Before saying or doing anything else ask your Indy shop WTF they did to your car. Let us know their answer.

 

Couldn't have said it better. But who's to know what mystery juice is in there?? The flush is sounding better all the time.
And Imagine; a dealer not being helpful, to boot. disgraceful.

 

They have used ZF lifeguard 6. Will take car back there

 

I wanted a flush, not just a fluid change but 2 company's I asked adviced not to, only if there is a problem with the transmission they say they do it.

 

If they used ZF Fluid 6 that's good. Check the color of the fluid and ask them how many litres they used. Did you ask them if they set the fluid level by following the recommended Jaguar and ZF transmission fluid level procedure? A complete fluid flush is only achieved by removing the transmission to purge all of the fluid from the lines, torque converter and transmission. There is a lot of confusion over a transmission flush vs change. One can only purge and cycle fluid through to remove the old fluid with new. I would not misconstrue this is a flush. It is at best a virtual flush--fluids are simply being exchanged and mixed during the process to some degree. Did the shop only drain the pan, replace the pan/filter and refill the same amount of fluid? Only about 2.5 litres (it has been awhile since I did it, could be a bit more) will be drained from the pan. The transmission system, torque converter, lines, cooler, and transmission contain about 10.5 litres. To remove most of the old fluid 80-95% one needs to cycle IN with new fluid and OUT with old fluid through transmission IN/OUT fluid ports after draining/replacing pan and purging the cooler and lines (this will take at least 13 litres, I used 18 litres). Some shops also change the sleeves and seal by removing the mechatronic. When I did my fluid change I was advised not to remove the mechatronic unless I was experiencing problems--I never touched the mechatronic. When one removes the mechatronic they need to be very careful to remove and replace the sleeves and seals precisely.

You need to have a good conversation with the mechanic and shop manager together to understand exactly what they did: what brand of parts did they use, if any; did they remove the mechatronic unit and replace the sleeves and seals, if they replaced the sleeves and seals were they careful to replace them precisely as recommended by ZF; how many litres of fluid did they use; did they replace the pan, and with what brand; and, finally, did they reset the fluid level following the ZF fluid level procedure. If your vehicle went in working good and left like you describe they messed up. Tell them you want it fixed and want to know every detail and document every little deal. Have them sign off on the details. If you need to replace the transmission and your car is going to be out of service for a month you want to hold them responsible. What did they charge you? The service cost alone will give you an indication of what they did. I would also ask to see the empty ZF Fluid 6 containers used and old parts and save them. You're now in damage control mode! You need to protect yourself. I assure you your Indy shop will be taking steps to protect themselves if they messed up. If the conversation you have with the manager and mechanic gets defensive and starts to stink it is a good indication they messed up (use your phone to record everything). If the manager and mechanic are open and show genuine interest to figure out what happen and display empathy and compassion they will help you figure this out. Navigate the conversation as appropriate, always show tact with an interest to get to the bottom of this to protect your interest and don't accept BS.

 

Not a "good" service department then. My nearest main dealer, one of the top rated in the country, even states lifetime means lifetime of the OEM warranty. They have performed full flushes on all JLR vehicles for many years and it is NOT expensive. I supplied a genuine ZF pan kit sourced from FCP Euro and they completed the pan change and flush via the transmission cooler lines using a professional flush machine for under $400 including the fluid. There was no need to measure fluid level as the same amount of old fluid pushed out by the new fluid.

 

When I got mine changed, about five liters came out and over NINE LITERS went back in. No, there were no leaks anywhere. Ever.

 

I may be going against the grain here but my experience with changing out transmission fluid on ZF transmissions has not been the best. I had a 2000 BMW M5 with about 90000 miles on it and I decided that I wanted to change out the trans fluid since I intended on driving it well into the low 100s. Most on the BMW boards warned against it and they ended up being correct. The shifts were never as smooth from that day forward. Most of the mechanics I spoke with about it claimed that the fluid change stirs up too much residue in and around the bands and thereby causes the issues. They reco ed to let it go. Now besides being claimed to be " lifetime" by the dealer these ZF transmissions are virtually bulletproof. So I am taking the practical approach of leaving well enough alone until there are issues as you can easily buy a low mileage replacement trans off Fleabay for less than $500 in the event that you should run into problems. I know this doesn't go over well with the retentive types but it sure is a line of reasoning to follow if you are trying to keep your overall ownership costs to a minimum.

 

I am just wondering what you consider "low mileage". I sure cannot see anything on Ebay for $500 that is what I would consider to be low mileage and then most of the time you have to pay shipping which to a residential address is a lot more than the quoted shipping. I am looking at the ZF6HP26 for supercharged engines.

Anything with more than 100k miles is an open invitation for wasting money as you have no idea how the transmission was treated. Or whether it came from a car with a transmission leak for some time.

 

Since these transmissions can easily run to 150 K I would consider a low mileage resale unit to be between 0-80 K. There is a 6HP26 unit with only 69K miles listed right now for only $495. My point being that the costs of getting an operative replacement for fairly low money offsets the potential issues with fluid replacement as well as the expense(labor and fluids) to service it. If replacement trans units for these cars were in the 3-5 K range then it would be a completely different story.

 

Where exactly is that transmission. Give me a pointer please.

I am not saying you are wrong by the way just that you are underestimating the cost.

After trying to rebuild my transmission and using the original valve body with no luck my next step was to get a valve body as I suspected that was the problem.

While searching for a valve body I came across a low mileage, 52K, XKR transmission for a very low price. I only paid a little more for this transmission than I would have for a valve body. The only reason it was a bit more was because of residential delivery.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/26358351412...84.m1555.l2649

 

Depending on where it is shipped in the US it will end up costing over $800 with freight delivery plus it does not have a torque converter.

Also non SC transmissions are always less than SC transmissions.

My point being that saying "only $495" is a bit misleading when all is said and done.

 

Actually, per the listing, it would $665 delivered. Probably doesn't include the torque converter. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought both the 07-11 XK and XKR shared the 6HP26 transmission. It was updated to the 6HP28 with the 5.0. I suppose if you want to spend the money then by all means do so.

 

jachra_1,

If you don't mind sharing, what is wrong with your transmission that caused the need for the rebuild and at how many miles?

 

There is a long thread on this : https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ebuild-227587/

 

$665 looks correct rather unusual.

Same transmission but with different clutches and solenoids between the SC and NA version. Probably different TCM as well although it might be re-programmable between the two.

 

Thanks..I was wondering if it was the typical 2 to 1 roll out/type 1 lurch.

 

It was actually a P0730. and possibly a P0736 failure code which is incorrect reverse gear ratio.

It happened when I was accelerating round a curve entering a freeway when the car "stumbled".

Showed a fault code with restricted performance but drove normally so long as I did not accelerate hard.

 

@Peter Ucinski here is a link to the ZF 6HP26/28 workshop manual:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/izfzhh48fo...anual.pdf?dl=0

Here is a link to the procedure for checking the fluid level:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/izfzhh48fo...anual.pdf?dl=0

Gearbox pan tightening sequence:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cpkn3bsbrw...orque.jpg?dl=0