My '98 XJ8 VDP has the same problem once in a while.

When it happens, I just shift into another gear for a bit or run through the J-gate, and then it works fine.

When I brought it into the dealer recently for scheduled maintenance they could not reproduce or diagnose the problem. Hasn't happened since.

Maybe its just one of the Jag "personality quirks" you hear about?!

 

I would stay away from that car man. That cannot be good. But maybe one of the Jaguar experts on here can shed some light on the issue.

 

I had an exact problem on my old XJ40 too . It mainly happens when your car sits more thantwo days . You may wanna remove the plastic cover around the gear knob to grease the linesbut as I ain't an expert I still don't know if that's a good way to fix .

 

Sounds realtively minor... I wouldn't discount an othrwise nice Jag for a shifter porblem. I think you may want to look at the brake switch, it locks the car in and out of park. I had a similar problem only in my case the shifter wouldn't come out of park on occassion. The cause was a worn brake swithc, not expensive and an easy fix. When you step on the brake after starting, you should hear a slight click from the shifter. If not it's not working properly.