Sealed for life?

Maybe not ...

Chrysler issued a TSB for their version of the W5A580 transmission, the NAG-1 (no not the wife!).

They recommended a fluid change at 25K miles to get rid of manufacturing contamination.

 

just change the fluid, period.

it is MB 5 speed ATF, I did it and the best thing I did on my Jag

 

Plan on doing mine in the coming weeks

 

I've read various opinions on servicing the "sealed" transmissions, especially those with 80k or more miles. Mine has 86k mi. Shifts fine, no delays, doesn't clank or slam into gear. However, as many here I intend to hold onto my XJR for quite a while and want to do whats right.

Plums, what is your opinion on doing a fluid/filter change at my mileage?

 

Who? Me?

Bought at about your mileage. The transmission fluid, power steering fluid, differential lube and antifreeze got changed in that order in the first couple thousand miles of ownership ... right after the secondary tensioners which were changed immediately.

The oil was changed at the regular interval and the brake fluid is coming up.

Pretty much everything that is liquid in a vehicle. The brake lines have been changed from front to back thanks to the previous owner insisting on it when he purchased it after it sat for a while.

As prompted by Doug, the transmission filter is now known to have gotten past the "catch manufacturing debris" stage and will not be changed on every fluid change.

 

So, should the filter be changed or not? Where do I find information on fluid service intervals? Thanks

 

umm ... change the transmission filter when changing transmission fluid unless you have independently made the decision that it is not required.

The Jaguar recommendations are found in the Jaguar "Passport to Service" booklet or in JTIS under the service schedule section. Those omit recommendations for atf, differential, ps and brake fluids. For those ... start reading

The purpose in changing all fluids when acquiring a used vehicle is to establish a known baseline for usage and type.

Other than oil, most members would agree that the other fluids including coolant ought to see no more than two years in service. One of the benefits of changing fluids is that you also check the level.

BTW, the fluids in a XJR:

-- engine oil
-- engine coolant
-- supercharger oil
-- power steering fluid (still ATF)
-- brake fluid
-- transmission fluid
-- differential lubricant
-- windshield washer (before some troll quibbles)

 

Just to add a note on the W5A 580 fluid change... which may be controversial to some who prefer the Jaguar specified product.

My original transmission gave up on me, so I found a used one at a wrecker. When searching for the right fluid, I found several posts on what to use. Many posters would cringe to hear that I did not go with the dealers choice, but the Jaguar dealers sell the fluid for around the same price as gold, it seems. (in my case about half the price of the replacement transmission!). The Mercedes dealer offered it at about 1/2 of the Jag price. I got the filter and gasket from Mercedes for $29.00. For fluid, I was brazen enough to go to Walmart and buy Valvoline Max Life Dex/Merc. If I recall correctly I spent under $30.00 for 2 jugs of it.

I did not follow the conventional wisdom, mainly due to the fact that I was not sure the transmission was going to work, as it came out of a junk yard. Under those conditions, I did not want to put $200.00 into fluid.

I did call Valvoline's 1-800 line and they assured me that the fluid was absolutely fine, so that gave me some comfort.
I now have about 20,000 km on the replacement transmission and the Valvoline seems to be performing well. ( touch wood!)

Not that I would offer a personal guarantee on the stuff, but thought some might be interested to know that it seems to have worked out at a major saving over the the cost of Jaguar Fluid. I will probably change again after another 5 or 10,000 km.

Best Regards

 

The Valvoline MaxLife Dex/Merc was specifically named in a official Mercedes training document as being acceptable for the W5A580. It's what I use.

 

In this thread you can find more info about OCI's (true recommendation by MB to change it), and also what oils you can use:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...n-fluid-58651/

The original spec was 236.10, but now MB also recommends 236.14, and that opens up a lot of other brand oils. I use the Mobil ATF 134 as that was easy and cheap to get for me.