It's not the power steering- reservoir is still full. Oil is also still at the max on the dipstick. Am I missing a trans dipstick anywhere? Car runs and shifts fine but I'm parking it until I get it sorted.

 

Have a look here
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ion-oil-11374/
There's a connector that leaks.

 

No real advantage in guessing...you just have to get under the car and have a look. Use jack stands! Good luck.

 

Thank you! Tons of good info- that will get me well on my way. I hadn't searched yet or put it up on stands, was hoping pinging here would lead me in the right direction as soon as I noticed the issue. I'll prop it up in the next couple evenings this week and start poking around.

 

If it is that you might as well change oil + pan while doing it - I'm sure you've found the threads and video on that.

 

Sometimes a leak is not apparent as the transmission or motor is bathed in oil, coolant, etc.
An old trick that has worked for me is to first clean the offending component. Then spray jock-itch powder over any suspect areas. The leak will show up as a nice little trail across the powder.

 

So will transmission fluid relieve jock itch ?

 

Absolutely! But you got to take it by enema.

Let us know how it "works out" for you .

 

Yes, I'm almost positive I'm looking at a fluid flush at the least and requisite seals. I appreciate the push in the right direction.

Jock itch powder, ha! I've heard of worse ideas, though I'll bet other similar powders would work too.

 

Had a similar problem, turned out it was a failed seal where the electronics plugged into the trans. Evidently it was easy to find once they were under the car looking for it (Jag dealer so they'd seen it before).

 

Sentinelist, I'd suggest getting the auto trans dipstick and checking the level (look for MB auto transmission 722.6 dipstick, such as on ebay). The connector "sleeve" is a common fail point, but I'd rule other fluids out first.

Do you work on the car yourself? I just rebuilt my valvebody a few weeks ago - if you have any questions on dropping the pan, changing the fluid, seals, etc just shoot me a message. Our early XKR's use the Mercedes Benz 722.6 5 speed trans - you'll also find plenty of helpful writeups if you venture over to the MB forums.

By the way, I highly recommend upgrading your shift solenoids to MB blue tops if you open up the valvebody. Shift quality is greatly improved and it brought my morning commute to a whole another level

 

Yes, there are good odds this is what it is. I'm having the oil changed tomorrow and will have them confirm the leak while it's on the lift. Will update back here tomorrow afternoon!

I appreciate the tips! I will go look for that part now and keep you in mind. I may need to join a MB forum for trans info- which one do you recommend for this? Interesting about the solenoids- will look into this soon.

I generally always do my own work, but would rather never get under a car on jackstands out of a personal phobia of getting squished! It hurts my enthusiast creds, but I can't help it. I have the shop change the oil though as it's too quick and cheap not to compared to doing it myself and handling the recycling aspect- not worth it anymore. I nearly changed out the headgasket on my last Porsche before I sold it- always comfortable taking the car down for a week or three to dig in when necessary. In fact, my fingernails have been a bit clean for too long...

 

Check out 722.6 Transmission Refresh. DIY and Questions. - Benzworld.org - Mercedes-Benz Discussion Forum I followed the thread "722.6 Transmission Refresh. DIY and Questions."

Note that they mention changing the pressure regulator spring, but that's not applicable in our situation (that's for MB 722.6's from I believe 95 and earlier). Everything else applies.

If you're already paying a shop to hoist the car and drop the pan, then consider changing:
1. The conductor plate (about $120, common wear part is the "speed sensor" which will result a "transmission fault" on our cars, you have to change the whole "plate" as the sensor is integrated. In my XKR this manifested itself as issues with shifting, and dropping to neutral especially when coming to a stop.)
2. The regular MB brown top solenoids to the MB AMG blue top solenoids, as already mentioned, for better shift quality and decreased lag between gear shifts (about $250)
3. The Sonnax Mercedes 722.6 Overlap valve sleeve kit - if you have rough shifts, especially 1-2 and/or when cold. I had shuddering in my 1-2 shift, especially when cold and going up hill, and this solved my issues. (about $50)
4. And the adapter sleeve, as already mentioned, and also mentioned in the MB thread posted above.

 

Good stuff, pomosv. I'm planning to just have them diagnose the leak first tomorrow. If there's a need to go in, I will look into these items as well. They sound worthwhile.

 

One caution on the Blue solenoids (for someone reading this thread), if you have a later series XKR they have the ZF tranny and they only work on the MB. Which is why I have two solenoids as paper weights, and $650 charge for someone to pull and take a picture of 6 ZF solenoids.

 

Very common issue with the MB tranny. MY SRT8 did the same and it was a small connector o-ring, the swap was simple and oring was replaced with a viton piece.

My srt8 would puddle passenger side

 

Thanks, Trey. Btw, since this is the shop where it was serviced at by you and the last couple guys (one of them that ex-manager of the place), I got further validation from the lead tech there who personally worked on the car as to everything it had done to it. No real records available anyway though as most of the parts were employee purchases! Acceptable trade-off for now I suppose. The continued validation of the car's condition and forecast of "just oil and tires" was great to hear.

But yep, the leak is the connector. Fluid level is still OK (ordering dipstick today along with connector, will review that process in thread above), so I don't need to completely park it necessarily. I'll triple check my jackstands and do the work myself. I asked the tech for his thoughts on the solenoids and he just shrugged- "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought, of which I also largely subscribe to as well. He was aware of them, but didn't think they were necessary. I will keep these in mind though as the results sound encouraging.

Oil changed w/ 8 qts. of Castrol 5w30 dino, and said everything else looked great. In and out for well under $100? I can get used to this after my old Porsche would see multiples of that! *knocks on wood*