Have 120K on my '91 XJ6 Sovereign. The previous owner of 2 years never worked on the transmission. I've heard that a car with that many miles should not be flushed. Flushing could cause more damage than good stirring by stirring things up. There aren't any trans issues now. I just want to do any preventative maintenance to this beauty that will help and not hurt.

Insight from those who know more about cars and Jags than me is greatly appreciated.

 

My opinion.

Drain the trans, via the dipstick tube fitting, simply undo it and let it drain (into a container obviously), then remove the pan, and renew the filter, 2 years is NOT too long for trans fluid, BUT, did the owner before this guy do anything, ?????.

Check inside the pan for metalic particles. If there is any, the trans is on the way out, but sludgy grey stuff is sort of normal for neglected fluid.

Refill it to spec, go and drive it for about 100miles or so, then simply drain what you can via the dipstick fitting, about 3ltrs on mine, refill, drive again, and so on, until nice clean pink fluid drains out. About 7 times should do it. At that point I would do the filter again, and forget it for another 12 months.

If you got metal bits in the pan, as well as sludge, button it up, and refill it to spec, and drive it till it drops. Which could be a long time.

The ZF trans in these cars is a tough sucker, and will take some moderate abuse.

I did this to my X300, and it is as sweet as you could want, and I used synthetic fluid, just because.

The XJ-S is the same now, and it was a tad sad in 1996 when we first got it.

 

Thank you sooo much. It is those metal flakes that I was concerned about "stirring up". Great idea about the "rain and drive method" of clearing them out of the trannie. I, like you, want my cat to have a long, long life.

 

Right.
My tranny has been missbehaving too lately.
From cold, I have to get her upto about 4krpm before it will shift from 1st.
Then until the fluid is warmed, it shudders.
So.... I plan on the drain idea.
But, :-P My trans pan has a drain plug! Yey!.

 

AH, yes, our '88 also had a drain plug, the X300 does not, more money saving ideas I suppose, so one day I will stumble across a pan with a plug.

Just wish the TH400 in the Beast had a drain plug, that would be easier to drain??.

 

Ah. My 92 Tbird sport had no drain plug, and nor did my 79 Volvo 262... Both a pain in the neck, and back.... to deal with. lol.
Esp when the rubber gasket made "for your vehicle" has the bolt holes in the wrong place... lol
YEY for squeezy RTV sealer!! :-)

 

Well, shocker...
The drain plug on the trans is a hex bolt... Of an odd size. So I had to forget that idea and unhook the dipstick.
That itself was a struggle too!!
It seems to have been over tightened and even putting my foot and the pan and my entire back into it wouldnt shift it.
But, being the sideways thinker I am.... I employed the car jack to solve the frozen bolt.
Yup...

I slowly jacked it up on the wrench, a little at a time. Then once the springs were slightly extended, left on the fender!. "Squeeek!" it shifted and was loose.
The fluid flowed forth and I collected it in a bucket so I could inspect it.
Happily, no sign of any metal shavings or specks...

The fluid that came out can only really be described as a chocolate colored sauce.
I wana say I only got just about 2 quarts of fluid out.

But finding Dex IID not possible.
I put some Dex III in it.
I wana know what you put in your trans?

 

AHA, we are in the colonies, so what we get is usually not even recognised north of the equator. I just think we are "special people" hahaha.

I used Dex3,as Dex2 etc etc is LONG obsolete.

I now use "Nulon Multi Vehicle Synthetic Trans Fluid" and the list of suitability specs on the label is loooooooong.

It has done absolute wonders to the ZF in the X300, and the TH400 in the XJ-S, the old Type12 in the PreHE, weeeeell, it still leaks, and it still changes funny when cold, but at nearly 500k kms, I dont blame it.

If that old fluid was chocolatety coloured I would seriously be looking at the trans cooler matrix in the radiator, coz it sounds horribly like "water" contamination. I might be wrong, and it is just OLD fluid, BUT, that is usually BLACK, and SMELLY (like cats pee), YUK.

 

Yea, black and smelly is about right.

Well, changing the fluid didnt really help the problem.
She still had to get upto 4.5krpm before it started to try to shift.

But, now thats not really an issue.

5 minutes later she let me know that the new fluid tasted nasty because she proceaded to dump it out on the road.
The leak is comming from the front of the trand housing and comming out through the bottom of the crank pully (im guessing, the large cog behind the rear main ceal which the starter turns...). I think it just blew out a ceal. But that still means its off the road until I can get it looked at.


This of course leaved me carless... :-\

Still, Id rather a ceal went bad, than a god awful grinding noise, weird smell and shuddering. (he says remebering his old 302 eating its tranny)

<sigh>