The short story:
I had my 99 XJ8 VDP transmission rebuilt by a reputable shop almost a month ago. Today, after getting maybe half a mile from my home, it started having problems shifting in lower gears, loss of power, smell similar to burnt rubber, smoke, and then I found that I had left a huge puddle of transmission fluid in my driveway, a constant stream behind me, and a puddle at each of the two stop lights I barely made it to before the transmission fault light and check engine light came on and the car died.

Below, for those interested in more detail, is a slightly modified version of the email I sent to the shop after they sent a tow truck. My main question is this - what sort of thing would cause me to dump my transmission fluid so soon after getting it rebuilt? Wrong bolt torque? Wrong parts? Something not installed correctly? It has a 2 year warranty, but I lose the car for a few days when this sort of thing happens, and I'm trying to arm myself with knowledge so I can ask the right questions.

- The day I got the Jag back (July 17th), I drove to Lincoln City (about an hour and a half). Once, while there, there was a single jolt while driving at a low speed. A jolt as if it had trouble shifting. I called the transmission guy, and he suggested I monitor it for 2 weeks or so, because the modules/computer could be retraining (which I am familiar with, and was a perfectly fine thing to suggest)

- Between July 17th and now, the same thing happened maybe 3 other times. Always while in lower gears (maybe between 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd gear?) Once during that period, I needed to disconnect the battery, so there wasn't ever, until this last week, a period where retraining couldn't have been at least a possibility. In other words, I'm fairly certain there was a real problem right from the first day.

- Last weekend, I drove to Sunriver (about 3 1/2 hours and over a mountain pass). Both on the way there and on the way back, once or twice it seemed to not down-shift properly while I was attempting to accelerate on an uphill climb, even when trying to trigger the passing gear (pedal all the way down). The passing gear/downshift worked every other time, but because it wasn't downshifting on those few occasions, I couldn't increase my speed in order to pass on the uphill.

- And then today: less than a mile after leaving my house, it jolted in the lower gears again, but more pronounced and several times, and seemed limited on power. I stopped at a traffic light and started smelling something like burnt rubber (I imagine transmission fluid on hot parts). Then started seeing smoke and the car was having a lot of trouble getting into a gear, so I was almost stuck on the road. At the next light, it wouldn't take off, the Transmission Fault light came on, then the check engine light, then the car died. I restarted it and with very limited power and much hesitations, was able to get it to the parking lot.

- I found out that there is a huge puddle of transmission fluid in my driveway, a puddle at each of the two lights, and also of course the stream of fluid going the entire distance of my drive.

 

There's only the input and output seals to leak, and they're pretty standard type seals. Maybe a cooler line went?

 

What happens when a cooler line goes out? Do they contain transmission fluid? Would I expect those to be checked and possibly replaced in a transmission rebuild?

 

...and a cooler line it is!
They are covering it, but the manager/owner is sure doing a lot of posturing to make it sound more like they're doing me a favor than just saying they probably weakened it when they put the rebuild in.

And now it makes sense why he told me, at least 3 times, when I picked up the Jag after the rebuild, "make sure you keep an eye out for any leaks and let us know right away." It made me a bit nervous that he was suggesting that it was even a possibility, but I knew even less about transmissions 4 weeks ago, so I didn't question it out loud. Now I have a strong suspicion that he knew that they either busted it or weakened it.

...oh, and the guy who answered the phone the first time today said they busted it during the install. I haven't mentioned this yet to the manager, but I sure wish he would say that rather than trying to make me think they're doing me a favor by covering it.

Should get the car back sometime tomorrow.

 

Are they rebuilding it again? the hot smell can't have been good news.