Has anyone actually lowered the transmission in order to gain better access to the duck bill fitting for the AC drain? There is no real access from the engine compartment on the XKR's and I'm not ready to take it to the dealer for the costly repair.

Any tips or thoughts on lowering the transmission would be great.

Thanks

 

Never heard of anyone lowering transmission, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.
Personally, I have not had a drain problem, but I did try to access the drain from the top; and found that it is simply unreachable directly by human hands.
I would next try using a simple Harbor Freight cheap remote camera to view the drain; and then try to manually open the duckbill with some sort of small pointed rod.

 

This is exactly how my dealer does it - and they remove the duckbill hose entirely.

 

The duckbill, itself, is removable?

 

Yup. Here's a pic of the little b*****d.

 

Needs to be castrated, for all of the trouble it's caused us.

 

I'm not so sure I would completely remove the duck bill. The purpose of the duck bill is, of course, a drain. Secondary purpose is to prevent warm air flowing back into AC system, and to prevent critters from entry. Complete removal of all the rubber fitting shown above might provide a nice entry point for mice.
Duckbills are a fixture on home refrigerators - the freezing compartment periodically defrosts and water is drained to a pan below the refrigerator. The drain is "protected" by a rubber duck bill valve, which like the Jaguars' often clogs and sticks together. The "fix" recommended some UTube techs is to make a "V-shaped" cut at the end of the duckbill.

 

The modified duckbill on later cars apparently has most of one side of the bill missing, so that only a small section is left to seal the opening. Less surface to stick together, so it doesn't get glued like the original design.