no dipstick and that tranny is sealed.
my concern is how do you know if the level is too low?

i just find this odd....

hope i can get some light on this,thanx
:icon_doh:

The transmission (believe it or not) is supposed to be sealed for life. I had my transmission fluid changed as a precautionary measure when I bought the car used at 55000km. Can't be too cautious....

It is, of course, possible to change the transmission fluid, but your mechanic is correct, the box is sealed and has no filler or dip stick. Also remember that if you do change the fluid, only that in the gearbox will be changed, as there is no way to drain the torque converter. Some fastidious people will put fresh fluid in, then work the gears and torque converter, then drain again and refill, that way most of the fluid is changed. However, it is normally OK to just change the fluid and also the filter, which is part of the sump, I think. Your X type should have the Jatco gearbox, (made in Japan - Japanese Automatic Transmission Company), the other one should be a ZF from Germany. Both are excellent boxes, I had the Jatco on my previous car, a Rover 75 and had no problems at all. Most of these modern boxes have a fluid change procedure, even if Jaguar don'e publish it, which normally involves having the box at its running temperature when checking the fluid level. There is normally a level plug, with correct fluid level when fluid just stops coming out of the plug hole

Others, more expert than me can give chapter and verse. I had a Mazda with a Jatco box and never changed the fluid, and I got to 128k miles. This did, however, have a dipstick, so I could check level and also, (more important), look to see what the fluid looked like. Red and clear = OK. brown and cloudy = replace asap.

A good mechanic in the know will insist on replacing the fluid every 50k miles or so to be on the safe side. I recently got my transmission pan replaced so at least I know there's some new fluid running around in there. Not a total flush, but good enough for now.