85, a lot of us have pulled the plug and got nothing out. I am one. There can be a little bit of leakage out of the seals and whatnot. Now that I have a new drain valve on my car, I think I am pretty good on the TC department since I don't find any wet spots on the driveway where I park the car. So, we'll see here in another 20K miles when I drain out the fluid again and this time I am going to measure how much comes out for general reference.

 

When you say "dripped out" do you mean the top vent, or the drain hole? If it was coming out the overflow vent, and 1/2 quart is about 475ml, at least it wasn't bone dry. You still had 175ml in there.

 

TC drain plug was removed then gear oil pumped in through the same hole till gear oil dripped from drain hole (same fashion as rear diff.). We didn't add fluid at top of TC, just less than 1/2 qt. into the same place where fluid is evacuated (bottom). While engine was out I should have had TC gear oil evacuated and refilled.

 

So do the shaft seals go bad or is that the design of them?

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/39344100/X...ruce-Bojangles

 

Hey guys, this may be dumb but i was wondering how you know the TC is full?? Is it the same as the dif, to where it full when it comes out the fill hole? I noticed in the pics that the line was full obove the TC....so does that mean the whole TC is full? I know this will probably be an easy question but i like to be certain because i will be doin this next week as my X has 110000 miles. Should be interesting ;(

 

Wow is right. My 04 XType with 104K miles, just did round 1.
ADVICE TO ALL, do this fluid change, some how, some way.
I have read several threads, and I think it was in this one that one fella said he almost tipped his car over to drain it. Another fella said he got naked to fill his. Both are advisable, the second only if you have a door on your garage. Mine is like another fella's that said his didn't have the space for a valved fitting. It is tight.
I tipped it onto the driver side wheels as far as my jack and blocks would take it. Drained out about 200ml. Dark, but still with an amber note. Some crud on the plug.
Then tipped it up on the passenger wheels and only got in about 150ml before it started dripping out. I had purchased a gear lube bottle pump with hoses ($9 Advance Auto). I rustled around my fittings assortment and found a rubber stopper, drilled it for my hose. Put the stopper into drain hole, started pumping. Put in to about 700ml. Holding the stopper in I readied my plug. Quick swap...missed the hole...fluid gushing...got plug back in place...now covered in oil can't turn plug...kept trying caught the threads...tightened it up. Need that EASY button from that office place.
Just before this post I searched the net for fittings for round 2 of this job. http://www.brassfittings.com/pipefittings.php
My browser won't show them but I know these folks have what we need. Either the street L or the street 45 (1/2"). This will allow for a more precise stopper/plug swap and minimize the gush. Should be able to find local at the plumbing store.
I'm thinking maybe trying to put in a T, after the street fitting, with the side outlet pointing up. Put a hose on it up into the engine compartment and cap it. The drain plug in the thru port on the T. The concern, all those thread fittings are potential for leak points.
I'll post after round 2.
DO THE FLUID CHANGE!!!

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences Jaginga. I thought the rubber stopper idea was brilliant. Sorry to hear it was hard to swap out the plug.

What do you guys think of this alternate design for an elbow? Basically, my idea is to build a 90 degree street elbow using two parts:

- 1/2 inch male to 1/2 inch female 90 degree elbow like this http://www.jerzeecustoms.com/images/...ting%20012.jpg
- 1/2 inch male to 1/2 inch female adapter like this http://www.lba-direct.com/site_images/HC9560.JPG

You'd end up with a finished 90 degree street elbow, but might be able to avoid clearance issues during assembly. You'd screw the 90 degree part in first, and then screw the straight adapter into it facing up. Ideally, the finished assembly would allow you to get the fill neck high enough to gravity fill 650ml of fluid with one side of the car raised. As a bonus, you could screw the factory magnetic drain plug into the finished assembly to seal it.

I like this approach in theory for several reasons:

- it doesn't stick out as much and present as big a shear target as Thermos' radiator drain **** mechanism
- it could get the fill neck high enough to permit a full 650 ml of fluid to flow in
- I'd feel more comfortable screwing the factory drain plug to seal the assembly vertically, rather than relying on a radiator drain **** tightened horizontally. The magnet wouldn't likely be as effective (since it's further away from the gears), but it's better than nothing.

What do you think?

 

Where does the TC oil go? Here's one place.

http://www.drivehq.com/web/jfenley/T...Case_Leak.docx

I dicuss it in this post

http://forums.jag-lovers.org/av.php?1341658l14

 

Matt, I don't see where the drain **** bit is a shear target. It is tucked up on the backside of the transfer case inside of a small pocket. It is only about 2" long once it is installed. It wouldn't be that much longer than a street fitting which would suffer from the same possibility. But to each their own. I don't fear having something get under the car and hitting the valve. If something does hit that valve, loosing the oil in the transfer case is going to be the least of my worries, I will more than like have lost all engine oil, tranny fluid, etc.

 

Thanks Thermo. You definitely have better perspective than me on this issue. I haven't gotten under my car yet to see how that area is laid out. Replacing the transfer case fluid is something I'd like to do in the next few months, and I'm just mulling over the options.

Wish I could invent a gravity adjustor that makes the fluid fall sideways until I can get the plug back on. That would solve all of our problems. :-)

 

What's the best way to get it changed by a mechanic and do you think they would use bill's kit? I have no experience working under a car and don't really feel comfortable in doing this to start off. i'm at 104K now and am more or less expecting the TC to give out anytime now, although there is no trace of leaks (could be a good or bad thing).

 

I managed to get under my car to examine the TC area yesterday. There's a pretty significant difference in the amount of space you have to work with on pre-2004 vs. 2004+ cars.

Here's a picture of the older TC area (from Bojangles' PPT). You can see there's enough room to fit a valve horizontally, whether you use a design like Bojangles' or Thermo's.

And here's a picture of what the TC area on my 2005 looks like. There's a big metal cooling fin obscuring most of the area. It seems to come off the automatic transmission casting. There's room behind it, but only about 3 fingers of space between the TC and fin.

I have a feeling it's going to be a complete PITA to change my TC fluid - even more so than most of you guys had to deal with. I don't think I can use a rubber stopper to fill and quickly swap out the drain plug...There's so little room to work in there. :-( I'll have to figure out a different valve assembly and approach to doing this.

 

Follow up to above.
After a few highway miles I noticed a burning oil smell. Looked underneath and the TC is dripping with oil. Overfill!!
Looking at Matt's photos above, when we are taking out the drain plug we are not getting to the majority of the oil, even when tilted.
Note the bulging section on the right side of the photo, that is the main resivior.
That is why when I got 200 out, 700 in and 100+ down my arm I still got flow out the vent.
At this point I am overfilled. Even when it quits flowing out the vent, it still will have too much. That will create over heating issues, and break down the oil after a while.
I've seen a tech's note that the book says to remove the unit. What is the units position on the bench when draining and filling?
I'm not sure what my next move is here.

 

Why would having too much oil cause overheating? Are you sure about that?

In any event, seems like the easiest solution at this point would be to drain a bit of the fluid out. Couldn't you just open the drain valve slowly until fluid starts seeping around the perimeter of the plug (i.e., don't remove the plug completely, just open it enough for fluid to start dripping out). You could probably just eyeball it and remove a couple of hundred ml of fluid until you're comfortable you're not grossly overfilled.

 

I have a 2002 x-type and it has 120,000 miles. I have done all the regular reccomended factory maintenance on it. Does the dealer drain the TC????? or will I need to special request them to do that???

 

I'm very happy that you posted this - I bought a used 2002 X-type a while back and recently changed the TC oil. My TC has the "fin" area which made it impossible to use the valve method, so I used a rounded rubber tube to fill the TC (see my thread).

What this means to me is that my suspicions are confirmed that my TC was changed with a more recent model before I bought it. Very good news as I can count on it lasting for quite some time since the newer TC is more robust and has less miles on it than my '02 TC would have.

 

Newbie2011, if you are wanting the TC lube changed, you have to specifically ask for this to be done. Most dealerships use the "filled for life" recommendation from Jag and therefore do not include it on any packages for work to be done. But, ask your dealership/mechanic if they do include it. They may surprise you.

 

2002 xtype has 107,000km on it now, how do I know if the TC needs to be changed, or if it has been changed?

 

Yes a indie mechanic would have no issues using wildbills kit imo. It comes with very well written directions that most parts replacers and real mechanics should be able to follow.