I had to be towed in a few weeks ago and the tow man could not believe what the jag manual said! When on a flat bed transporter put the car in 'N' or 'D'...NEVER in 'P'. He said he'd never heard of that in all his many years! That he said is dangerous. He did however do as the manual suggested. Anybody care to venture a guess why the manual says this? I couldn't tell him the reason myself. Also my car did not have a towing eye in the trunk. The dealer wants 56 dollars for one. I've searched around with no luck anywhere else. Any other options? Mick

 

I don't know about why it needs to be in neutral or drive, unless it's something to do with damage to the transmission. At one time I was told pushing a car in park could shear a pin. Motorcarman was selling some tow hooks to members a few months ago you may want to PM him and see if he still has them. and they weren't $56.00

 

The rocking back and forth on a flat bed can crack and break the park pawl in the trans. And this really is true of any car with an auto. Dangerous???? Not in park really??? Only if they dont tie down the car properly........

 

The towing eye thread is int he For Sale section, and yes, Motorcarman (bob) probably has more, and they are less than $30 shipped, IIRC. Just search for threads started by Motorcarman, there probably isn't but this one, or a couple by him.

 

And if they are depending on the parking pawl to hold the car on the flatbed ...

There is no professional certification to become a tow truck driver. A new broker/driver rides with someone else for a few days, and then they are let loose on their own. I've even had to do the hookup for a new driver who didn't know how to work the lift on his truck. And then, unhook it at the destination. He still charged full pop.

 

I would think parking on a steep incline would put more pressure on it, especially taking it out of park. Glad this was brought up, I will make sure I do not park on an incline, would hate to watch my car roll away.
Funny though, both my vette's and my volvo's manual say to tow by flatbed and in park.

 

Yes I still have a few Tow Eyes left in the box. You need the 20 X 2.5mm RH thread.
I still have some of the LH thread ones also.

bob gauff

 

What do you think the parking brake is for?

 

What was wrong with the car?

 

Gus,,,, I'd just got the car, started on a 1,000 mile trip and I was looking good for a whole 30 miles! Failsafe w/ red warning light and limp mode occured. Covered under 30 day warranty by dealer.Hard to read this but work order says cleaned throttle body,replaced relays ?to voltage ? diem codes and reset ad????? Car's running good now, just 17,000 miles on it.... Thanks for asking! ..... Mick

 

On any kind of incline I always put the Parking Brake on first than put it in Park. Jack

 

Mick,

Call and ask if you can get the codes from them. The 99 XK8/R had a TSB on the TB plugs. They replaced a relay and without the codes it would be hard to see what they did and why. Then check your PM.