Hello all,

I'm attempting to diagnose a symptom that has recently arisen in my 2003 Jaguar XJ8. The car has 84,000 miles on the dial.

I have a scraping/grinding noise coming from engine bay while accelerating upon start-up of the vehicle. The noise will dampen/dissapear after driving for 20 mins or so. Also, it may or may not be unrelated, but I do sense somewhat of a power loss when driving the vehicle, and shifting of gears is not seamless (it will lurch when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear).

Has anyone had a similar issue? I have a feeling it may be a lazy tensioner. The noise does appear to be coming from the engine compartment, as you can take a stethoscope and hear the scraping mildly when idling. Any help will be appreciated.

 

You need to change ur transmission fluid!!!

 

Damnit, I just did it 5,000 miles ago. Did a drain and refill with Valvoline fluid that is compatible with the spec. The way it was done was through a fluid exchanger, basically they cycled the old fluid out with the new.

 

BTW, I used Valvoline Multi-Vehicle Import, and I see some here and at the BMW forums are recommending Max Life ATF for the ZF transmission.

Also, on another note, I do have a noticeable shudder with a wheel shake when I reach speeds of 52-60 mph. Seems related to the TC lockup, but not sure if doing a proper flush and filling with Max Life ATF might alleviate these problems. Any suggestions?

 

I think both fluids meet the spec. A Jag service manager said Mobil 1 is better, but they can't use it because of warranty issues.