Today was spent lifting the car higher in preparation for the install, which will be at least a couple weeks from now because my job involves a lot of travel.

It wasn't high enough before so I put my new blocks on top of the ramps as planned, but it would have given the whole car a very nose high attitude.

Not being comfortable with that, I built two new platforms for the back. The fronts are now raised 16" and the backs 10". It gives us a clearance of 25" from the floor to the oil pan. It's very stable and overengineered for safety reasons.

 

What is the whole-car jack you are using?

 

It's a scissor lift, made by BendPak. See more here- https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/o...or-lift-52611/

 

hi rob, I also had a hp24 tranny that would engauge first gear then slip and had to nurse it up to the next gear so I took it apart and found the worn out needle thrust brg between a and b drum. the the o ring was broken in I think b drum and I think thats where I lost pressure. but if you look at it closely, that worn needle brg could not have moved more then3o maybe 40 thou. so how could that little movement allow the drum to come out so much that the pressure was lost there? is it possoble that the spacer in the planetary gears was too thin?and it allowed the c drum also to move back some? I am just trying to figure out what happened joe

 

Me too, Joe. When I have a bit of time I'll post some pictures and diagrams of where mine is damaged. I don't like the idea of putting it back in saying "well that must have been the problem" without being able to say for sure "A caused B which caused C" if you know what I mean.

 

I would replace all the rings if I'd have them allready, as I checked in zf manual it's not a big deal to tear down all thing, probably time is the only problem, perhaps you'll find some more damadge (hope not). About the A drum, if it realy has no wear signs (didn't BMW change those to upgraded ones?? ) you can try keeping it. And the valve body, there's no need to taking out the gearbox to get to that, so perhaps you could do it later, if it fails.
capacity of oil is 10ltr total, it's 6ltr in the converter...

 

hi rob I am doing an xj8 tranny same symptoms engage drive take off and it slipped in and out of gear. on dismanteling I found that the clutch from a drum came out too far and it cut the thin o ring on th piston allowing the pressure to be lost, then later I saw the failed brg between b and c drum. so that was the main problem but I also checked the other clutches and some of them were waring pretty thin car had a 100 k miles on it so I think its worth it to go thru the rest of it joe.

 

Check out this diagram. I have shown the bearing that is worn. The yellow circles show the spots that are rubbing. The green circles are spots that are not wearing.
The diagram does not show the failed o ring, but have circled where it lives. The red lines show the oil supply and where it was lost.

 

 

Do we have an update on this project/repair?

 

That's funny, my wife keeps asking the same thing!

It has been on hold due to back ordered parts, out of town travel, and a miserable cold. I'll post when things change.

 

Minor update- today I pulled the lower valve body to check the main pressure regulating valve. It looks very good, and the bore looks in good condition as well. Still waiting on parts, so I took the oil pump off the bell housing and changed the input seal, an o ring, and some sealing bushings.
Now I'm pretty much stuck on parts. Darn!

 

Still waiting on parts, and an extended cold/flu/whatever is stopping me from working on it anyway.
Today I am siphoning the gas because it's been sitting so long it may go off, and wouldn't you know I filled thing right before it died, over a $100 bucks worth.
surprisingly, siphoning is dead easy!

As a matter of interest I looked at the bills that came with my car. Well, there's only the one but it's a biggie. $5818.00 for a transmission rebuild in 2008. friction/steel, pump assembly, torque converter, nice!

 

Holy moly that tranny-diagram is complex! What is the "M-1" gear state?

 

As the chief engineer of British Leyland once said, “If there is a way to make something more complicated, the engineers at Daimler-Benz will find it.” (Both ZF and Benz are German so point still remains) :P

 

M-1 is manually selected first gear. This document is for a BMW. Here's the text about M programs.
""M" - Program
The "M" Program is a manual shift program which is activated by simply pushing the selector lever
towards the minus sign for sequential downshifts and towards the plus sign for sequential upshifts, while
the shift lever is in the left-hand gate (position "2" in Figure 99). It is possible to drive off in 1st gear, 2nd
gear or 3rd gear, however, 4th gear can be manually selected only at a speed of approximately 40 km per
hour and 5th gear at approximately 60 km per hour.
4th Gear, Select this position if the transmission tends to hunt between 5th-4th/4th-5th gears under certain
driving conditions.
3rd Gear, Select this position if the transmission tends to hunt between 3rd and 5th gears under certain
driving conditions. Also recommended for lengthy descents in mountainous areas.
2nd Gear, Select this position when driving over mountain passes with lengthy ascents and descents.
1st Gear, This position can be selected for engine braking effect, depending on vehicle speed. "

 

Personally I find BMW go overboard in this department. My wifes 330 needed a thermostat. Turns out you have to buy it as an assembly, because the thermostat and housing are piece because they've got an electrical connector on it so that the ECU can override the opening. What the heck?

 

All right. I got parts at last from Eurowa, a ZF shop in Montreal. Traveling for business has its perks! I was able to talk to Franz, who was extremely helpful.
You might think a shop would scoff at a guy trying to fix his own transmission, but not at all.
At any rate, I should be able to make progress soon, and of course I will post the results.

 

Rob,

I put a recycled Mercedes W5A 580 with 65,000 miles on it in my 98 XJR a couple of months ago (took a chance and purchased it for $1200.00.) Thankfully it has been working very nicely.

The original is sitting on my bench. Why don't you come east a bit and help me fix it?

I am quite intrigued with your project. Great Job! Good luck with the final installation.

Wayne

 

I'm still in Montreal, waiting for my flight home. Then off to Calgary Sunday for one day, back home and if the boss lets me, a couple days off to start working on this. Then off to Toronto, Vancouver, Toronto again, Calgary, my God it's no wonder this things been apart for so long.