Hello All,
I have a 2003 XK8 and am going to change the transmission oil, it currently has 58K on the car, so my questions are:
1. Does it have a fluid filter inside pan?
2. Can i perform this job using ramps in my garage? I was able to change engine oil using ramps
3. How difficult is it?
4. What oil is recommended by the group? and how much is required?

oh Yea, final question, at what interval should i change the rear end fluid?

Thanks all in advance.

Rick

 

1. Yes, the pan has an integrated fluid filter. Your transmission is a ZF 6HP26.
2. You can perform with ramps, but those ramps need to be mighty tall and the car needs to be level. You can't have the front or the rear end higher than the other.
3. Moderately difficult. The biggest problem is that there is no transmission fluid dipstick to measure the level, nor is there an "official way" to add fluid from the engine bay. It's all supposed to be done beneath the car, next to a hot exhaust. Draining the fluid and changing the pan are quite easy. If you've gone that far, it's highly recommended that you also replace the Valve Body seals (3 cylindrical seals), the bridge seal, and the mechatronic harness sleeve (it leaks). I personally recommend also replacing the Valve Body solenoids. These new parts will ensure that your transmission will be shifting appropriately for many years to come. These seals and solenoids usually fail at the 80k mark, so it's good practice to service them now. The transmission adaptations should also be reset. The procedure for doing a drain and fill on this transmission are well documented on this website as well as other websites. I suggest you do a search on the forum. In short, what makes it particularly challenging is that you have to pump the fluid in until a steady stream runs out of the fill hole, start the car, run each gear once for a couple seconds, then keep pumping more fluid through that fill hole. When the transmission reaches between 40 and 50º C, if I recall correctly you should be done. If you've done it correctly, by then a steady stream of fluid will be leaking from the fill hole. This is a sign you have the correct fill level. Place the plug and you're done. The big problem with all of this is that you have a hot exhaust inches from your hands when you are pumping the fluid in and especially when trying to place the fill plug. It's very easy to get burned. Next time I have to do this, I'm thinking of removing the exhaust first. It felt like getting branded by the car.
4. The fluids it takes are ZF Lifeguard 6 and/or Motorcraft Mercon SP. The forum members recommend the Mercon SP (not LV)as it costs less than the ZF and the Jaguar branded liquid gold fluids, and is the same fluid as those with a dye. You are at the correct mileage to be making this transmission service. You should buy between 7 and 8 quarts of the fluid. How much it will take depends on how much fluid drains out of the transmission but it's usually it takes between 7 and 8 quarts unless it was leaking, in which case more may be necessary.

A second drain and fill is recommended a few months after this first transmission service to try to have as much new fluid as possible. You cannot depend on that first service to get you all new fluid as there will always be some old fluid remaining in the torque converter.

The rear end fluid... good question, I haven't done it yet. I haven't seen an official interval. I also haven't looked at the recommendations regarding that one, but I think I've read of others changing the rear end fluid at 100k and reporting that the fluid was in a sad state. So, probably quite a bit earlier than 100k.

 

Good summary of transmission fluid change. I changed both my auto fluid and the differential oil at 75k miles. Both are deemed by Jaguar to be "sealed for life" although at least the auto box has a drain plug. The differential needs a vacuum pump to suck out the old oil. In my case, I would have been happy to leave the auto oil for a few more thousand miles as the fluid was in good condition. The differential oil was in a terrible state, black and burnt, the worst I have ever seen, and should really have been changed 10 or 20 thousand miles sooner.

Richard

 

I had the fluid in my 2005 XKR changed at the auto transmission specialist. Unless you know what you are doing and have a hoist it is not an easy job. From memory they had to run the car to get the fluid level correct. There is no dip stick. I also read that there is no way to get all the fluid out so the system was flushed to exchange the oil in the torque converter. This gets most of the old fluid out but there is some waste so it costs more. My transmission was making a squeaky noise changing up on hard acceleration and this disappeared after the transmission service which was at 100.000 km so about 60,000 miles. There is no interval set by Jag as they seemed to think the transmission fluid was not to be changed. The fluid used was a Total product. Not sure what exactly. As for the differential, I changed this myself. Its not easy and I had a hoist. The convertible is more difficult as there are some braces behind the diff, I made up a thin tool which has a bar with a lump of square metal welded on the end to get the plug out. Then used a suction pump to get what I could out. Not easy as there is no drain plug. There I used a Pennzoil fully synthetic gear oil

 

I think I will leave this to the pro’s, sounds a bit much for me in my garage

thanks again,

Rick

 

For the DIY-ers here, something like this is mandatory for servicing these transmissions. I'll post the link below. This allows you to pump the fluid into the fill hole and minimize burns in the process.

 

A small hand-held siphon pump from Harbor Freight also does the job quite well. Typically less than $8....