Soooo - I was making a left hand turn across two lanes, with oncoming traffic (99 conv. 63K) and the 5hp24 Panzerfauste decides that it was time to do away with drive. Yikes! It did manage to come back (with a boom) and shot me across the highway. I had just finished with a four wheel alignment and the first symptom that something wasn't right was when I was leaving the shop, it took a couple of seconds to go into drive (partial then full engagement). Reverse was normal. I tried shifting to drive several times and this abnormal condition was the same each time. Since the PO had mentioned that it had harsh shifting in Sport Mode, I did install the Transgo pressure regulator valve 1000 miles earlier. The transmission performed perfectly, for me, up until this delay to Drive.

I didn't feel the car was safe to drive and decided to go through the transmission and see if the notorious A clutch or axial bearing were at fault. Just to reiterate, the only faults were the delay to engage Drive and dropping out of Drive when stopped. No codes and the transmission performed properly in all other modes.

The A clutch and axial bearing appeared to be in excellent condition. The clutch packs and steels looked almost new. 'O' rings were fine.That left only this (see picture, crack visible by casting number) as the most likely culprit. The upper valve body cracks and apparently bleeds enough pressure from the A clutch at low engine rpm to cause the two conditions. The car worked fine going into the shop and Drive was delayed as I was leaving. The condition and crack are, unfortunately, very common with the 5hp24 in the Jaguar. The good news is that this can be fixed by dropping the oil pan and valve body and replacing just the upper valve body( after transferring the springs and valves}. It is not a difficult job. For around $200 for the valve body, gasket and filter, this particular problem can be fixed. Cheers