Hello I have a 98 Jaguar VDP and was wondering if any other year transmissions are compatible to this exact model, mine just went out and am looking to drop a different transmission in it.

 

Its doable there’s videos on youtube by autoalex cars 5 speed manual sourced from another jag. also a ls3 manual swapped XJ8L by TheSmokingTire probably a jaguar specialties kit . either way its gonna be expensive.

 

Any ZF 5HP24 from 1998 to 2003 XJ sedan or 1997 to 2002 XK will work.

 

I have a 98 xj8 Long base (but not VDP). It had a blown tranny and I bought it cheap as a parts car for my low mileage VDP. Long story short, a European specialty shop near me had a 2000 LWB xj8 come in with a blown motor, but the guy had just had the tranny rebuilt 15,000 miles before his engine blew ---- so I had the shop install his rebuilt tranny into my parts car.
A person at one of the famous jag parts places (in Ohio) had told me years before that the 98 jags had something weird about their trannies and that only 98s could go into 98s. The European mechanic said that was wrong and my car would accept any zf5hp24 transmission (probably even ones from audi and BMW cars he thought). He installed the zf5 tranny from the 2000 car AND
my jag now has very harsh garage shifts (going from Park to Reverse or Park to Drive). I have had the car at 2 different transmission specialist and they can't find why it does this - they checked transmission mounts, engine mounts - everything seems seems stable and ok to them. I have wondered if maybe the transmission mounts are somehow different between the 98 and other vintages that allows just enough mis-alignment or play to produce the harsh jolt into Drive or Reverse ????

Both tranny shops said everything tests fine and to just drive it - so I do, but it the harsh garage shifts are annoying (and it has a harsh downshift around 45mph). In hindsight I wish I had saved the money on mine and either put it in the VDP or gone for a x350.

Worst part to all the x308 tranny stories is if the owners just did the valve body transgo upgrade a $600 job could have saved hundreds of these cars

 

My jag had hard shifts from park to drive also even if i held my foot on the break hard itd still jerk a bit and everyone asked why it did that but I have no clue, also it downshifted pretty rough around 35 mph and sometimes had a hard shift from a stop that started happening before the trans blew on me.

 

Hey 98 VDP Dude, did your car shift hard as you were pulling out and driving away in 1st gear or did it clunk the moment you let off the brake, before the car even moves ? Was yours noticeable to passengers or just you ? Mine is not very noticeable to passengers and actually happens before the car moves. Once the car starts moving, all upshifts are smooth
Did you get your tranny autopsied ? was it the infamous broken A-clutch ?

 

One thing I tell customers is that when you start the engine up cold is to let it idle down to under 1k rpm’s (about 15 seconds) before you shift out of park. It’s kinda like a neutral drop if you will. Just because the trans was rebuilt, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the valve body was gone through with an updated main pressure regulator valve or one with a resleeved bore and new valve. I would ask the rebuilder if the valve body had either of the updates done to it. If you don’t get any confidence vibes from him, I’d say most likely never happened.

 

This thread makes me want to go and get a Transgo upgrade done. Still less than 70000 miles.

 

The cheapest TransGo 5HP25PR I found is Rock Auto at just over $50 with shipping/tax.

I found one in my parts bin in my shop that is a few years old and it is marked just under $40.
I need one for the 1998 XK8 I just bought so I am replacing it with the Rock Auto one to have it in stock.

 

I would think most transmission shops have them or can get them, ne?

 

I'm sure a trans shop can, I just buy the part and install it.

The part seems to go for $50 to $$80 depending on where you buy it.