First of all, Hello! I have fallen for the charms of the Jaguar and now own two 3.2 Execs. I have done a few jobs on my first and recently purchased a second with what appears to be a typical issue of having to sometimes wobble the gear lever to start the car.

At the moment, moving the lever down towards neutral, or simply over to the left a little and down a little will mostly always allow the car to start, although it does still start sometimes without having to move the shifter at all. If, for example, you keep the ignition key turned and it has failed to start, moving the lever to a specific position and then a few mm's past that position with the key still turned results in the engine trying to spring to life, but then failing as you missed the 'sweet spot' in the gate.

I read about the inhibitor switch, but I'm not exactly sure what they mean by this or where it is. After taking the J gate etc off to expose the mechanism, it seems the little sensor with the pin top right works fine and the mechanism for when you push the brake works fine......so what else do I need to be looking at?

Any advice appreciated as I don't like to be beaten by 'niggles'

 

You have the wood trim off, good.

On teh RHside of the mechanism is what Jaguar call a "Linear switch", and that is teh brains (or lack of) behind that system.

It fills upo with gunk over the years.

Remove CAREFULLY the 2 screws, and remove that switch pack, clean it with a p/pack Contact Cleaner, then elongate the 2 slots in the plastic, and refit the unit.

Turn ON the ign, and with the lever in P, the P shoudl be lit up Red. If not, slowly move the switch in those slots you made, to achieve the P lighting up.

Once done, it WILL start in P.

 

Thank you Grant. My only other question would be is this still the same even if all my digits do light up red? The P lights up fine, as do the others.

From searching again, it seems this could be gearbox end if that is the case?

Jaguar Workshop Manuals > XJ-6 (X300) L6-4.0L (AJ16) (1996) > Transmission and Drivetrain > Sensors and Switches - Transmission and Drivetrain > Sensors and Switches - A/T > Transmission Position Switch/Sensor, A/T > Component Information > Adjustmen

 

Maybe.

I would do the clean and reset anyway, as 95% of them I have been involved with, need it by now.

Then move down from there.

Age and general wear make some other components get hissy.

The TSB's are brilliant, extremely informative, but based on cars mainly still in factory warranty, and that was a long time ago for these Jags.

Yours is the ZF 4HP22 Non-electric transmission, so it has a "kickdown cable", but the neautral start "trigger" is still related to that linear switch, and its adjustment.