XJ8L X350 Shifter Jammed in Park but car is in Rev

Hey Team,
Anyone encounter this? I drove my car '05 XJ8L home, put it in Park, took my foot off the brake, and the car drove in reverse. Looking closely, the "R" for Reverse is illuminated and the car is indeed in Reverse, but the shifter is in Park and jammed. I suspect a linkage problem. Anyone have any experience with this? Console out? From under the car? Which linkage? Internal to the transmission or external?
Thanks in advance,
Tom

 

Search for shifter cable. There are two screws holding cable to transmission shifter arm. Tighten or replace missing screws.

 

Hahahaha... yes, I see dozens of posts referencing people with the same problem... and all of them seem to reference that there are "threads posted on this." I've found posts on how to release the catch to get the car out of park. And I've found endless chatter on the topic. I've yet to find where the cables may be or how to address. I trust that with the Park release, I'll at least be able to get my car rolling to push it onto my lift.

 

It is in the driver side. Jack up side and look for cable. Connects to an arm on the side of transmission.
The arm is free to move. If shifter is in park the transmission will need to be in park to tighten the screws.

 

The bottom line is you'll have to jack the car up sufficiently to see the side of the transmission, and then to lie on the cold hard ground to look at the transmission cables to see if the securing bracket has worked loose, or has even fallen off.

 

OK. Excellent info. Thank you so much. I am not looking forward to being on the cold ground - I may see if I can use the shifter release mechanism to see if I can coax it into neutral to at least push it onto my lift. Catch is, the MGTD is on the lift and disassembled at the moment, so this will wait a while. Glad I have a backup daily driver. And doubly glad that this will not be a trans-out operation. Many thanks to all - really appreciate you!! Tom

 

I THINK if cable came loose the shifter would move freely. Had to fix son’s Impala this summer when linkage came off in a friend’s driveway.

 

Generally, not so.

 

If you do a quick search for the XJ8 transmission shift cable online you will see what the cable looks like. That may help the fix become clearer to visualize.
If the "J gate" is truly in the park position and locked in place the problem is most likely under the car. I can relate to having to work on the ground while other places are in use. I do not have a lift but there is no room in my garage for my XJ so I have to do any work on it outside also. At least Jaguar did not install some sort of shift by wire triggering solenoids in the transmission and going through a control module that costs several $100.00"s. The cable is remarkably old school and one of the easiest things to work on. Even the replacement of the J gate is well explained and not an experiment in mechanical/electronic engineering. Good luck.

 

Move shifter to 'R' and the car may switch to 'N' which would allow you to push?

There are two bolts holding a small bracket on the side of the transmission housing. The bracket holds the shifter cable. The bolts loosen up over time and one falls off allowing the bracket to tilt slightly and this 'moves' the shifter decoder position. You will likely spot the one bolt fallen under the car.

Happened to me at work and a co-worker just got his arm under the car and tightened the bolt by hand. This allowed me to drive the car to a near by shop.

 

Maybe this can be of help:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ck-park-85682/