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1987 XJ-S 5.3 V12, about 70,000 miles (NOT the original owner, so who knows the real mileage???) with the GM400 tranny.
It's my more-or-less daily driver. It's sat a few days, hopped in today and took it down the street...it won't come out of first gear. Fluid level is OK. Had the differential replaced last summer, other than that no issues with the drive train.
I understand that it's "just" a GM400, but with the wacky way Jaguar mounted the tranny I'm a bit concerned about taking it to a shop that may fix the transmission, then screw-up remounting it. Not sure I have any choice though.
Check and see if the vacuum line to the modulator on the right side is connected and getting vacuum. If it isn't connected, that signals full throttle shifts and it won't shift until redline.
1987 XJ-S 5.3 V12, about 70,000 miles (NOT the original owner, so who knows the real mileage???) with the GM400 tranny.
It's my more-or-less daily driver. It's sat a few days, hopped in today and took it down the street...it won't come out of first gear. Fluid level is OK. Had the differential replaced last summer, other than that no issues with the drive train.
I understand that it's "just" a GM400, but with the wacky way Jaguar mounted the tranny I'm a bit concerned about taking it to a shop that may fix the transmission, then screw-up remounting it. Not sure I have any choice though.
That Vac line, as stated, find it at the rear of A Bank Inlet, suck on it, see if it holds Vac, simple, one beer.
The White Nylon driven gear on the trans gov. Under a tin plate, RH side rear of the trans. FIDDLY, hell yes, but simple enough. They have a bad habit of shearing teeth, no drive so trans pressure is not as needed, and NO, I dont know the specs, just had 2 with bald drives, $10 at any trans mob. All sweet once the new gear is installed. 4 beers to get at it, the rest I lost count.
Trans filter suction o/ring has split, so the beast sucks air in stead of heavier fluid, oops. Well known issue related to age. That trans mount and collision bracket fiasco will 100% test your sense of humour.
Read the attached.
Greg is correct for removing it, not that hard, at all.
This is a pic of the governor cover Grant mentioned. You can access it via screwed on cover under the carpet covering the tunnel, if you cannot get at it underneath:
Similar thing happened to me, as I forgot the 'Captain Obvious' of having to Press the Brake Pedal (ignition ON) before the Gear Shifter would move, as my Car perhaps like yours had an electric Transmission Lock
I guess we need some clarity, I read your problem as the car moves and drives, but first gear only and will not shift to second. As opposed to the car will not come out of park, or will not drive at all. I'm assuming the first scenario, but can you clarify?
I took the task on today of getting access to the tranny via the hatch under the RH carpet...and I'm glad I did.
When I started pulling out the carpet and the padding underneath I had to wonder why it felt damp Discovered two rusted through areas right where the floor pan starts to angle up, which was certainly letting in water while driving. That should be easy enough to fix.
So here are photos. Having never seen one of these before, I can't tell if the gear is more worn than it should be. Does the governor need a new gear? If not, anything useful I should do in this area since I have it out?
Also in the photo there is a cable or hose that runs down from the right side of the center console and disappears under the floor of the RH seat. Is this for the kickdown switch...it doesn't look/feel like a vacuum line.
I neglected to try Grant's suggesting of seeing if the vacuum hose would hold a vacuum before I did this disassembly, so I'm guessing I have to wait until I have this thing all reassembled before I can give that a go.
That governor gear is toast, you need a new one. It's a standard GM part, nothing exotic there. Make sure it's from a TH400 though, as the 700R4/TH350 gears look similar but spiral the other way. All the debris form the gear will be in the pan and filter now, so you might want to do a fluid and filter change.
The kickdown wiring is also on that side, that's probably what you are seeing.
Modulator is located on the RH side, forward edge above the pan gasket line, The exhaust is in the way for modulator removal, not for the hose, that will have (should have) a 90 deg elbow AT the Modulator, and the hose runs up the backside of the insulation panel to the spigots at the rear of the A Bank Inlet Manifold. Suck on that hose, it either holds Vac or it dont. There is NO reliant for any other item to be in place, it is a stand alone thingy.
That gear is like me, knackered.
All mine had teh kickdown wiring on the LH side, so not sure what you have there?
On my car the modulator can be easily removed from the box without needing to remove anything first. It is held in by a Y shaped bracker and one bolt is all that is needed to undo it. pics here: The gold-coloured cylindrical thing sticking out.
Jagboi, first assumption is correct. It will drive but stays in first gear.
All right, off to the auto parts store for a new gear.
Greg, are the two bolts at the front of your very nice pan for draining? If I'm go to to work of fluid and filter replacement, I'm tempted to just drill a hole in the pan and drain it that way, then trash the pan and replace it with one that can be drained. This isn't to avoid replacing the filter next time, but to make the procedure much less messy. Palm's description of how to drain the pan doesn't sound like much fun.
Orangeblossom, no transmission lock on mine. I can shift it with the engine off and no key inserted.
One last thing, Palm mentions that "If you remove the governor and grind a little weight off of each of the counterweights, the engine will shift at higher RPM under all conditions. This modification will allow the engine to run faster than 5000 RPM, where the stock GM400 will force a shift no matter what."
Anyone tried this? I wonder how much weight to remove?
Greg, are the two bolts at the front of your very nice pan for draining? If I'm go to to work of fluid and filter replacement, I'm tempted to just drill a hole in the pan and drain it that way, then trash the pan and replace it with one that can be drained. This isn't to avoid replacing the filter next time, but to make the procedure much less messy. Palm's description of how to drain the pan doesn't sound like much fun. That is a Moroso pan and it comes with those magnetic drain plugs as standard. It was pricey but is by far the best one available.
One last thing, Palm mentions that "If you remove the governor and grind a little weight off of each of the counterweights, the engine will shift at higher RPM under all conditions. This modification will allow the engine to run faster than 5000 RPM." I have and it works, I got my lighter weights as part of a kit (as Doug posted above) which included a range of weights to choose from, I chose about the middle ones. You can remove about 25% of the weight from the OEM ones, at least. I would just add that the OEM governor will let the engine run to 5,500 foot on the floor. The lighter weights probably mean the gears will hold for longer at part throttle openings.
Definitely an Electric Lock on my Shifter on my 1989 and my 1990
Which I confirmed with Paul (ptjs)
Ignition ON then Touch the Brake Pedal or the Shifter won't move and I even had to re-connect my Battery to do it, as I needed the gearbox in Neutral so I could turn the Propshaft when I reconnected the Propshaft to the Diff (with new bolts) after replacing the IRS Cage
Definitely an Electric Lock on my Shifter on my 1989 and my 1990
Which I confirmed with Paul (ptjs)
Ignition ON then Touch the Brake Pedal or the Shifter won't move and I even had to re-connect my Battery to do it, as I needed the gearbox in Neutral so I could turn the Propshaft when I reconnected the Propshaft to the Diff (with new bolts) after replacing the IRS Cage
Maybe its a UK only thing?
At some point, don't know when exactly offhand, USA cars got the gearshift interlock.
But what we're talking about here is how the transmission shifts gears when driving, as opposed to shifting gears in the sense of moving the gearshift.
Taking the path of least resistance (since I couldn't find the gear locally...then again it is Sunday and the "B" team may be staffing all the auto parts stores), I ordered the repair kit as well as the weight kit, which will be a lot more fun and cause less anxiety than just grinding away and hoping for the best on the original weights .
Or you could go to a self serve junkyard and see what they have. On one of my other cars I ended up using the governor from a 1980 Suburban, it shifted surprisingly high considering the vehicle it came out of.
The weights and springs work together, so you could keep the weights and go to a stiffer spring for example to get the same effect. It's a trial and error process to get the shifts where you want them.
Well, turns out you can buy a new gear "kit" for $10 from Shift Technology, so I did that. Apparently they assume everyone knows how to install it since it came with no directions, but after a few minutes of staring at it the procedure was easy enough to divine.
I also got the weight kit. I'm not so clear on this...so is the idea that one of the "stock" weights stays on, and that you then replace the other stock weight with one of their weights/springs? The instructions that come with this kit are not clear to me, but they probably assume they are selling to someone who knows about transmissions (which would NOT be me).
Jagboy, I'm not much for hunting around junkyards, just lazy that way I guess. I'd do it if I had to, but for $10 I'll pass. I'm probably not the adventuresome type .
As always guys, thanks so much! I'll keep you posted.
Won't come out of first gear
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