My wife was rear ended the other day at a light, hard enough to make all of the passengers to lurch forward quite a bit. Fortunately, the bumper held up ok, however the car started having trans problems. When i went to go check it out, IT WOULD SHIFT INTO FOWARD GEARS, but WOULD NOT SHIFT INTO REVERSE. what might be happening here? Any ideas. It just spun over 132k just recently.

 

Are there any other issues that you've noticed? The battery is in the back. I'm just wondering if something got jostled around back there. It wouldn't hurt to try a hard reset. Unhook the negative cable from the battery, and touch the negative cable to the positive terminal of the battery for a good 30 seconds. That will reset the car. If that doesn't do the trick, then I would assume something mechanical was damaged.

 

Have you got a transmission fault warning in the instrument pack or warning lights?

I'd suspect something mechanical is at play here, maybe a broken mount or bush, are there any alignment issues? the rear axle could have shifted?

The rear bumper mounts are usually impact absorbent material and collapse with an impact, is the bumper now loose?

There's an alignment for the trans selector cable, this might also have been knocked out of range, this can be diagnosed with factory level diagnostics (WDS/IDS) kit, a good indy Jag specialist should have it, or the local dealer. Does the shifter mech feel normal?

More details of the car before and after will help further, either way I doubt a hard reset will cure it but it's free.

Be sure to have your radio code, you may need it and you'll need to reset driver seat memory position etc. On start up after the reboot, let the car idle for 10 mins to store engine/throttle mapping, also look for transmission training to get the gearbox to respond correctly, there's a number of posts on XJR trans training.

Hope this assists

 

Shoot! I dont think i have the code. I better do little searching for that first. The ladt time i needed that i had to visit the dealership for my SUV!
As for the bumper, it is is intact. They appear to be made very well. Its is not loose or anything.
There are no trans codes, however it has been in "limp mode" just recently. The codes i am pulling tell me it could be a vacuum leak or the "purgr valve assembly". I was just at the Jag mechanic discussing that about a week and half ago.
I cant see how that would affect not going into reverse. When i shift into reverse and floor the gas pedal, NOTHING HAPPENS!. Its weird. When i shift into drive and press the gas, whala! Anyone ever heard of that?

 

Like Sean said, it could be the shifter cable was knocked out of adjustment, or something else mechanical. The hard reset probably won't fix the problem, but it can't hurt to give it a try.

 

I believe it is the shifter cable. I went out last night after work and moved the shifter part way between park and reverse and it works! Drove it to work today but now seems to bounce between restricted power and full power. I played a little with the shifter in drive but hard to do on busy highway. I stopped at the dealership on the way in way who threw out the thought that the drive shaft may have been moved(really?). Anyway. I need to do more before taking it in.
Ever heard of a computer RE-FLASH on the XJ Series? Does that help any problems?

 

An out of adjustment shifter cable can cause all sorts of trouble. Mine needs to be adjusted. If I don't let the car warm up enough for the the idle to drop to 800-900 RPM before shifting out of park, I will get a transmission fault warning and the transmission won't shift out of first gear. I have to shut it off and restart it for the tranny to shift normally. Then, the car doesn't have much power until I shut it off and turn it back on a few times.

There's a few threads on the forum on how to adjust the cable. It's really easy to get to. It only took me a few minutes to get the ski slope off to access the cable. That's as far as I got, though, because I was afraid of adjusting it the wrong way and making things worse... lol.

 

Adjustment is simple if you know what you're doing. I recall using axle stands so my rear wheels where off the floor, and running the car through it's range on the selector.

Not something I'd suggest unless you're a seasoned mechanic, too much to go wrong so I won't be posting a how to.

A factory/dealer re-flash on our X308's is recommended...this included the last and latest ECU, TCU, throttle, ABS etc modules to Jaguar's latest software.

Super lucky but a friend is a senior development engineer at Gaydon he borrowed an IDS system and loaded factory development maps to my car, yes it runs experimental maps from the Jaguar factory

 

Can the adjustment be made with the battery connected? The how-to I read said to disconnect the battery for the procedure. It would be much easier if I could leave the battery connected. My reverse is halfway between P and R, and it won't manually shift into 4th unless you slightly bump the shifter forward after moving it to the left. Everything else seems good.

 

Just made dealer trip yesterday. I got some ungodly numbers$ for things the car needs. After paying the $135 diag fee, they say the shifter cable seems "stretched" and "hanging" a little bit from what they can see. The console would have to come off to diag further which translates into more $. The service manager highlighted that they don't sell shifter cables for those anymore. Has any anyone ever changed one, or can the current cable be adjusted? It doesn't seem like a cable of that sort should be a big deal to obtain.

I was was also quoted for a bad ABS MODULE at $2200 new $700 remanned! Really! (They also a Tie Rod was $130~ so i figured out what is at play here!)

I was also told they chased down my vacuum leak to a canister or either a "part" under the Supercharger. I believe I already know what that is, the PURGE VALVE OR THE HOSE attached to it leading under the Supercharger. They said what I already suspected, the Supercharger needs to come off to repair this leak. The Tests show a pretty LEAN CONDITION.

Has Anyone done this recently? How long did it take you to complete? Did you need NEW GASKETS FOR THE SUPERCHARGER to put back on?

Any help, words of wisdom will be greatly appreciated?