Does anyone else's XK or XKR trans operate clunky after a cold start? Like after 8 hours+ of sitting. Ever since I bought my car a year ago, the first mile of driving (especially slower speeds while I leave my neighborhood) the transmission shifts poorly and clunky.

My car is CPO so I had Jaguar take a look and there was regional ZF rep there too, and they found no issues, apart from the fluid being a little bit low. They topped it off, but the issue persists.

It happens for about the first mile of driving. And then the car shifts great once it warms up, I suppose?

 

Hopefully you don't rag the pee out of it when still cold. Every vehicle ever built needs to be warmed up before it operates to its full potential.

 

Nope, never do. Like I said, leaving my neighborhood I'm doing slow speeds for about .5 mile. And then I get on a highway and accelerate fairly gingerly (shifts around 2500) and the shifts are just...clunky. But once that first 1-1.5 mile or so is driven, it smooths out.

I'm thinking of keeping the car long term once the CPO expires in 2018, and I had an Audi A6 4.2 with the same ZF6 trans that started to fail after 70K miles. So if there's a known potential issue, I'd love to get it fixed by the CPO.

 

Try disconnecting the battery for 30 minutes and then take the car through different driving cycles.
Just for information, mine has smooth gear changes no matter the outside temperature whether starting from cold or not.

 

Instead of waiting the 30+ minutes for volatile memory to slowly discharge, touch the disconnected cable to the other cable for one second, then reconnect it. That immediately discharges all the stored energy.

 

Thanks, gang.

I'll try the battery.

 

I don't think that disconnecting the battery will clear the transmission module adaptations, only the powertrain adaptations, so you may have to use a diagnostic tool to do it.

My 07 XKR had a really harsh change from first to second for the first few minutes when started from cold when I first got it. I cleared the adaptations using SDD and it has been fine since.

 

ArnoldKay,
My 2010 XKR does the same thing. First cold start in the morning, it will shift noticeably harder for a couple of minutes until car is warm. Then nothing but normalcy for the rest of the day.

 

Me too. Also a 2010.
I notice that you're in FL-- I'm in so cal. I wonder what it would be like in a colder climate.

 

Next time I take the car in for an oil change, I'll ask the dealer to clear them.

This is really good to hear, especially since you guys have older cars and they're running just fine. That's exactly what mine does, that 1-2 shift is slow and unrefined.

My 2012 XF 5.0 when I had it in NYC and FL never exhibited that behavior. It could be that line pressure settings are quite different for both transmissions, though. I personally think it's the valvebody that's the culprit and may be designed this way. But I am curious to see how the SDD clearing will work.

 

The only time my XK would ever shift "clunky", was when going from sport for engine braking, say to cross rail road tracks, then back to regular once on the other side.

After changing the transmission fluid and filter @ 60K Miles, this particular situation became a lot less noticeable.

I do not really notice a difference hot vs cold start before or after the fluid change.

 

ditto.
Cheers All.

 

Hot or cold no difference in shifting. When roads are dry I will take to work in winter, no problem shifting with below zero starts at work.