My 04 KXR is pretty much a garage queen and has been driven about 500 miles this season, milage is 14,900. After stitting for a few weeks I noticed a "chrip: noise coming from the transmission when it shifts from 2nd to 3d. gear under normal acceleration. It goes away after about 10 miles.

Does any body have an idea what the cause or solution might be?

Thanks, Jim

 

Hi
This sounds just like the same problem the lady of the house had with our XK8 Convertible which is 2005MY with just 14500 miles
There is a service bulletin from Jaguar / ZF No. JTB00070which involved draining a litre of Tran’s oil and replacing it with a litre of additive Jaguar Part No. C2C 37157.
And this fixed the problem for us hope this is of help to you.
Redpoptop

 

You have the very common "ZF squawk". The friction modifiers in your ATF are worn out due to time and heat cycles, so the clutch packs tend to grab and cause the momentary ""squawk" that you are hearing. While you may still be able to find the ZF additive mentioned above, the best fix is to do an ATF drain-and-fill....

Search this forum using "ZF 6HP26 transmission squawk" as your search phrase and you'll be able to read all about this well-known issue, including alternative fluids that are less costly than ZF Lifeguard 6....

 

Thanks for your input. I have been advised that changing the fluid might be the way to go. I'm going to look at the pro's and cons of adding the adative vs. Fluid change. My car has 14,900 miles but it's 10 years old. I don't drive it over 500 miles a summer these days and I might just up for the adative and see what happens. I only had the squalk one afternoon (it was pretty hot out) and it hasn't returned now that it's in the low 70's. Had the car been driven into the 30,000 plus range, I would just change the fluid and be done with it.

Does anyone know of a source in the US for the C2C 37157 adative?

 

Keep in mind that if you decide to go the additive route, you still must get underneath the car, drain a litre of existing ATF, and pump in that litre bottle of additive through the fill plug while the engine is running and you're monitoring the ZF's temperature. That requires going through the same hassle of a regular ZF drain-and-fill. Why not do it right and be done with it?

 

Yep, me too. I wondered what that little chirp was in my '05 XKR. But it doesn't chirp in the higher gears. It only has 45k miles. Does it really need an ATF change?

 

Ya a fluid change will get rid of the chirp, I had the chirp and did a fluid and pan/filter change with the original zf fluid and I was chirp free for over 3 years of daily driving. Unfortunately it has begun to return and I am now debating between doing another drain or going with the additive, if that can still be sourced.

 

I've heard mixed things regarding the chirp. The one thing that seemed to be common was that it doesn't seem to be any permanent damage by doing nothing.

 

During a phone conversation with ZF Tech Support in March 2010, I was told that the momentary clutch pack grabbing that causes the squawk is simply a noisy nuisance and does no damage to the ZF's internal components. I think that's probably true for awhile. But over a long period of time, I would think that cumulative wear-and-tear would begin to show up. Would that take five years on a daily driver? Ten years? We'll probably never know....

 

Bit like the gearboxes being sealed for life.

 

During that same March 2010 phone conversation, ZF Tech Support acknowledged that the ATF should not be considered "lifetime". Their opinion was this:

If the car is operated under "normal driving conditions" (meaning no towing, no dirt or gravel roads, and no drag or street racing), change the ATF by 100,000 miles....

If the car does not meet the "normal driving conditions" above, change the ATF by 80,000 miles....

As always, your mileage may vary....

 

I'd definitely recommend changing the ATF fluid. I had the chirp at 44,000 miles on my 2003 XKR; it happened occasionally under medium-hard acceleration, and always in the low ratios.

I didn't do a flush; just replaced the pan and the fluid in there. The fluid was pretty dark, and not only did the chirp disappear, but the changes seemed to be a lot smoother. I had also had a problem where if you drove gently at around 30-45mph, the torque converter wouldn't always lock up (feels a little like a slipping clutch). That was also fixed by the fluid change.

To save some $$$, I used ZF Lifeguard Fluid 6 (instead of the Jaguar branded ATF). No problems since (about 12,000 miles ago)

-Steve