So I've owned it for all of 10 days and my car just tried to kill me. Was driving on the highway going about 50-55 mph when there was a loud bang and the rear end locked up, and the car spun and I ended up in the median. I was able to get the car out, and I slowly drove down the road and heard another loud bang. Then I got a Transmission Fault error.

Any idea WTF just happened to me?

 

I believe you answered your own question. Get it towed to a shop after the first mishap next time, it’s not worth it to potentially injury yourself and/or others. Be safe.

 

Welcome to jaguar reliability

 

Glad you're OK. I'm sure it was a pretty nerve-wracking experience. I
s the car driveable? Not sure if the issue is with the differential or transmission. Please share details as you get them.

 

To be clear, I was trying to get the car off of the highway. That's why I was driving it very slowly.

 

I didn't want to cause further damage so after the second bang I parked the car and had it towed.

 

You owned it for just 10 days - makes me wonder, if the previous owner would be willing to shed light on it...
Maybe the car is called "Christine"... (John Carpenter Movie)

 

Initial thought from the shop is that the rear diff failed.

 

I'm glad you're okay given what took place but I hope you have a really good shop that is capable of giving you good advice as well as good work. You don't give much information on the car itself and it's condition and service history so it's hard to make any recommendations (particularly for those of us who aren't mechanics).

Having said that, a differential failure is not very common even with Jaguars, the above comment from mobil1 notwithstanding. With or without a detailed service history, you likely need a detailed assessment of your car before doing any work although some of that might be harder as it's not running. You'll have to review your experience with the shop as much as possible to assist them as differential problems don't usually happen "by themselves" and are often the result of other issues, particularly with the transmission or even with accidents (more common with cars taken "off road" or that have lived with bad roads). Did the car track straight, were there noises or whining from the rear or from the transmission, was shifting smooth or not...

Completing that assessment before repairing the differential will tell you what you can realistically expect to be in for before you have a reliable car. What that total is will determine whether repairing the differential on top of what you paid for the car is money well spent or the beginning of throwing good money after bad. At the least, you will be making an informed decision and will have a road map you can follow.

Good luck!

PS The "stickies" at the beginning of the forum give some really good guides on what to ask/answer in assessing the condition of your car...

 

Good advice, thank you. I had a PPI done before I bought the car, done at the same shop. They did not find any major issues with it – just recommended some minor things that should be repaired and some preventative maintenance. This is a shop that specializes in foreign brands. Most people in town with Volvos, BMWs, Porsches, Benzes, etc. take them here. Not many Jags around but they work on them too. The car drove very nicely before yesterday. It tracked straight, shifted smoothly, the engine ran smoothly, etc. The car has some cosmetic issues (inside and out) but is rust free and I didn't pay much for it. It has 185k KM on it. My plan was to pick away at the issues it has and put it away for the winter.

 

I will second the opinion that catastrophic differential failures happen very seldom and almost never without warning signs (humming/whining, vibrations through tunnel etc.). Makes me wonder if someone before you attempted to fix an existing issue and failed to put things back correctly (causing the planetary gears to lock suddenly). Nonetheless, I would be furious if such an incident happened to me, especially after getting a positive PPI and your reaction proves you are a better man than I'll ever be LOL

Hoping the garage sees some responsibility in all this and makes things right for you.

please keep up posted.

 

My first thought was diff as well. At least that's a simpler one to test and look into (easy to suck the oil out and stick a camera in, and to feel for rough spots).

I guess it could be exploded planetaries like mentioned earlier, I had that failure on my transmission, though supposedly the weak point there was resolved for transmissions built after 2000. But in my case it didn't cause any lockup, just resulted in the car struggling to move and eventually no longer going into gear.

 

I had that happen on one of my cars. It was the axel universal joint seizing up. Weird noise then a BANG! Replaced and good to go.

 

Never had a rear diff blow on 3 XJ8s, an XJR and an XK8. All over 100K. Just changed the fluid every 60K and kept an eye out for leaks. I've had a Jaguar as a daily driver for over a decade with only normal maintenance after doing timing chains on all. The era of Jaguar unreliability ended in the mid 90s.They aren't Toyotas but I'd take one over any BMW or MB of the last 20 years.

 

> The era of Jaguar unreliability ended in the mid 90s.They aren't Toyotas but I'd take one over any BMW or MB of the last 20 years.

Indeed. And that date is not a coincidence, as Ford took the helm at Jaguar around 1990.
The British (and apparently the rest of the world, too) kind of hated Ford for taking over Jaguar, and Ford/Jaguar got punished for it with bad sales figures.
I worked for Ford (Cologne, Germany) and Jaguar (Coventry). and while Ford is not perfect (resisting the "journey" towards less fuel efficient cars and newer transmissions (e.g. putting the very old Fiesta engine into the Focus - and only adding a bit of shiny metal on the top to make it look shiny, and kind of the same for transmissions)), you cannot fault Ford for not doing everything for making cars more reliable. FMEAs were a big thing at Ford/Jaguar. Plenty of road-test before official sales. I myself drove way more than 1000km with a Ford Puma in my spare time in1997/8 to road-test it before it gets offered for sale. And that is only on top of testing the carts at Proving Grounds - the Lommel Proving Ground was one of them:

https://www.fordlpg.com/en/indexjs.h...in_act_dur.htm

Lommel is in Belgium. I drove there from Ford in Cologne to interview the guys there, who tested the "pascars" (test cars, models not released yet).

Ford takes feedback from garages/repair shops serious and it constantly does improvements based upon the feedback they are getting. Ford stuffed many millions into improved manufacturing processes at Jaguar, but the public did not see it...

The end of the story was that "the public" actually punished itself by attempting to punish Ford with bad sales figures: Ford was forced to sell Jaguar at a loss to an Indian car-maker (Tata) at around 2010. I for one will not put up my hand for when any Indian Jaguar is up for sale...

PS:

I only just stumbled over a news feed - apparently I am not alone in my feelings regarding an Indian Jaguar:JLR posts £524 million loss after slow production ramp-up

Jaguar Land Rover has posted a loss of £524 million for the first quarter of the 2023 financial year, as it continues to suffer the impacts of the global semiconductor shortage and Covid lockdowns.

The Tata-owned British company sold 78,825 new cars from April to June – a drop of around 46,000 year on year, representing a 37% drop.

 

Hopefully you were just super unlucky 🤞 I had a wheel bearing seize at 100+kph once, scared the hell out of me. That car ran fine for years afterwards, it was just a one-off thing.

Unless it was making a noise the shop wouldn't've had much chance of finding it.. There's only so much they can see in an hour or whatever it is they get to do the inspection, so these days I pay the extra for a PPI that comes with a warranty or insurance policy. Hope you did the same!

 

Let's be honest Mercedes make better cars and you can find parts for it but for our cars 1000$ for a radiator!
this car fail if we like it or not once you hit 100k it probably will need restoration the engine all bushings fail
Tensioners and ignition coils cooling fan transmission oil cooler all the struts and the mounts you will be lucky if the rear main seal didn't leak . I don't like Mercedes that much they make better cars in this forum there must be sticky page of warning this car must be owned by retired millionaire . I didn't have the knowledge and I believed it's just as Honda and Toyota I spent over 10k on repairs while my nissan just had fuel pump over the years

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Seems to me that a diff failing without any symptoms is unusual and that I did just get super unlucky.

Unfortunately there's no warranty or insurance available with a PPI here, at least not that I'm aware of. The car is getting fixed next week so hopefully I will have it back soon to enjoy for a couple months before tucking it away for the winter.

 

Winter is half the fun!

 

Fingers crossed 🤞 I'd consider giving it an unscheduled full major service, replacing all fluids and filters and inspecting anything that should be inspected at a major. These days I do this for all used cars that I buy regardless of service history.. it's like the PPI with warranty, it's an added expense but it gives me peace of mind. I had to get an indepenent mechanic to do it for my XES, as the Jag dealer was super weird about doing a service that wasn't scheduled (not many businesses that refuse to take money!).

Re PPI with warranty, here if we join our state's roadside assist club thing (NRMA, RACV, etc - like the AAA) we can have a car inspected by a participating workshop and, if something fails within 12 months that wasn't identified as an issue on the PPI, the workshop will fix it with the cost covered by the auto club's insurance. Maybe $50 or $100 more expensive than a normal PPI, but if the diff falls out of my car I know who's paying for it 🤣 I'd be surprise if nobody does something like that in your country so it might be worth looking into for your next ride.

Most of the threads like this on here seem to rapidly devolve into apportioning blame to the previous owner, the mechanic that did the PPI, Jag themselves, the old lady next door's cat, blah blah... at least you're looking forwards rather than backward 👍

Can you ask your shopfor photos of the inside of the exploded diff? Would love to see the carnage :P