My transmission has never missed a beat, but I am now right at 80k and today it did a little jerk in reverse when starting back and then again a few minutes later in forward. It is only when starting from idle and not everytime; no clunk when shifting otherwise. I have always babied the transmission, but it had almost 60k when I bought it.

Scary. I will take it in to my mechanic this weekend, but is this a common sign of worse things to come, or are there any other possibilities?

If the mechanic suggests it, has anyone found a transmission fluid change to be helpful with these symptoms?

Thanks...

 

Hmmm its hard to say. My transmission jerks once or twice when driving forward a few mins after shifting from reverse to drive before the engine/trans warms up and my transmission has been already repaired.

An early warning sign of my transmission about to fail was that when I reversed, it felt like the parking brake was on and I had to lightly press the gas to move instead of just letting her creep. Failed about 200 miles after that.

 

On closer observation this morning, I can also hear some low volume whining when in the lower gears. The main symptom remains, instead of that creep from a stop you refer to, it seems to totally disengage when at a stop and the clunk into gear when the gas is applied. After that it whines for a shift or two and then works fine. Highway speed no problem.

My first inclination is to get the trans fluid checked. That would be my dodge a bullet scenario if it worked. Thanks for your input from experience.

 

At the first indication of transmission problems it's best to go to a qualified mechanic ASAP - Both Jaguar transmissions are very sensitive to any drop in fluid level. You would not want to have any problem because of low fluid. Find a qualified shop that works on ZF transmissions.

Low fluid can cause minor clunks -- but it would have to be quite low to get the pump noise. Unfortunately, most problems require opening up the unit and then you get into a "while I'm in there" situation.

Your transmission has a common problem with one of the drums - unfortunately the only fix is replacement of that part. This problem has nothing to do with the fluid condition or the level.

 

Thanks for that nudge. I am taking it in this afternoon.

Will update with the upshot... hopefully nothing too seriously wrong.

 

My mechanic's assessment is that my symptom is an early indicator that the transmission has begun to fail, but that it could be months or longer before it does. He recommends driving it until it fails or proceed with a tranny rebuild that he estimates at $3200 complete. He feels that replacing the drum only is not good practice for the labor involved.

There were no signs of fluid leakage and he said without that it would not be a low fluid issue. No codes thrown either.

I have put a lot into the engine, and the car is in great shape otherwise, so it may make sense to do the transmission as well. I will do some shopping for a quality rebuilt unit to try and save some money. Any tips on preferred sources would be appreciated.

 

Does anyone have an opinion as to why these transmissions are so expensive to overhaul? Very hard to get out of car? Unbelievably exotic parts?

I have had automatic transmissions overhauled on various of my US made cars, for less than $2K.

Or is it that, if you drive a Jaguar you **must** have money? (sorry for the cynicism!)

But some opinions from anyone who has actually worked on these would be appreciated.

 

The friction material in both Jaguar transmission has a very long life -- most of the failures have nothing to do with the friction material. This is what used to be the cause of most failures in the hydraulic units.

So the idea that you can not go into a transmission and replace a part without doing a full rebuild is not accurate -- especially a valve body problem.

The ZF transmission is in a lot of cars and the drums are often replaced for much less than $3200.00.

 

It makes sense that the problem could be limited to a single part or two and that more service options should be available. My mechanic sounded as though he did the whole rebuild to make sure there were no remaining issues that would make warranting his work problematic.

I am not finding many options out there, however. There seems to be 3: do it yourself, have a mechanic rebuild it or replace with a rebuilt unit. I am not equipped to remove and replace or would tackle the job. I have found rebuilt units starting just under $2k, but with shipping and labor the bill gets pretty close to $3000. A better warranty or buying from a premium rebuilder could add another grand or more to that.

There doesn't appear to be a mechanic, at least in my area, that will do less. But I'm looking...

 

Driving today, I am finding no occurrences of the "lurch" effect on starting from dead stop, but I do hear the whining sound, especially in the lower gears. The volume would easily be masked by the radio and may have been going on for some time unnoticed. Is this whining indicative of a pump noise or what?

My mechanic dismissed any issue with low fluid, saying if it is sealed it has enough fluid and the fluid is fine. He said it was pointless to even check the level if there was no sign of leakage. This whine has me feeling like I should rule out low fluid first thing. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

On the subject of fluid, in case I end up checking and adding myself, can I top up with Castrol Multi or anything other than the Esso fluid? Should I drain and refill at a minimum or can I just top up?

Thanks again.

 

I have a sort of "whine" also. When I first got the car, I thought it was a wheel bearing, and I replaced the front left wheel bearing, but that made no difference. I only hear it at low speeds and/or low gears. I did change my tranny fluid and filter and later did another fluid only change, but no difference. I think it does it less in "sport" mode as it almost feels like the engine is lugging and when I force a downshift it goes away. I don't have any other symptoms and I just chalked it up to a tranny issue that won't go away until it gives up the ghost completely and needs a rebuild/replacement. I would be curious to find out if this is the case or maybe not with others.

 

Just read JagTechOhio's post about using the approved fluid... think I'll look for best price source for the Esso and quit squirming.

 

I would not contradict JagTechOhio, but I got the fluid from MotorcarsLTD. It's supposed to be the right stuff with th LT1411 (or whatever) rating.

 

Thanks Jim - I will try the S mode and see if any difference. Sounds like you have been driving with the noise for some time - my mechanic said there is no telling how long before it becomes fatal.

Your post gives me a bit of confidence that it might not fail right away.

 

Hi, Not sure what the problem is but my Trans does a similar thing. It shifts fine and is hard into gears especially on down shifts but there is a whine when I first start it on a cold morning and I don't let it warm up before stepping on it. I hear the noise let off and then it goes away with shift up and never makes the noise again after that. Doesn't happen all the time and it has done this since I bought the car over a year ago. I have the service records from Southhampton, NY Jag and they replaced the transmission. Not sure what is wrong with mine either. Thought for short time that it was timing chain but now pretty sure it is pump whine. Any input would be helpful. If anything changes with mine i'll post but has done this for years.

 

Just noted the age on this posting but if anyone has any ideas on the trans issue that would be great.

 

No. Your mechanic only wants the big dollar work or does not know how to check the level.

Not only should you check the level, you should drain and change.

Look for the other thread this week where people are reporting all problems gone after draining and refilling a couple of times. This is because not all of the fluid can be drained, so it is a way of moving more fresh fluid into the transmission.

 

Hey, I am new here but not to cars. I just had mine flushed, I have an 03 X-type. I had a BAD jerk when I would push the excellerator to the floor to pass or pull out into traffic and the car would downshift into passing gear. You can use Amzoil multi car synthetic (It says it is compliant right on the back of the bottle) to do the flush. It's Aprrox. $19.00 a quart but well worth it. I had mine done by a local shop for $190.00 and it instantly stopped the jerk. I had 100,000 miles, I know the say the fluid is good "forever" but I will tell you that mine looked like black goo as it came out.

 

Thanks, I just realized from your post that the whine I thought was coming from the engine is coming from the trans.

 

If you are unfortunate to find yourself in the position where your transmission is not working as it did when new -- You only have one choice. It must go and have the fluid checked -- no matter what anyone says about not seeing any leaks.

Modern transmissions are very sensitive to low fluid -- it must be checked. After 10 years it's easy to have 8 oz of fluid leak out of the box without detection. It's unfortunate that both boxes are so difficult. -- but it does stop owners from playing around with them and using the wrong fluid or introducing dirt.

Most of the problems have nothing to do with the fluid - but please if you are going to add or replace fluid -- use the correct one. Do not substitute