I bought the XKR last fall and it's been lots of fun. I was having a minimal "lurch" issue and one odd 5th to 6th shift that made me look at getting some form of help for the transmission. I decided to have the Jag dealer flush the transmission and change the mechatronic sleeve due to the leak (which seems to be located right under the gear shifter). After seeing how it behaves, get it flashed also by my local (90 miles) Jag dealer. I was supposed to get it done on 11/24 but the weather in upstate New York was "iffy" so I cancelled.

I put about 4k on it this year over the summer had seen some leaking in a spot on the driveway from the Jag. The leak spot was about 12" x 9". About a month later, I again checked under the car and saw a spot about 6" in diameter
I am about to store it for the winter. It's about 30 miles to my friend's garage. Now I'm worried about how much may have leaked (it never leaked until the middle of this summer) and whether it's OK to drive or not.

In the spring it's to go to the Jag dealer and have the above service. I'll have it flat-bedded if necessary. Thanks for listening.

 

The transmission won't fall apart if it's low on fluid, but you might end up in fail safe with a warning at the worst, I think. 30 miles is a very short run and I'm sure you'll be hearing strange noises and feeling strange effects all the way. Just kidding.

 

You may want to consider locating a independent shop with Jag experience, there have been a lot of stories about dealers not having competent techs to work on these 'old' models and just wanting to replace everything with new parts.

Forum members may assist with recommendations, try posting in the regional forum.

 

It's a reasonably common trans (used by multiple car makes) and does not need a dealer to do the work (they probably get another shop to do it anyway). Call around to get someone competent who specialises in trans work.

 

Many UK dealers send them out for repair and I don't imagine US dealers are any different.

When we had a forum visit to Mackie Automatic Transmissions in Glasgow, they had several units in for repair from Jaguar Dealers:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/j...ssions-114845/

They even had some in from another UK transmission specialist!

Graham

 

As everyone has recommended here, find a trusted indie shop with solid ZF experience if you cannot DIY....

 

I have a 2003 XKR. It had a few leaks, some from lines and one from the bell housing.

The dealer was was able to replace the hoses and couplers (external stuff) but for the internal leak, they would only replace the entire transmission. I found a local transmission specialist who knew that box and they cleared up the internals. I have a thread on it.

 

Thank you for your responses. I believe the Jag dealer was doing the flush
themselves. The service rep said her tech guy was old (not really, I think
she said he had experience with the model and year and spoke to her about
what needed to be done when she set up the appointment). They had set aside
a 3 hour window to do the job. They even let me buy the Lifeguard 6 to
bring with me instead of paying $50 per liter (saved me $300). The parts
ran $340 which should consist of the pan and the sleeve and maybe some
gaskets. Besides, I always thought the Jag dealer was the crowning glory of
service. The technology, machinery and specialized techs to do the job. If
you're paying a fortune for work done it should be great work. I did tell
the service manager that my concept
of the Jag dealer was it was quite expensive to visit, probably $400 if you
needed to use the men's room. She had a sense of humor about it, which was
refreshing.

I still didn't actually hear any advice about the viability of driving the
XKR 90 miles to the dealer in the spring. If it's the sleeve, will it keep
leaking during storage for the winter?

 

You are indeed fortunate to have a dealer that is competent and even willing to help you save money. Some members have reported that the dealer told them to find an independent shop.

You can check the level and fill it yourself, a nuisance but not really difficult. The procedure is in the DIY sticky or JTIS21. If a local garage can put it on a lift it's really easy, the car just has to be level.

 

My suggestion. Find a local shop that can rebuild it, if you have to, before you do any work. The reason I say this, is you may save on duplicate labor. If you flush and it still has issues, you need to do more and they would charge for the flush again. I paid for 2 flushes and 2 transmission drops. Could have saved a ton, had I just skipped the middle steps and gone straight to a transmission specialist.