1999 XJ8 - recently purchased. Automatic transmission seems to work well, no problems taking off or getting up to speed, but it won't downshift more than one gear, so when I'm doing maybe 40 MPH and press the accelerator, it will go down one gear, but if I push down on it further, it just bogs down until I let off. Could this be a relay or something?

 

OK, so updating my own post...had the car in and checked over from local shop and found while the fuel filter looks good on the outside, it was "pretty gunky" on the inside. Had it and also the transmission fluid replaced...and voila, the thing now downshifts like it should. It seems it was starved for fuel, and then maybe the fresh fluid in the trans has helped it as well.

Overall, the shop did the review and now I've got a list of things to work on, but nothing I'm afraid to address with a little help here from the fine folks on this forum. Work will include:

- new lower front ball joints
- new front and rear shocks
- new pads and rotors front and rear
- new tires - this may wait a while...plenty of tread but the outer edge is worn unevenly due to misalignment.

So, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Little by little this long jag will roar.

 

I'm surprised the lower ball joints failed -- normally it's the uppers that go first. Make sure to check the uppers -- not expensive. You don;t want to do the lowers if the users are questionable. The boots on the tie rod ends should also be inspected. Unfortunately, the lower ***** are more difficult. Jaguar only sells the arm w/ball -- the ball is available aftermarket . but is tricky to get correct.

The proper shocks are expensive -- brakes and tires typical costs both OE and aftermarket

 

On my XJR, all 4 balljoints were bad. The inner bushings on the upper arms were cracking, as were the bushings on the sway bar links, and the lower and upper shock mounts. I ended up just refreshing everything.

The upper arm comes off easily to work on in a press. I did the lower balljoints in situ.