I am trying to decide what to do about my auto tranny in my 02 X type. I'm not sure anything is wrong, no error codes and it is shifting fine, but my gut tells me to get it checked out because it acted strange once about a week ago. The real problem is my jag dealer is a moron. I asked about a flush and refill and he gave me the seal for life story and said he has never actually done one. I have very little confidence because there are other times I have called and he seems clueless. Never had him work on my car. He said he will do a diagnostics for $95 dollars and check the fluid . I wonder if I should just put it up on a rack and check it myself. Any thoughts? Anyone have a simple way of check the tranny fluid? directions please.

Second question...I called around and Autozone said they had the tranny fluid at $3.50 a quart. He said it was a castrol multi-foreign car fluid. I am skeptical since I have heard the fluid is special and about $30 bucks a quart. Comments?

Third question. Is there a relatively quick and easy way to drain and refill the tranny? Directions please.

Last question, how many have put an aftermarket tranny cooler on their car to help the tranny last longer, what is the results?

 

Hi Welcome to my dilemma

Type of fluid is up in the air..closest I've come to finding an aftermarket meeting the JATCO specs is Valvoline Max Life or Royal Purple Multi-spec...Here's the problem..these fluids may very well work fine in the JATCO, but the question is; Are they compatible with the JATCO fluid in there?..In order to be sure you will not get cross contamination and the consequence is gelling and sludging because of the incompatibility with the two types mixed together..One would have to fill and drain ..and run, fill and drain, run, fill and drain several times to get most all of the original fluid out...Jatco fluid goes for $45.00 to $55.00 plus tax across the country. Type; WSS-M2C922-A1.

As far as the drain part, it's simple..a big drain plug on the bottom of the tranny..

The fill tube is basically under the battery box..has a black rubber cork in it.

As far as the tranny cooler..there is already one..

 

Thanks for the info Dennis.
Any idea how to make sure it is full, either after you drain and fill or if you just want to check fluid level?? I also heard someone say you can disconnect one of the cooler lines and run it to do a complete fluid drain of the tranny. I also read somewhere that the stock cooler wasn't good enough and was one of the weak links causing so much problems with our trannys. Opinions on this

 

One more question. Do these transmissions have a filter?

 

What type of tranny problems have you had? What were the symptoms? I would like to stay ahead of the game if possible.

I would imagine changing the tranny cooler would not hurt especially if it is a better one.

I have seen machines that do the flush by pushing new fluid in one tranny line while it evacuates thru the other. But the torque converters seem to hold a bunch of fluid and need to be drained too.

Call another dealer and see if you get the same response. I will try mine...

 

There is a method that requires at a certain Transmission fluid temp, that you open a small 4mm (Allen) stand pipe plug on the bottom of the trannythat dripsout the excess while the engine is running..My method and I've owned a JATCO tranny before on a Land Rover (same basic design), is to measure what comes out at draining and put back the same amount plus 3 to 4 oz more for, under filled from factory and normal evaporation...The default refill amount is 8.3 qts...

I never read where the cooler was inadequate nor is there any proof of that..I will admit the JATCO is a weak transmission, but it ain't all crap if properly maintained..I also agree the "Filled for Life" thingy,is total bullsh!t..

Doing an infusion through the Cooler lines is almostimpossible IMO.

 

Unbelievably, NO!

 

Well I took my car in for a free diagnostic at AAMC transmission and it came back with no problems but they said the fluid needed changing. The quoted me $200 to do it so I said "Go ahead", basically 5 qrts and labor. Well **** has rolled down hill since then. On the way home my car revved high again(4K or so) and then shifted ,seems like it is revving between 3rd gear to 4th gear. I had driven about 10 miles when this happened. Then the error message came up '"Transmission fault". Boy am I pissed. I just went back out and cranked up the car and the light and error message is gone. Either way unless someone here has an intellegent reason I am going to chew some butt tomorrow. I have no code reader so I will get the code tomorrow from the tranny place. Any thoughts or ideas!

 

Did you you read my posts above..Sounds like a fluid incapability issue..What did they use?

 

He told me before he serviced it that he get his fluid from the Jag dealer and he assured me it was the right stuff.

 

Not doubting you a bit Grim as to what he told you..but if he actually used the JATCO fluid and at nearly $50.00/qt everywhere I've checked..then you got a hell of a deal...

It should of been either; Idemitsu K17 or JATCO 3100 PL085

 

probably under filled.. they wudnt know the exact trani fill .. nor wud they know when the thermostat opens in the cooler.. but you probably do need a trani... codes will probably be incorrect gear ration 4 .. consistant with improperly filled trani.. or wrong fluid..

 

wud also be good to get it reflashed and reset the shift adaptations..

 

JG ..kwit tx mesagin wud ya

 

Well the AAMCO guy couldn't read the codes, after a full day no less, soI had to bring it to the dealer. He seemed alright and had a tech look at it right away. They ran into a problem before they could even read the codes. The battery +terminal was corroded and wouldn't let them read a darn thing. Had them replace it at 75 buck for the wire, damn.... he said that the bad wire could throw the tranny fault code but no guarentees that is was the problem. Well it wasn't. On the way home it did it again, revved high and fault came up. I'll be back at the dealer in the morning trying to see how much damage there will be. It does seem to only do it after it has warmed up, 10 or so miles,and at around 40 MPH, i think that is the shift from 3rd to 4th.
One side note, the AAMCo guy did pull a P1111 code on the car, any ideas what this could be. He said it was the fuel and air mixture settings!! I guess jag will tell me tomorrow.

 

Sorry for your problems..Hope all turns out to be an easy fix..

 

One thing I would like to add. I talked to the dealer about the oil AAMCO said they put in my car and he said it couldn't have been the original stuff for the price I paid but, here is the interesting part, he brought out a bottle of tranny fluid with the brand "WYNN" and said they have started using this stuff and it is an approved replacement for the original fluid used in my car. He said this is probably what he put in because it matched to the price I paid. I paid about $20 a liter/quart from AAMCO. Anyone heard of this brand and where to get some? It might be interesting to some of you DITY guys on the forum.

 

Well the dealer gave me the bad news today. the fluid was full so it must be a failing tranny. He pulled the code from the computer and I think it was P704, or it may have been P740, basically saying it is either a mechanical falure, a valve in the tranny failing, or low oil. Now I have to figure out if i want to have it fixed. I have heard it is close to 5k for a rebuilt one...whew.

 

Sorry to hear that bro..hope you can find that AAMCO will do it for cheaper