As some of you may know, I just purchased my Jag, a '97 xj6, around 12 days ago. I've put almost 2000 glorious miles on her since and am now acquainted with her idiosyncrasies.

My main issue with the car at this point is excessive play in the gear selector. The P-N-D side has a little bit of play in it but the 2-3-D side has much more play, to the point that putting the selector from 3 to D doesn't change the gear and the light stays lit up on 3.

I had an old Merc that had some play and it turned out to be nothing more than a couple of bushings, my mechanic installed free of charge when I brought it in for something else.

So, gentlemen, what am I looking at?

 

First off, congrats to you. Secondly, sounds like you have the common problem with all old Jags. The gear linkage below the car has two bolts as what was mentioned on the S type forum, those tend to get loose and sometimes even fall out leaving you stranded;stuck in Park gear only. Get your car on a lift and take a look at the gear linkage cable and the bolts, its somewhere near the drivers side Tranny, not to hard to located. I'm sure someone on here will chime in about its detail etc....
*NOt to worry, read up on some stuff on this thread https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/s...=shift+linkage
I wouldn't leave it like that for long though, get it fixed ASAP.
Cheers.

 

Thanks for the reply. I did some searching and in addition to the gear linkage, I found that a stretched cable could be a possibility.

I won't have time to get the car on a lift for around 2 more weeks, unfortunately.

Is there a different diagnoses for a stretched cable?

Thanks!

 

Is there a TSB for this?