Thank you Graham. I know Gilly of Premier Motors, English Harbour extremely well. My wife does his accounts. I knew him long before we moved to Antigua from my yacht racing days in the U.K.. Gilly (Premier Motors) is Land Rover qualified but not a Jaguar agent. I was in his garage yesterday (he is currently in the U.K.) with his mechanic attempting to top up my gearbox fluid. My drive is very steep uphill (going out) and when the gearbox is cold it is slipping out of gear. Awaiting some parts, we decided to top up the oil but, contrary to everything I read on the internet and the mechanics experience with ZF gearboxes on Land Rovers, rather than trickle out when the engine is running, the transmission fluid shot out of the fill hole under high pressure and the mechanic could not top up the fluid. I now have less fluid in the gearbox than previously and I was seeking a solution, hence my visit to this site. I was only able to start this thread because I was able to get in via a 'new members' thread.

 

The procedure is to lift the car level, start it and run it in Park until the tranny fluid temp is 40 deg C, then open the fill plug and see if the fluid level is up to the plug. The engine must be running with the tranny in Park. be sure to use the correct fid as specified by Jaguar. It would help you to state the year and model of the car as there are three types if trannies in the XK8/XKR series and they are all different procedures. The one I gave you is for the ZF 6HP26 in the 4.2 L..

 

John - below is the link to Gus's website (about 3/4ths of the way down ar eseveral links regarding transmission. Hope this helps

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

 

To Oldmots

We lifted the car and I used a builder's level to ensure the car was level. The engine was up to temperature and we removed the fill plug and oil squirted out under high pressure. We attempted to put oil back into the gearbox using a compressor pressurised pump with the engine off but the oil would not go in. We had two attempts with the same result. According to everything I have seen and the mechanic's experience, the oil should trickle out. We had the gearbox in park.

 

To Sklimii

Unfortunately, Gus's website doesn't seem to cover my problem.

 

There is only a short window of opportunity when the oil is is about 30-40C. Then it will get too hot and oil will come out.

 

John,

Here is the full sequence procedure from JTIS for your model. It involves use of the Jaguar Dealer PDU diagnostics system but this only looks to be to monitor minimum and maximum fluid temperatures:

1.Remove the fluid level / filler plug.

2. Using a syringe, inject transmission fluid until it overflows from the plug orifice.
Wait until the flow of fluid has reduced to a trickle.

3. Fit, but do not tighten the plug.

4. Prepare PDU (at the base station).
Install the appropriate disk and switch ON.
Select the vehicle specification - ENTER.
From Engineering Tools select Toolbox - ENTER.
From Toolbox select Powertrain - ENTER.
Connect MPA and download cable to PDU and base station.
Select Datalogger - ENTER.
Select Transmission - ENTER.
Disconnect download cable.
Connect MPA to PDU.

5. Connect PDU (at the vehicle).
Connect MPA cable to the vehicle diagnostic socket - ENTER.
Energize the vehicle ignition - ENTER.
From the menu select Transmission oil temperature (TOT) - ENTER.
Check that the fluid temperature is <30°C.

6. From above.

7. Ensure that the TCM is connected and functioning correctly.
Select Park and start the engine.

8. Cycle the gear selector.
From P to D.
From D to R.From R to P.

9. From below.

10. Adjust the transmission fluid level.
Remove the filler / level plug.
CAUTION: The fluid temperature MUST NOT exceed 50°C.
Inject fluid until it overflows from the plug orifice.
Wait for the flow of fluid to reduce to a trickle (for at least 1 minute).

11. Refit the filler / level plug and tighten to the specified torque figure.

12. Check for leaks and remove spilt fluid.

13. Shut down and disconnect PDU.

This procedure may well differ from the LR procedure your mechanic is familiar with. In particular, if he missed Step 3 (loosely refitting the plug) prior to cycling through the gears, this could explain why the fluid was being forced out under pressure.

Graham

 

Remember, the engine must be running to allow you to properly pump those last three litres or so of ATF into the pan (when you are doing a full drain-and-fill). If you attempt to do this with the engine off, you'll just make a huge mess on your garage floor and your pan will be woefully underfilled....

 

Are you certain he pulled the fill plug at the right rear of the gear box? It makes no sense for the gearbox sump to be under pressure.

 

Reading this thread, it does appear Duffy's mechanic removed the wrong plug. As RK237 notes above: The sump is not under hydraulic line pressure. John please confirm which plug you are using to add ATF. A pic would be best.

 

To Graham

If there was someone in Antigua with a computer which had within it the Jaguar programme then I might be able to follow your advice. The Land Rover dealer has a computer which talks, when it feels like it (must be female) to my car but, at other times just will not communicate.

In so far as loosely refitting the filler nut, he didn't do that but, equally, even using a compressor aided pump, he was unable to get any fluid to go into the filler hole.

Someone suggested that he may be trying to fill the wrong hole. I went under the car myself and checked everything. There is only one place you can check the level/fill. There is nothing else with which to confuse it.

Unfortunately, the garage lift is broken and I am having to wait until it is repaired to take the matter further.

 

John,

I think Sections 4 & 5 of JTIS detailed in my post #7 above are only to ensure correct Min and Max fluid temperatures. No other readings are monitored or set.

Although the Jaguar Dealer should follow the full JTIS procedure to the letter, many members have successfully done a fluid top up without having PDU or equivalent available.

Please keep us informed on progress with the top up when the garage lift is repaired.

Graham

 

Here is the procedure in a video by ZF for the 5HP transmission that you have.

zf 5hp24 fluid change - Yahoo! Search Results

 

That's link gives a Yahoo search list. Is this the ZF video:

Oil Change Intervals for the ZF 5HP Series of Transmissions - YouTube

Graham

 

The owner of the local garage has returned and the lift is now working. We drained all the oil from the gearbox and replace the filter, cleaned the sump and magnets and reassembled. We attempted to refill the gearbox through the fill hole but no oil would go in despite using an air compressor pressurised filler. We checked the fill hole with a probe (cable tie) and about three inches of the cable tie went into the fill hole but, regardless of what we did, no oil would go in. To check, we removed the drain pug and no oil came out. We looked at trying to fill the gearbox from the oil cooler but that was not practical. In the end we pumped five litres of oil in through the drain plug and quickly closed it off. The gear box is working okay but we have no idea if we have too much or too little oil in the gearbox.

Does any one have any idea why the gearbox will not fill through the fill hole?

 

Two things should have been done.

1. confirm that the filler hole being used is the correct hole by direct visual comparison to the diagram posted above rather than finding "the only hole"

2. probe through the hole with a zip tie with the pan off to visually confirm that it exits in the pan area. if obsrtucted, check for casting flash or incomplete machining.

 

Like plums says; with the pan off you can see out the fill plug at the right rear of the pan. I still think you have removed a plug to one of the fluid galleries.
I fill my trans. using the return line at the left side of the radiator, just push a small tube in and pump fluid.

 

Thanks for the comments. I should have taken a photo. I will go back tomorrow and have another check to see if we are using the right fill hole.

 

All I wanna know is how to add trans fluid to my 2002 xk8 jag... that's it

 

The post you are reply to is 8 years old, the poster, not seen here for 3 plus. You may want to start a new topic thread.