I just had an unofficial BMW garage in Phuket (Thailand) change the transmission oil on my 2001 XJ8 3.2lt. (I used the this garage because they are be used to ZF gear boxes).
At the same time they installed a new J Gate Illuminator.
They said they put in about 6.5lts of ZF LIFEGUARD FLUID 5 oil.
The first few minutes of the test drive was OK, but after a few hundred meters after some hard acceleration the engine cut out at some lights and the Restricted Performance warning flashed on.
Now the engine stalls, the restricted performance warning light comes and goes, especially it seems after some higher engine revs.
Could the oil be the wrong type? They said it looked thicker than the existing oil...
Any thoughts or suggestions please?

 

If it's the same one bolted to the 4.0 XJ8 automatic it should use Esso LT 71141. IIRC, ZF Lifeguard should be able to be used in those boxes. But that box (along with most ZF electronic controlled ones are finicky with the fluids and level.

And hold 10.05 liters (10.6 quarts). 6.5 about is about right if TQ wasnt drained completely.


but sometimes when that happens the last few steps are forgotten. Was the gears cycled through the gears to make sure the yall operated good, then rechecked the and adjusted fluid level? Note: generally amount of fluid added should be about the same as fluid removed. and the visc. of out going fluid and in going fluid should look the same. assuming both near about same temp. Hot fluid will look thinner than cold fluid by a little bit.

but the stalling sounds like something is up with the TQC portion. And if the oil is indeed wrong, visc, that can create and issue like ya experiencing.

 

I would look at the selector lever illumination module and the D4 micro switch area for faults.

There are different illumination modules for different gearboxes (there is NOT just one part number).

Some are probably incompatible.

Maybe the D4 switch or the plastic cam plate is faulty/broken
/disconnected??

Here is a diagnostic flowchart for the ZF 5HP24.

bob gauff

 

Hi Bob,

I bought the replacement J Gate Illuminator from Jaguar Heritage Parts, who asked for the VIN before sending, so I think it's probably the correct part... Sadly, I have no idea what the what the D4 switch or plastic cam plate is...

I noticed the car seems to run OK if I drive very gently, but if I either rev moderately hard or drop gears the Restricted Performance appears and the car stalls.

 

I replaced the J gate illuminator with the old one, but the transmission problem persists...

Next step will be to do another transmission oil change but with LT71141 instead of ZF Life guard 5 just so I can eliminate the slight possibility.

If this fails to rectify the problem, does anyone have any bright ideas as the next step will be to ship the car to Bangkok and have a 'specialist' Jaguar technician have a go...

Thanks

 

The D4 switch is the micro switch on the mount at the front of the selector assy.

The cam plate revolves with the selector lever and actuates the D4 switch when the lever is moved to engage 4th gear in the 'J' gate.
The selector cable does NOT move when selecting 4th so the switch tells the TCM to select 4th.

Sounds like the illumination module is not the problem.

bob gauff

 

Have you checked for pending codes and looked at Short term fuel trims? are you sure that the RP is not engine related?

 

Thanks for the reply.

I don't have an OBD so cannot check codes. (Can you suggest an OBD for Mac?)
What are 'Short Term Fuel Trims' please?... (the car is fully fuelled).
I'm not at all sure where the problem comes from: but would guess it's gear box related as the car quickly stutters (it gets stuck rapidly switching up and down) between gears when accelerating or when I drop a few gears using the J Gate...