Spent all day yesterday winterizing most of the family fleet: oil changes, tire rotations, fluid top ups, cleaned and checked batteries and terminals, lubricated everything, etc. Good thing I installed the winter tires on the XJR as I woke up to this:

Yes, I know those are XJ6 wheels, but I had them left over after my XJ6 was written off so I may as well use them. Those are nice Yokohama winter tires, very good traction for a RWD car.

The auto trans had a fluid and filter renew by my Jag mechanic last winter, replaced with Dexron III mineral oil type fluid, got 8 qts replaced which should be most of the fluid. I want to try synthetic ATF, and I'm going to do it by draining the pan alone and slowly changing it out. I got the proper 4 qts out and put 4 qts of Amsoil ATF back in. Now for my 2 questions:

1. The auto trans dipstick won't lock. I push the dipstick all the way in, and it springs back about 1 inch. If I hold it down and flip the lever down, nothing happens and it pops up again. Inserting the dipstick isn't smooth; I notice a couple of resistance points as it's going in. Is this a broken locking mechanism on the dipstick itself, or a problem in the filler tube, pan, etc? Where can I get a new dipstick if that's the problem?

2. The auto trans drain plug had a light coating of black gunk on the end, only a smear I wiped off on a light coloured rag so it was very noticeable. There were no particles/metal shavings, only a bit of grimy black powdery material. I've noticed this on other vehicles after I change ATF. Any concerns or this normal? The changed Dexron III had about 5000 miles on it.

 

Anyone?

I searched around the various Jag auto parts websites and could only find replacement dipsticks for the ZF trans, not the GM auto gearbox.

Is there any way to replace just the top locking part, or do I need a whole new dipstick?

 

There's an XJR/6 being parted out in the Jag Forum classifieds section.

Have you tried buying a new dipstick from a Jag dealer? They might still be available. Worth a try?

I wouldn't be worried about the small build up of black gunk on the drain plug. Minute metallic content as a result of normal wear. Mine had the same 80,000 miles ago

Cheers
DD

 

Well blow me down, as Popeye would say. It's available from the dealer. Thanks Doug!

I basically eliminated the dealer from my mind as they're not interested in servicing this old of a vehicle, but I shouldn't have eliminated them for parts. Their parts dept had voice mail on when I called, so I left a message and very quickly the parts gent called me back. Upon verifying the VIN he said the dipstick was available and ordered one over the phone without me even needing to leave a deposit. Wow! With so much poor service coming from many retail establishments I found this whole exchange to be impressive. (maybe a sad commentary on the modern world, but in any case.......) And even better is the price: $22 CDN.

I'm definitely going to check with my local dealer for various parts in the future. And I'm glad the black gunk is normal. I expected so but it's nice to have confirmation from experienced Jag gents. I"m going to take the XJR on a 400 km round trip tomorrow, so I'll be curious to see if I notice any change in the shifting. Grant had recommended about 1000 miles per 4 qt drain to let the synthetic fluid clean things up before doing another pan drain, which does make sense. Thanks again for your help.

 

So, here's a follow-up to my dipstick issue.

The new dipstick arrived at the dealer in less than a week, $23 and change CDN. Luckily I brought my old one with me: the new one is about 4 inches too short! I had a sneaking suspision this was too good to be true. I went back to the parts counter and the gent looking into it further. There were 3 changes that didn't show up initially, with the final result being that Jaguar says the new short dipstick is the correct one but I have to change the dipstick tube to a matching item. They had one tube in their whole system: in Brisbane! No thanks.

So upon further reflection and examination the new dipstick had the identical locking head. The problem with the old one was the plastic "barrel" had hardened and didn't widen when compressed preventing the dipstick from holding in place. So, I drilled out the rivet from both levers and swapped the old for the new. It fit beautifully, except where was I going to get a 0.5 inch long pop rivet? Off to an industrial supplier I go.

They didn't have a long enough rivet either, but they did have the correct diameter bolt and nut. I used this to mount the new locking mechanism to the old dipstick, and used Loctite Blue to cement the nut to the bolt, but I can still remove it if need be. It works! So all in all it was a lot more fiddly than just getting a new dipstick, but I was able to salvage things and get the car fixed for little cash outlay. I'm going to drive it for a while and if the dipstick stays locked I'll cut off the protruding bolt. For now I'll leave it be in case I need to redo things.

The punch is pointing to the stiff "barrel" that caused the problem.

 

my one had the same problem
I cut a piece of plastic in a small U shape and fit it under the piece that folds over problem solved it forces the seal to grab the shaft now

 

The GM transmission will almost never leave metal parts in the pan, you must cut the filter and inspect for metal bits there.