Hey Everybody,

Alright so I recently purchased this 2001 XJ8 Vanden Plas. The previous owner claimed the brakes seized up and they would need doing. It was a bit of a risk buying the car since I wasn't able to test drive it, but he claimed it drove perfectly & very smoothly. It turned out to be a rear passenger wheel hub which I got fixed ($870). When I went to go view the car the engine light, ABS & traction lights were on...they are all off now! Now that I've had the wheel hub replaced and can drive the car I've noticed the transmission is doing funny things.

I took it to two places to have it looked at. One quoted me $6,000 for a new transmission & the other quoted me $1,500 - $2,000 for a transmission rebuild and advised me to not drive the car as it something could happen where the transmission could not be rebuilt..I haven't driven it since.

Any advice? I don't want this car to be a money pit, if it's going to be I want out now !! I also have a 1995 XJ6 VP which has had minimal issues.

I got a great deal on the car..should I go ahead and have the transmission rebuilt?

[IMG][/IMG]

 

What kind of funny things is the transmission doing? Just did a new a-drum in my trans, and going to get an updated valve body to fix pressure issue. I will have around 600 in parts by the time I am done. But will hopefully not have to touch the trans for quite some time after.

 

Hey XJRJeff,

It's slow shifting when going from Park to Drive and from time to time when you go from Park to Reverse the car will sit there and not do a thing. When it does this I put it in Drive and then Reverse and it slowly switches to reverse. Also when you come to a stop sign or red light and come to a complete stop the car sort of lurches forward and when you take off as you hit the gas the car does a similar rougher lurch.

On cold startup the car does make some noise in first gear.

 

Check the transmission fluid level- NOT CHANGE THE FLUID- just check the level on the outside chance that is the only problem.

 

I would agree you should check the fluid level first. It is a bit of a process because you have to get the trans up to temp and check the oil like a differential based on spill over from the plug on the side of the trans. I added a tsb about changing the valve body, it has the fill procedure at the end of it. I am guessing that your fluid level is probably fine. My guess is that your pressure valve in the valve body is going. I am going to add a seminar bulletin that someone else brought to my attention. This is the same part that I will be changing on my trans. It started slipping and thats when I decided to check it out. I went ahead and pulled the transmission and replaced the a drum and the seals. Good luck to you.

 

Since you took it in I hope that they checked the fluid level -- obviously the first thing to check and if low .......... correct ........ then find the source of the leak.


The shop that gave you the 6k price was more than likely talking about a complete rebuild and maybe even ordering a rebuilt unit and only doing the R&R.


The second shop was going to fix what was wrong with it -- and they told you correctly -- do not drive it. You can fix these and get 200k out of them -- unfortunately the ZF did suffer from a pressure problem/ "A" drum -- it has little to do with miles or fluid condition.

 

I got my 2001 Jag vdp a new tranny for around 3,500. A painfull price to pay.

 

It cost me about 1,000 to rebuild mine, but it could be done cheaper, possibly, or more expensive depending on the failure.

 

Even cheaper, you could buy my 01 trans I have laying around, $500 usd! if you aren't having problems with trans codes and a gearbox fault message, I would check into those pressure control tsbs mentioned above. Tsbs can be very helpful at times. Of course, like everyone else said the first thing to do is properly check the fluid level, but if there are no leaks, it's probably just fine.

 

If you decide to fix it yourself, I'm not that far away if you want advice.