quick maintenance question
 

hopefully im in the right place if not please let me no but i took my 01 jag vdp in for its 100k tune up and i was having a chit chat with the mechanic and he was telling me that the transmission fluid doesnt need to be changed..... hmmm it sounded fishy to me, can anyone clear the air of this question of mine, should i leave the tranny fluid in the car or should i change it, and if i should change it roughly how much am i looking at in terms of cost and labor?


another question if i may, can anyone give me a quick list of 100k maintance that i should have taken care of, so far i did all the accesory belts, all fluids (steering, coolant, oil, brake) as well as new pads and rotors and spark plugs, thats about everything i had done, is there anything i forgot, oh and had everything insepected to see if it needed replaceing i.e tires AC components, shocks and what not.

thanks for all your responses sorry for the long winded speech

rogerskitty,

We will get you in the right section, this area is for the appearance care and detailing part of the Forum........:)

Maint
 

Maint schedule for 02 and above but is similar for yours.

with all apologies for putting it in the wrong section, and thank you for the maintenance guide its exactly what i need

The BIG thing that is missing is the replacement, or verification of replacement, of the plastic exhaust cam chain tensioners. Failures of this item will destroy your engine sooner or later. Search 'cam chain tensioners' for more information than you wanted to hear.

The 'life of the transmission' fluid change means exactly that. You should change the fluid at the time you have the transmission rebuilt which will be somewhere between 80 and a little over 100k miles. Your transmission also has a higher than desired failure rate due to a weakly designed/implemented transmission component (A drum) that a fluid change will not affect. Lots of discussion on that subject also. Change the fluid, couple hundred at an independent using fluid that meets ZF specifications, $800+ at the dealer using the same spec Jaguar fluid.

. . . and welcome to the forum!

OMG! part of me wishes i never herd of this cam tensioner problem, but im glad u pointed it out, i know it said that it affected cars from 1999-2000, do you think mine is safe from such design flaws being that its an 2001? and on the point of the tranny fluid, ive never had a problem with the tranny nor do i have one now at 106k miles so i guess ill leave the fluid in it to avoid any problems if in fact it would do no good in the essence of preventative maintenance if i changed the fluid or not due to the drum.

The tensioner was changed to metal at the start of the '02 model year, in fact my '02 manufactured in June '01 came with plastic. Obviously changed as soon as I acquired the car.

The ZF 5HP24 Repair manual clearly states that the fluid has a life expectancy of 10 YEARS.

An average of 12K miles per year would give you 8 or 9 years of service if you use the 100K mile service interval.

Or drive it 'til it quits' and then rebuild!!!!

bob gauff

I would do a fluid change, just pulled my transmission and replaced the "a" drum and more importantly the valve body section that houses the pressure regulating solenoid which is partly responsible for the "a" drum failures. Personally based on the fluid condition I found in my torque converter after 54K miles I plan on changing the fluid at 50K to 60K. The fluid in my torque converter was almost black, its supposed to be a honey/straw color. Just my 2 cents.

I thought it was by engine number. I think if you search and read the nikasil posts, Gus? or someone has a link to the changes by engine number - then of course you'll have to find yours....but I may be confusing the nikasil and tensioner issues, though.

Here's my 2 cents. I'm part of this forum because I bought a 1998 XJ8 with 152k miles on the odo. I bought it with a broken right secondary timing chain and tensioner. It came into the shop where I work running poorly. The tensioner broke and jammed the chain causing it to break. The guy was going to donate it to a wrecking yard and I was able to buy it instead.

I fully expected to have to tear the engine down because the chain broke and bent the valves. Turns out that the cams ended up in a position that the did not cause the valves to interfere with the pistons. I put a chain and tensioner on that side only to evaluate the whole car before I decide what to do with the car.

Turns out the car runs great after the chain and tensioner job except... The transmission shifts sloppy and when cold it made a whining noise on upshifts. It got quieter as it warmed up. It made what sounds like the pump cavitating. Soi fully expected to have to replace the transmission. But, I learned a long time ago before these "lifetime fluid" transmissions that a drop of the pan can tell you quite a bit about what to do next.

I dropped the pan. Black fluid. Metal particles growing on the magnets in the pan like stalagmites. But only two larger chunks of metal. I changed the fluid and filter. I hate to sound like a teenager, but, OMG! The trans shifts good now. Noise is gone.

Bottom line:

The odds of getting away with a broken tensioner and chain and not having to replace the head(s) or engine.... Not likely. Change them asap if they are not already the metal type.

In my humble opinion, you can't go wrong with dropping the trans pan to look for large chunks of metal that may indicate an impending failure. I think that my transmission was resurrected because I changed the filter. I think it was restricted with clutch material and metal from the friction plates. I think the noise I heard was the pump cavitating as it tried to pull fluid past the restricted filter.

The fluid is designed to hold up for the life of the trans assembly, however, I think that new fluid is better that 100,000 mile fluid. I did not have much invested in the car and the cost of fluid and filter was not bad considering the cost of an overhaul. After getting lucky with the chain I rolled the dice and got good results. I know it could still fail due to mileage.

I know that many will disagree on the trans issue, but, I'm just giving you my results and opinion.

OK. More than 2 cents.

Good luck,
Joe

JCH -- Did you check the fluid level prior to removing the pan?

The noise you describe sounds like the pump sucking air -- and air is "no good" Both of the Jags transmissions are fussy about fluid level. I bet your fluid was low -- and it is not unusual to see some shavings.


Back in the early 90's when these transmissions were being developed -- the fluids that we take for granted today were all new and very expensive. It made sense for the manufacturers to "seal" the transmission ... so well meaning mechanics and owners did not mess with them. People don't want to spend $15.00 for the correct fluid today -- they would have never spent $50.00 ten years ago ... and it was not readily available. I bet Nissan wished they sealed the early CVT units!.


The MB and ZF boxes were two of the early transmissions that set the standard for long life ....... even with the early problem areas --these transmissions easily last 120k ..150k -- unheard of in the early 90's

Yeldogt,

I did not check the transmission fluid level before I changed the fluid and filter. It would have been interesting to know now that I think of it. I knew that the pan was seeping fluid and that I wanted to see what was in the pan. I did not have the usual symptoms that low fluid levels will cause. However, it is possible it was low due to the leakage.

This customer had previously come in with low fluid symtoms months back. I topped off the fluid following the procedure and the "slips and grabs" syptoms went away but the noise from the trans was noted on the bill. I think it was almost 6 months before the timing chain broke.

A couple of years ago, I bought a PT Cruiser with a transmission noise similar to this Jag. I pulled the pan to see if I was looking at a trans overhaul or maybe just a plugged filter. When I pulled the pan down I found lots of metal in the pan and black fluid. That trans was not a "lifetime" fluid type. I changed the filter and the fluid and the noise went away. I sold it 6 months later.

I have never seen a transmission pan that did not have some metal in the pan or on the magnets inside the pan. Not unless the trans had beed serviced recently. It is normal to have clutch material and fine metal filings build up in the pan. My jag trans had a pile of fine shavings built about 10-14mm like sands in an hourglass. Each of the 4 magnets inside the pan were completely covered. These filings are consistent,IMHO, with normal wear on a pan that had never been opened and on a trans with very long service life.

What I was and still am lookin for is more life from the same trans before I have to rebuld/replace it. I feel that if I left the trans as it was with the noise and sloppy shift, I would hasten the day that the trans failed completely. I like how it runs and shifts now and I'm going to keep driving it till it quits or I sell it.

I see lifetime fluids in the same light as 100,000 mile spark plugs or 10,000 mile oil change intervals. They are a cool selling point and convenient. However, I have had to change plugs because they failed long before that 100k mile service life and I've seen the inside of engines that had oil changes every 10,000 miles compared to those that have them every 3 to 6k. Big difference in sludge build-up.

It is expensive if you have to replace Jag trans fluid and you have to pay a qualified tech to do the job. I do it myself and accept the consequences good or bad. I can report good results on my trans so far.

If anyone disagrees with what I post, please reply and I will be happy to learn other peoples views on the matter. It's all good.

Joe