I agree not to substitute with "cheap" alternatives. But Amzoil is by no means a low quality brand and they have taken the time to research enough to feel comfortble to put it on the bottle that it meets or exceeds the standards. I only have about 200 miles on it so far but i will chime back in at a later point when I have put say 2000 miles and update everyone.

 

I agree Yeldogt - it certainly makes sense to rule out low fluid first. The plan is to take it back in and have them put it on the lift and top it off with the Esso. I can't wait around for something bad to happen without knowing the fluid is where it needs to be.

If that doesn't help, I will source a good quality rebuilt ZF and just pay a pro to swap it out. Even with another $3000 on top of the $2200 for my upper end overhaul, I will have a great car (that I love to drive) with lots of miles to go for under $15,000 total investment.

I am curious about alternative ATFs Blanco, but besides all the good cautionary advice here on the forum, I have only ever used recommended spec in this car and want that to be its history if I ever do sell it. Thanks though for keeping us all posted on how it works out!

 

Well, the suspense is over. I noticed some slippage from a dead stop at lunchtime and now she will only go in reverse, Forward is just total slippage.

I am thankful for reverse, anyway. Not that I could get her home, but at least I was able to park her properly.

One thing I do appreciate about this car, she only strands me in very convenient places. First in my driveway and now at my office. It's the little things, you know...

 

I have found a transmission shop that has been around 20+ years and is experienced with the ZF 5HP24. Good reputation and they warrant their work. They have diagnosed a failure in the forward drum and will replace that drum and do a general service for an estimated range of $1200-$1400 complete. They have had good results with these forward drum replacements and don't believe a complete rebuild is typically warranted.

This is good news and I will be taking it in. Will report following repair.

 

That is the part I spoke of -- you want to get it into the shop before any of the drum has a chance to crack off and destroy the box.

 

Roger that. It's getting towed in on Monday. It was hard finding someone who was willing to do less than a complete overhaul, but these guys have found it is usually not required for this problem, unless like you say, the edge of the drum breaks off and sends metal bits everywhere.

Looks like I have dodged that bullet... fingers crossed.

 

Glad you found someone that can fix it.

The drum is the weak link in the ZF transmission -- and the bearing is the weak link in the earlier Mercedes boxes. It is not a fluid or friction material issue with either of them. But quickly finding a competent mechanic is paramount at the first sign of any anomaly.

Personally, I don't see the benefit in doing a total rebuild on an older car with 80k on the clock. I have heard countless stories of these boxes going 200k and more with no problems and no fluid changes.

 

Tomorrow I pickup my car with repaired transmission. I was surprised to find out that the mechanic opted to repair the forward drum by welding the retaining ring in place all around the edge after replacing whatever parts were questionable within the drum. He felt it was a practical solution, believes it will be just as dependable as replacing the drum, and is giving me a year warranty on the work. He has done several such ZF repairs with success using this method. Inspection, cleaning, new filter, fluid and the total bill is just about $875.

I will report on the results from the driver seat.

 

I am happy to report my transmission is working beautifully. Most shifts are only noticeable by ear - very smooth. In sport mode there is a bit of a noticeable shift going up into 3rd, but overall it is smoother shifting than before it failed and very quiet.

I spoke to the mechanic who showed me a broken A drum and explained his repair. Fortunately, no pieces of the drum broke off in my case. He replaced the plates, gaskets, and seals within the drum and then welded the retaining clip in place all around the edge of the drum.

While I would most likely have opted to spend the extra money for a reinforced drum instead of this repair approach, hearing him describe the process and his confidence in it (backed by the year warranty), along with the $600 bucks or so that stayed in my pocket has me feeling OK about it.

Back on the road again, again.

 

Three weeks ago I acquired a 2002 XJ8 VDP w/80K miles. I recently noticed a couple of small (pinkish) spots on the garage floor under the transmission pan. I put it on a lift, and the fluid appears to be coming out of the right hand corner of the pan. Yesterday I noticed the car would slip into to gear after a complete stop w/a noticable clunk. It had been shifting very smoothly until this. I am thinking this could be a result of low tranmission fluid? Since then, I am not driving the car other than moving it out of the garage and back.

I am not near a Jag dealer and am kind of on my own on this one. I have purchased a pan gasket, filter and O ring. It is my understanding that it it is acceptible to top off ATF fluid. I know there are a lot of opinons on the fluid. The problem is, I don't think this is the original fluid, which I understand is golden in color. There were no records w/the car. I am out in the boonies and have access to few products, ie Castrol and Mobil synth. I don't mind ordering whatever is recommended, but don't want to go to the expense (Pentosin?) if compatibilty in uncertain anyways. I understand there is no way to completely drain the fluid, without removing the transmission, so I am stumped. If someone could explain, in the simplest terms how to top off the transmission fluid (as well as the type recommended, and amount probably needed), or if there is a laymans way to completely flush the system, I would appreciate it. A mechanic friend is going to help with this, but has little Jaguar knowledge. Sorry to be so long winded, but I need to get this figured out by midweek so I can go away.

Someone also suggested that since the leak is so slow, it may not be a fluid issue, but rather a computer issue and a "hard reset" may take care of the problem. Either way, I still need to take care of the fluid change.

Thanks in advance.

Peter

 

I was at 79,500 miles when my clunk started. It took just a few days to become undriveable. Most experts I spoke with before it failed completely said low fluid was probably not the issue, but then I had zero signs of leakage. If you have signs of leakage you should definitely make sure it has adequate fluid and see if that stops the problem. I wouldn't think a hard reset would be effective with the clunk from dead stop symptom, but it is easy to try.

There are strong opinions about the choice of fluid, as you will read here. Without mechanical flushing equipment the routine seems to be repeated drain and fill, 3-4 or more times running the box through the gears in between, to reduce the old fluid to a very small percentage. But if it isn't a low-fluid issue, it is failing and you are going to pull it and drain it to repair it anyway.

Search this forum and you will find many posts about the transmission fluid, how to changing it, top it up, etc. Good luck out there -

 

With today's vehicles it becomes more important to have the fluid and filter changed when reccommended. My 2001 started out with these problems and then went down hill, it cost me $3500 to get the tranny rebuilt

 

I did a drain, filter and gasket change and later did a drain and refill. The fluid I used was Pentosin from Motorcars (no affiliation). I know there are a lot of opinions on the fluid, but I've been fine with the Pentosin for about 20K miles. Yes, these transmisions appear to be a little fragile, so I hope yours isn't too far gone yet. I have heard of people dropping one of the transmission cooler lines and letting the fluid get pumped out. You can probably find a post somewhere on that, but I wasn't too comfortable with that method.

 

My 2001 VDP is starting to jerk when being put in reverse in the mornings. It doesn't do it anymore after driving. So is this the drum starting to go bad?

I have 115k miles on her and 6k to go until extended warranty expires.

 

Whenever you start to have an issue you must have the fluid checked -- both boxes are very susceptible to low fluid-- this is true of many modern transmissions. They are sealed with the proper fluid and designed in many cases to be left alone.

The drum issue is not fluid specific -- but it must also be addressed ASAP. Not working in reverse is the classic case of drum problem in many BMW's

When the fluid gets a little low the trans can shift funny. People do a reset -- thinking that solves the problem -- and it had nothing to do with it. The MB boxes have a known leak area - The ZF's are usually tight

Fix the leak and fill in up with the correct fluid. These transmissions are not delicate. They are moving a 2+ ton car with 300+ hp and most people never touch them. Cars built in 1990 - just 10 years before most of the Jags we are talking about would be lucky to see 100k on the original transmission.

 

Yes, indeed!! I was hearing noise in low gears, and 2 faults, took it to the shop and fluid was indeed low.

Problems solved.

 

That's great.

My XJR's transmission has never been touched since new -- I had the fluid checked recently for the first time and it was just down a few ounces. It was within range but at the lower end of the scale. So in 10 years and 50k miles it may have used a little fluid -- never any leaks -- nothing ever touched.

With an unknown car history -- you really are in the dark as to the level. This is especially true if the seal on the dipstick has been changed.

 

Had the filter, fluid, and drain plug replaced today.

Took 7 Q of pentosin.

Feels good so far.

 

hi i would have to say that the noise in the trans that some people are talking about is small pieces of the drum that is braking inside the trans drum getting ground up in side trans and the problem happen to my xk8 same trans and found the drun broken at snap clip grove and i replaced drum and refit and then noise was gone and trans worked fine until is was hot and then it was slipping and i have not removed it again to check more. i also have 2 xj8s with the same trans and they will not go in drive until high engine
rpm and then has a tran fault light and i removed and found same drum broken and i replaced drum on that trans and it worked ok but the 3 gear shift is a little hard. i am a master jaguar tech at a dealer and we dont do the drum repair because cant be sure how trans will work after only drum repair because of unseen damage and its labor and parts is to much. i can fix it my self so its at my cost and my free time . i talk to the people at zf about the broken drum and was told the drum brake because the a valve stick inside valve body. i have one more trans to remove and replace drum and we will see how that goes later. i would have someone remove pan and check for metal in pan but if you wait until it wont move in drive you may cause more damage to trans if the rebuild was to be done on this trans or exchange unit.

 

I had my drum replaced too and I have the hard 3rd gear shift. Have you heard of the updated replacement drum ever failing? Mine has had the hard shift since it was rebuilt which was about 15k miles ago. I added more fluid and my 3rd shift is now smoother but its a slower shift than the other gears. All of my hard/harsh shifts occur when I'm driving at a relaxed pace. The 3rd gear shift is hard if I lift off the gas and the trans shifts to 3rd. Everything is smooth when I'm flooring the gas however.