I am hoping to do a pan drop transmission filter and fluid renewel (gm 4l80e) on my 1997 xjr, the service manual talks about removal of intermediate pipe of exhaust to accomplish the pan drop (sounds like alot of work), a quick eyeballing looks like it could probably be done without removing this pipe. Has anyone been able to drop the pan without taking off this pipe. I hope to find out before I get started and find out it is a must do step. many thanks

 

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In my case the exhaust pipe had to be dropped but that was no big deal. Undo the clamp and let the pipe drop a bit. That's it.

Some XJRs had a slip-fit exhaust joint (rather than a flared-fit) exhuast joint. If yours has the slip fit you might be in for more work separating the pipes.

Cheers
DD

 

After you're done, and if your flid is dirty, you might wanna consider driving a few miles, draining refilling,and then repeating 3-4 times to remove the dirty fluid. It takes about 4 quarts to refill a drained pan but the total transmission capacity is about 10 quarts.

I have regular drain-n-refill schedule for the transmission....every 10k miles. Since the pan has a drain plug it is very easy to do.....only a few minutes additional work when changing the engine oil or other service. IMHO this regular "freshening" of the trans fluid is a good idea. At very least it cant hurt.

Cheers
DD

 

I had the Jag mechanic change the fluid and filter when I had it in for it's first major service (nothing is as expensive as a cheap Jaguar....). He left it up on the hoist with the pan and filter off, and eventually was able to put 8 qts in, so it seems the torque converter will slowly drain with the filter off. He never mentioned whether he had to loosen the exhaust pipe.

I've got some time off next week so it's winterize-the-family-fleet time. I'll drain the pan and refill then. I wasn't in a hurry since it had most of the old fluid replaced already. Now I'll slowly switch over to synthetic.