i have a 98 vanden plas i recently had the transmission swapped out, it shifts great and is very responsive. but when i put the car in to drive its really harsh as if I'm hitting the gas before it goes in drive. any ideas what it could be? i need to problem solvers here!
thanks -josh-

 

hey, im having the same exact issue and th car is being looked at by another tranny guy as we speak. i had a replacement installed and was experiencing what you describe as well as some hard downshifts. upshifts are very smooth and there is no slipping. they seem to think its a pressure issue and are checking the valve body and solenoids. let me know what you do and i will also update the thread as well. i also tried swapping a TCM , but nothing really improved.

 

i was told it could be the gear shifter it self that for some odd reason these tend to go out when swapping the transmission, i also was told to hit the ground cable to the positive cable on the battery this resets everything including the shift sequence on the tranny and this can help. but i haven't done that yet. i'll probably try that tomorrow.

 

well , i have gone down both those roads... i took my console out and discovered my whole shifter mechanism to be fubar. all the microswitches were either broken / missing , the shift lock mechanism was all shattered and broken, plus the lock solenoid plunger was missing. this was obviously the result of a forced un-doing of a locked shifter and some other butcher work. anyhow, i replaced everything with second hand units off ebay which worked out well price wise , however, there was still no difference in the trans issues. i also did the "hard reset" and had an indy jag guy check for stored codes and clear any prior ones out. my car should be back from the trans specialist in the next couple of days. i will surely update you on what was done. in the meantime , if i were you , i would pop off the center console trim and have a look to see how your shifter unit looks. that should be addressed anyhow!

good luck

 

i surely hope my shifter isn't that bad, but in the other hand if it is and a swap it out and it resolves my problem id be happy. well if i dont problem solve my hard shifting i'll be waiting to hear what your transmission specialist comes up with thanks.

 

well i checked out my shifter today and it all looked great so thats not my problem. also i tried the hard reset by hitting the - to the + and it done nothing. nothing reset. not sure what i could of done wrong. i mean theres only one way really to hit the - to the + cable.

 

if it did reset , you would experience the high rpm start (until the throttle body settles). i did the pos to neg , i did a complete battery disconnect for at least 15 min , overnight etc etc. all resulted in a reset , but unfortunatly no difference in trans behavior. i will issue a full report once i hear back - hopefully tomorrow

 

hey domer, you ever get your jag back?

 

Both of you reference having the transmission 'swapped out' or 'replaced'. Does that mean a rebuilt unit or an used one?

Hard shifts into first can be a symptom of an 'A' drum problem. That is reported to be associated with valve body cylinder wear allowing too much pressure to the hit the 'A' drum ultimately resulting in its failure.

 

I'm a noob, but may be experiencing the same scenario...

When going from Park into Drive, the car engages Drive like it's ready to go. Mine doesn't slam into gear or anything, but does really start to pull when engaging Drive.

I RTFM and it specifically says to use the Parking Brake when going from Drive to Park and Park to Drive or Park to Reverse and Reverse to Park. The previous owner did not do this and relied on the transmission brake, which I've never done on any automatic transmission equipped vehicle I've owned to date. So I followed the owner's manual procedure and noticed drastic improvement while engaging Reverse and Drive from Park and Park from Reverse or Drive.

 

i am going to call the guy today. the trans guy is a specialist that was contacted through someone else, so there is a little communication difficulty. im trying not to harrass them either!

i will let you know asap

 

my indy guy now hass the car back but hasnt been able to clear the codes out and drive it. i should know for sure tomorrow. however , he said the trans guy said it was fine now... we shall see

 

haha, ya i know what you mean by the harassing. i try hard not to do the same thing but its so easy to do when things aren't your way

 

well , got the car back today and unfortunatly some slight issues remain. they replaced the valve body and solenoids and then cleared some codes (all the ones he could , but the old ones that are stored need the jag computer). they told me to drive it for a while and then have jaguar re-map / reflash the TCM. i did notice improvement, but hopefully the next step can smooth the last of it out.

 

where they able to fix the hard shifting?

 

it goes into reverse butter smooth , then drive is still a little strong still. it doesnt clunk or slam though. upshifts are great , and i still have a little bit of a hard downshift i think from 3rd to 2nd. tomorrow or tues i will stop by the jag dealer , and have the reflash done then report back. my indy guy said to drive it for a couple of hundred miles first to let the traans and tcm adapt as much as possible. all in all , i can say it improved my conditions thus far.