So I had a transmission fault light come on a few days back and now this is what has resulted. I put the car in park and it wouldn't budge or let me turn the key. I fiddled and eventually got the gear selector to move normally. Then to park the car, the selector was not able to move all the way up to the park position, so I was leaving it in neutral with the e-brake on to park it. This was a few days ago.


today:
I moved the cable underneath the car when I was inspecting the linkage bolts (both still on tight) and I think I may have confused the transmission. The "P" for park does not illuminate but the other gears do. But when I'm in reverse with the shift lever, the Neutral Light is illuminated. How can I fix this? I got the selector to move into park but the park LED doesn't light up so I don't think it's actually there.


the car will not start and is in failsafe mode. the funny part was it was showing transmission high temp as well even though the car wasn't on or able to turn on.

1999 XJR

 

Sounds like a stretched cable.

 

Ok well I fiddled more and got the car to start. I can only start it with it in reverse. When I switch to drive I get a transmission high temp. When I switch back to reverse the warning light goes away. When I put it park I get a transmission High temp again. How do I fix this confused car. It's now going into each gear selection fine but I shouldn't have to be in reverse to start the car

 

Also it still is showing the neutral "N" light up when I'm in reverse

 

I removed the center console to check and all moving parts are going through their full range of motion. And it is moving the lever on the outside of the transmission in its full range as well now... Should I adjust the cable? I'm not sure which adjuster to move

 

You do not state what year and model. The SC version uses
the Merc transmission while the plain versions use a ZF.

On the N light when in reverse, is that with the shifter fully
at the reverse position, or you sense the transmission is
in reverse but the shifter is wherever it happens to land?

On the Merc transmission there is an adjustment procedure
for the cable which you can find in JTIS.

On that transmission, temperature is only available when not
in park or neutral.

If the bush for the electrical connection at the front right of
the transmission has not been upgraded, then false readings
might be the result of atf wicking up the wires.

 

It's a 99 xjr

The shift lever lands on the reverse position, i feel the car shift into reverse, and the neutral light is illuminated. the car drives in reverse. The car will only start in reverse. I'm guessing now because of the hightemp reading isn't displayed with in reverse

I was getting the high temp reading and no start, even when the car hadn't been turned on for a few days.

Is there anything that could have broken by me trying to get it into/out of park when it was stuck?

here's a pic of the white plastic thing that commonly breaks. I moved the shifter over to take the pic and inspect it. everything looks like it's in-tact and moving normally

 

also it randomly displayed a few errors and I have been clearing the codes by unplugging the battery and seeing if the car will learn itself back to normal but it hasn't worked yet. So far i've had washer fluid low and traction control fail and stability fail in addition to the other codes. not sure why. they go away when i restart the car and i primarily am just stuck with transmission fault and temperature

 

All those codes are a strong indication of low battery voltage. You should have about 12.5V with the ignition off. Try giving the battery a overnight charge.

A better indication is if it drops much below 11V when cranking.

 

Battery is fine

 

I'm going to do this today see what happens

 

well i think that was the problem... The cable's adjustment nut possibly slid (over the threads) all the way out making the cable end too long.

I went to adjust the cable underneath the car and it was too long to hold the trans into neutral (it was pushing the gear selector in the car into "R") the inside the car adjustment nuts did not matter. The ball joint part of the cable under the car was too long so I went to shorten it and it snapped off.



All the pictures i've seen of this part of the cable have hardly any "threads" showing next to the little nut. Mine had a good 3/4" of threads showing, so I'm assuming it somehow stripped and just slid all the threads out making the cable too long. I was able to loosen the lock nut but the ball joint part was not easy to screw further in. I was using plenty of PB blaster. I got it about halfway to where it should be and it snapped. this picture shows the lock nut i'm talking about, only there were almost an inch of threads showing and after the nut and in this picture there are none:




I'm pretty sure the whole cable needs to be replaced now. There are none available on ebay and I can't find any online. Can someone help locate? I would rather pay 80~ for a used one than the OEM price that i saw

 

(not my pic but same thing)

 

 

The manual does not say anything about adjusting at that
end, but the manual has been known to be deficient in the
past.

One way to get en ebay seller to cough up a part is to look
for someone parting out the right vehicle, then ask them
about that particular part. They don't always go to the trouble
of listing more obscure parts. Every listing costs them money
whether it sells or not. So it makes sense for them to list a
popular part as a way of getting some attention, then wait
for queries about other parts. Use the "contact seller" links
to ask your question.

Then again, if you say the assembly is way too long, then you
could drill out the end, tap it and screw the cable end in.

 

yes i did notice the service manual didn't say to adjust that nut. After taking the cable off of the selector arm on the trans and putting the shift knob into Neutral, i wasn't able to put the cable back on the transmission selector arm without it pushing the arm forward into reverse. Thus the problem I was having (starting the car in reverse and DLS showing the wrong gear illuminated.)

It was pretty clear that the only way to shorten the cable to NOT push the selector arm forward, was to adjust that nut that broke. I'm not sure if I can drill out JUST the bolt without making the hole need something wider. But yes that would work if it threaded the same size

 

I'd be junk yard pokin'......call around. They'll more than likely use the Lull to lift it for ya for easy access, if not remove it for ya.
...btw, do you have a part number?

Update: Here's a site I use occasionally, they are a yard service that uses yards nationwide. Here's the link with the tranny cable search already....https://www.partrequest.com/auto_par...ble/jaguar/xj8

 

you got me excited for a sec.... unfortunately it is a different part number for the XJR and will only fit 98-03 years. part number is MND4830BB. I'm going to make some calls tomorrow and I sent out some messages to potential XJR part-outs on ebay.

 

I could not find an XJR cable cheap for the life of me a couple years ago so I bought a used $15 XJ8 cable for the heck of it. If you modify/cut/drill/ and blend the XJ8 and XJR mount at the transmission (where I circled) it will work too. Cables are basically the same except for the tranny mount bracket. Mine still works flawlessly for $15 on ebay and a little bit of ingenuity. Disassembling the cable and blending everything together was my ultimate plan but like you snapped off your cable, I figured that would happen so I modified the mount

 

Oh well, worth a shot,...but you can prompt on the year on the left when the link opens, it will leave you with 3 choices, then prompt the details and it'll take you to their listing on ebay and they have a phone number to call.