Hummmm...well, you have tried what I would have tried.

The only thing I can think of is to find a way to get a view inside the truck so you can see what is going on.

I have one of these that I bought at Harbor Freight;




This camera allows to me to see in inaccessible areas and has saved me many times. The only problem is that I think the camera is too big to fit through the small screw hole used to attach the licenses plate.

There are some large holes in the floor of the trunk that are accessible from under the car but those are normally covered by a mat or carpeting. There is also a hole for the rubber tube for the battery vent but again, I'm not sure it's big enough for the camera.

If you cannot find an existing hole to use you would have to drill a new hole behind the license plate big enough for the camera. You could plug the hole after you finish.

Wish I could offer more help.

Mark

 

My 89 has had a hole drilled to allow the truck release to be tripped. I think there is a detail of where this hole needs to be drilled in Kirby Palms book.

 

SC6 I looked in Kirby's book on page 624 and there isn't any discussion of this problem. If you could send me a picture or measurement of where the hole should be located it would be greatly appreciated. Based upon my observations it should be straight down from the lock and about three inches higher that the bottom of the trunk lid. This would expose the latch mechanism itself and I could then pry directly on the lock pawl. I think I will be able to see the sill where the striker is bolted by looking at the gap between the trunk lid and the tail light panel. This would give me a better idea of how high up I should drill the hole. (Oh, the pain!)I know that my problem is not with the lock and release lever itself. When I unlock the lock I can move the lever up, it just doesn't pull the release part of the actual latch. By the way my car is an 89 convertible.

 

I've been working on the trunk latch a lot lately on my Shooting Brake project. I don't have a specific suggestion about how your latch has become stuck but I can suggest that you could make a decent sized access hole behind the license plate. Then plug that hole with a big rubber plug when done. The license plate will always be on the car covering up any cosmetic concerns.

 

Actually, I might have an idea on what is wrong. When I first installed the trunk latch assembly my latch handle worked properly and pulled up the rod connected to the latch itself--but failed to pull it far enough to release the latch.

 

Don't keep me in suspense- I'm all ears.

 

Sorry, I didn't complete my thought. chance that your latch is moving the rod--but not enough.

Thus, if you can get to the rod (via an inspection hole) and pull on it then maybe that's your problem.

 

I will try and get a pic in the morning. It would help if you could send me a email address, as I haven't been successful in posting pics, especially from my phone.

 

I just sent you a p.m.

 

I finally got my trunk open. I am submitting a separate post so that it will be able to found in a search.

 

Thanks to all for your help and suggestions.

 

Finally I rolled up my sleeves to take a look at the trans. mount as well as change the fluid and filter. Since I still haven't bought the ROM I did a lot of research on the web and found a lot of great info, here , and on several other forums and blogs. I also had the advantage (?) of 45 years of hobby wrenching on many different cars and motorcycles. I bought a small trolley jack from Harbor Freight and this along with my other lifting equipment, big old floor jack, hydraulic scissor jack, heavy duty jackstands, and lots of wooden blocks made the job a little easier.

The biggest problem I had was that the bolt heads of the forward end of the large mounting plate were blocked both by the exhaust pipes and the turned up end of the bracket itself.A "crow's foot" wrench or a regular box wrench bent to a 90 degree angle would have made the work a lot easier. I used a regular angle ended combo box wrench. I was able to get the box end on and loosen the bolt a bit, the used the open end to finish the job. After I removed the mounting plate I used a hack saw to trim the upturned part of the bracket that had given me so much trouble. There wasn't even a trace of the rubber spool, I wonder if it had been left out in a previous repair?

I didn't want my version of the Exxon Valdez in my driveway. I laid a plastic drop cloth down. I had seen a rectangular four inch high, two ft. by three ft. plastic under the bed storage container at the hardware store. I found an eleven qt. drain pan at the auto store. I put the drain pan into the storage container and managed to remove and drain the pan without making a mess. What the pan didn't catch, the container did, and the drop cloth took care of the few stray drips. I did have a problem in that the exhaust pipes were blocking access to some of the pan bolts. I ended up using my smallest sockets, 1/4 in drive and extensions which fit easily into the gap available. Reassembly was the reverse of dis assembly. Really there is nothing to fear of the spring, just be sure you have the bracket supported by a jack, and lower it slowly. This job is nowhere near as dangerous as removing the suspension coil springs. Those could easily kill you.

Changing the oil was next. The only problem is the oil filter is hard to get a wrench on. I bought one that fit the facets on the filter bottom but it was too small. What I had on hand that worked great was a strap wrench. Instead of a handle it had a fitting for a 3/8 drive extension. This just slipped on easily.

I had a great opportunity to check out and familiarize myself with the under carriage of my car. No damage and no rust. I bet this was always a So. California car. I did find that the right side lower suspension arm bushing was bad, this would explain why it pulled to one side. Something to add to the list.

I wish that I could say that the fluid and fluid change worked a miracle. I test drove it for five or six miles and didn't see any great improvement. I added a can of Sea Foam trans tune, than drove it another few miles. If this solvent is going to "dissolve sludge and varnish" I guess it would take a while. The car was good and warm when I parked it I'll just give the "faeries in the can" a little more time to do their magic. My late Father in Laws' old Fleetwood Caddy took awhile to come back to life after setting for several years. Again Happy New Year to All. I look forward to another great year on the road and on this forum!

 

I've been down in So Cal for several days. I decided to look on CL for some XJS parts. I contacted a guy in Garden Grove who is in the business of selling used Jaguar parts. I bought a complete jack set up including the spark plug wrench and bag and the battery box cover. He also had a ground effects kit, front bumper with spoiler, rear bumper and rocker panels. I was tempted, but that's not the look I'm going for right now.

I haven't been able to look at my car for over a week. I'm going to look for a good transmission shop when I get home. Today I'm going to take a look at one of my dream cars on a dealer's lot up in the Valley

 

My plans have been thwarted by the wet weather and my lack of space in my garage. I had bought Ron Session's Turbo Hydramatic book years ago and have been studying it again closely. I can't say that I understand it all but I'm picking some ideas up. There are only a few things that can be easily changed without pulling the transmission. 1) fluid and filter change 2) vacuum modulator 3) governor and 4) pulling the valve body and accumulator piston. I changed the fluid and filter. Doesn't seem to have cured the problem. I read that the vacuum modulator can affect the fluid pressure. I thought that the modulator could only affect the timing of the shift points. I'm going to remove the modulator and check if it is seized or the valve behind it is stuck or gummed up. If the movable shaft is seized up maybe that could have some kind of effect on the function of the trans. Next I will pull the governor and see if it is seized up or moving freely. Could be the same problem. That will be the extent of what I can do. After this I will have to take the car to a transmission shop. I wanted to see if there was something I could do before spending more money. I am being very careful in how I spend money all through the process. I could always consider buying a "good used" transmission. Not always an oxymoron but always a pig in a poke. Even if the seller vouches for it he probably isn't going to warranty it and you still have the labor to remove it twice. I'll check the modulator first.

 

Been a while since I updated. Today I sold my 70 Mustang. I had put in on Craigslist before Thanksgiving last year with no takers. I listed it yesterday and sold it today. Yes, I had lowered the price quite a bit, but I needed to move forward with my XJS. So I am glad to see it go. Now I've got some extra funds to get going. I also am going to become a two Jaguar family. I'll be picking up a 1997 XJL sedan this weekend. This car is pretty nice and has been maintained and repaired by it's mechanic owner. I had looked at a standard XJ6 but I felt the backseat was a little cramped. When I saw this long version I was hooked. I had decided to get a big car because I had three Mustangs and a truck. I also had been missing having a plush car. I had sold my 94 Seville about six years ago. I had seriously thought about getting a Lincoln Town Car, but this XJL will be be even better. I hope this car will be as reliable as I've heard. Pictures will follow.

 

Couple of things, all of course IMHO only. Get the sea foam crap out of your trans, auto trans fluid is in a sealed system as well as not exposed to a combustion process, no need for that stuff. The modulators are adjustable by removing the vacuum hose and placing a small straight slot in to turn the adjuster. Best thing you can do to improve your grin factor is put a shift kit in so you can hold first then manually run up the gears as apposed to it auto shifting into second, it will firm up your shifts too. Also flip your kick down micro switch near the throttle capstan so you will get kick down at 3/4throttle instead of WOT, easy mod to do. I also have a 97 XJ6L, very nice car, much nicer then any Caddy or Lincoln. Get an "Andys Bracket" for it and leave it in "S" mode and it won't seem so "sluggish". I've had mine for about 6 years and it is my DD. LOVE IT! (About the same as my XJS). See you over on the X300 board!

 

Two Jaguars are always better the one!😉

 

I went to check out Leale's transmission shop in San Jose. Shawn recommended them. I was thinking of checking the modulator and governor function myself before I take it in. It isn't that difficult and I prefer to do as much work as I can myself. Who knows, maybe this will be the answer, maybe not. To me that's kind of the whole point of a hobby car. Also to keep the costs down. Still I don't want to bog the project down too much more though. I feel that I've lost some momentum but I have been doing some little things. I had to jumpstart it since it had been sitting for a couple of months. I bought a float charger on it and the battery seems to be coming back. I had my car covered by a tarp and a car cover which was to keep water off the worn out top but it had shifted with all the wind and the rain got inside. We had a lot of rain in the last few months. The passenger footwell was pretty wet. I pulled the carpet and removed a fair amount of water. I could see how this could lead to a rusty floor over time. Luckily there wasn't any sign of rust. I don't want to take my car to the transmission shop until I'm sure there will be good weather as I'm sure that it will be parked outside and the shop will not be fussing over covering up my car like I would. I bought a new low profile floor jack this morning which will make working on it much easier, my twenty year old jack had seen better days and made any job so much harder than necessary. No need to make things any harder than it has to be. I'm also really enjoying driving my new XJ6. It's funny but when they are parked next to each other, the styling of the X300 really has a strong family resemblance to the XJS.

 

I went to check out a repair shop in nearby Los Gatos, the Jaguar Purrformance center. (My wife thought that name was hilarious). I spoke with Rick the owner, what a nice guy. We talked about the cars and about his motorcycles and he spent almost an hour talking with me. He has a nice clean shop and he is very knowledgeable. He told me that he would rebuild the transmission in house. He quoted me a price of around 3,000 to 3,500 dollars. The rebuild would include a new torque converter and some internal upgrades. He was very honest and advised me that my investment was not going to net me a big increase in the car's value, that I should fix it for myself, not resale. Of course he is right.

I called Leale's back and I wanted a quote on a full rebuild. They tried to talk me into bringing it down first. I told them I needed to know what the most expensive repair could be. They were hesitant to give me a quote. That didn't set well with me. Come on, flat rate for labor, they know how much a turbo 400 rebuild will cost. They want me in the shop, they rightly figure I will pull the trigger on the rebuild if I have the car there. This is a hobby car, I can only spend so much at this time. If I can't afford the repair I will have to wait. I figured I'd call my local AAMCO shop. I really didn't think that I would take it there but I wanted another opinion. They tried the same tactic then finally admitted it could cost around 3,000 bucks depending on the parts, etc.

I tried another shop I found listed on CL advertising rebuilt foreign transmissions. AMG performance located in Fremont. I spoke with the shop and they didn't hesitate to quote me a price for a full rebuild; 1,200 dollars. That sounded pretty reasonable. Labor to remove and replace was quoted as 600 dollars. Sounded pretty good. Less than two grand for a rebuild is what I had expected. I'm going to visit the shop and talk with the technicians in person on Friday to get a better feel for the place. I'll let you know what I find out after that.

 

It takes me back a few years, but I bought my first XJS in 1984. It was a 1979. It had a bad transmission with only 60K miles. I had called several shops, and they were quoting some really high prices for the rebuild. If I remember correctly, 2000-2700 or so. Then I called a place that I had seen, and always had TONS of cars around it. The guy had a very distinctive accent (turns out he was origianlly from South Africa) and he quoted me 400.00!! I asked him if I had to pull the transmission for that price. He said "No man! Its nothing special, just a GM Turbo 400!". I asked him if he was sure, and he told me to look under the car at the pan and see for myself. And there it was, right where he said it was. The car would run and drive, it just slipped into all gears, and reverse hardly worked at all. 400.00 later, I had a great transmission. I still go to his shop, but he has since retired, and his son has taken over the business. Much bigger shop, many more cars, lots more people there, but same friendly honest service at a reasonable price.