Today in St Louis I called my local dealer in order to schedule a transmission service on my '09 XKR Portfolio edition with 42K . Having recently purchased the car I wanted to begin sorting out services issues with limited history of attention. I was advised against the service and was told that there had been instances of the service having been performed on other vehicles only to then have the vehicle fail to move at all! Is there any basis in fact for this claim? I did a "search" on this issue to no avail. The explanation given for the lack of a functioning transmission post service was sketchy at best. Any thoughts? Oh, the recommended mineral oil to be used in the transmission was to cost $90 per liter with a total cost for the service to be $1800. Thanks in advance for any input.
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I paid I think $200 for my trans service, but I already had purchased all the parts and fluid. Total cost for me was about $350 all-in. I bought a case of Motorcraft proper spec fluid and the pan/filter and the sleeve.
I've never heard of a normal pan-drop service hurting a transmission.
Now, a FLUSH of a trans can cause problems, especially a Reverse Flush. Never do those!!!
A pan replacement (with mechatronic sleeve) on our cars is nearly required at the 60,000 mile point.
Again, you need a pan replacement with new fluid, but do NOT flush it!

 

Cee Jay, Thanks for the info. The dealer info didn't seem to be sensible to me either. That was rather like saying if you changed the oil in your Ferrari the engine may lock up! Actually, I don't recall asking the dealer for a "flush" but simply a fluid replacement. You mentioned Motorcraft fluid?

 

It seems your dealer is not as experienced as you would hope.
Be assured the ZF transmission is common and there are many certified transmission shops for ZF.

Cee Jay is entirely correct, DON’T do a flush. But the pan/filter change is appropriate. And like many others, by performing the change you will notice better shifting.
Ask the dealer if they’ll do that…. or better yet find yourself an independent garage that specializes in Jags and LRs.

 

Sounds like they don’t want to do it.
If those ‘failures’ were at their shop, you don’t want them to do it either!

 

I had mine serviced last month at my independent shop, just went over 64,000 miles. The trans shifts smoother, total with parts and labor was $800.00.

 

All considered comments for sure. Actually, my goal is to find a knowledgeable shop that I can trust, so I am trying the ONLY Jaguar dealer in St Louis first in order to get a proper reading of what they are. Now I have already contacted 3 other independent shops with the idea of visiting each before actually taking my car in ( an 85 mile trip one way regardless of which shop I choose). As kj07xk indicated this shop probably has already eliminated itself from future consideration, but for a simple oil & filter and engine diagnostics test it will be worth the experience. And for the record the oil & filter is $154 and the diagnostic test $204......lessons at times are costly!

Sadly, at least for my car, I live in a rural area south of St Louis and Jaguar service departments are slightly rare and my mechanical expertise is even rarer! This my second Jaguar ( an XJS) and my 18th sports car so I can't say that I did not know better. My spouse is simply told, "This addiction is better than drugs, alcohol or women at least!" I'm not too sure she believes this but at least is tolerant.

 

If you want to switch fluids, Motorcraft Mercon SP fluid has the same spec but you also don't want to mix fluids, so if you do this, you will/should/need to do a full flush.

ZF recommends a simple drop and fill, meaning you drain the fluid in the pan and refill. They recommend this every 60,000 km or 8 years, whichever is first. The drop and fill consists of draining the fluid and replacing the pan which has the filter embedded. Then there is a specific fill procedure to be followed. This procedure leaves about 2-3 liters of old fluid in the transmission, mostly in the torque converter but it is their approved/ recommended process.

You can ask the shop to change out the mechatronic sleeve as well while they are at it as you need to drop the pan to do this and it's an $18 part which can be prone to leakage.

Any independent Tranny shop is familiar with the process as our transmissions are the same as many other makes and models such as BMW, Hyundai, Audi, etc.

 

All considered comments for sure. My goal is to find a knowledgeable service center that I can trust so I started with the ONLY Jaguar dealer in St Louis. I thought that I would do the simple oil & filter and engine diagnostic at the dealer in order to get a read on their operations. I have already called 3 independent Jaguar service centers and it sounds as if kjo7xk was correct....I believe that the dealer has already eliminated itself from any future consideration. The oil & filter is priced at $154 ( non synthetic) and the diagnostic at $203 at the dealer....some lessons can be costly. I plan to visit the other 3 prior to bringing in the car in order to assess their facilities.

I live in a rural area 80+ miles away from any any of the service centers and Jaguar service centers are slightly rare in my area and so are my mechanical skills. This is my second Jaguar ( owned XJS prior) and 18th sports car so it's not as if I shouldn't know better. Thanks all for the input.

 

Agreed and that's why I recommend you look for an independent transmission shop. The units are commonplace enough and the process isn't specific to Jaguar. Here's a video from ZF on the process. Best of luck and lets us know how you proceed please.

 

Maybe try the Midwest regional forum for a recommended shop in your area.
And talk with local BMW owners as to what shop they use. Many BMWs use the 6hp26 transmission.

 

I had mine done at the main dealers using a BG fluid exchange machine which connects to the cooler lines and uses new fluid to push the old fluid out, 100% the fluid is replaced. No danger in doing this and much more thorough than a pan drop which only replaces some of the fluid, not all of the fluid.

 

That sounds like an excellent idea. I will approach the service person, but I have my doubts that they will first of all want to use anything but the "mineral oil" fluid ( $90/liter) and since they refused to turn the rotors ( preferring to sell me new Alcon rotors instead) I'll not hold my breath. As an aside they do not have a rotor resurfacing machine, so that tells you a great deal.

At previous direction I'm looking into an independent transmission service which MAY have the equipment you mentioned. In any case thanks for the advice.

 

Attached is the oil refresh procedure from ZF for this unit.

The fluid spec is Shell 1374.5. Variants can be found from about $8 to $25 per liter. Mercon SP is one version. ZF's LG6 is another. I prefer LG6, because it's something I'll likely do once in the car's lifetime. Can be gotten for $15 to $20 per liter. Others prefer Mercon SP, at a lower cost. I would avoid any form of "universal" ATF, and only use something that (at least) clearly meets Shell 1374.5

Everyone has their preferences. I did mine last year at 80K and replaced the filter pan and used LG6. The refresh calls for 6.5 liters or so. Parts were $300, including ZF-sourced pan, 7L of LG6 and interfaces.

Since the pan was off, I dropped the mechatronics and replaced the 5 rubber interconnects (about $60 all in). Why the interfaces? The cars are 7-14 years old. These interconnects shrink, stiffen and can crack, reducing fluid pressure and affecting shifting characteristics. Do you need to do this? Probably not...but when I removed the rubber interface on mine, I bent it slightly to see if it'd crack. It did

Dealers and others ignorant of these transmission act like they're hand made of gold by British dwarves in caves beneath the fens. They're actually pretty straightforward to work on. The tranny is identical to those used in certain BMW's and Alpina's of the era, as far as maintenance is concerned. For this job you could ask a local BMW indy to do what needs to be done. Or a certified ZF shop.

OP, I really respect the choice to replace all the fluid, but it's not IMHO necessary unless the fluid that drains out is black, meaning the tranny was abused and the fluid is broken down. It's a fine choice, but not a necessary one for long transmission life if the tranny is normally driven. After you do the full service this time, drain and refresh every 50-60K and you'll be fine.

Anyway, process is attached. The quote from the Jag dealer made me laugh out loud. $1800...cripes.

 

I don't believe in turning rotors either. Measure the thickness, if less than 50% remains, replace them along with new pads. If new pads needed and more than 50% rotor remains, as long as the surface is smooth and even, fit new pads as is. Done this many times with no issues.

 

We are on the same page as far as the principles are concerned, but what if the rotor visible looks like an old 78 rpm record? Leaving to the imagination..shudder...what the rest of the rotor looks like.

 

I reckon it's impossible to resurface a slotted rotor, the cutter would get caught on the slots. Also turning decreases the usable rotor amount and you're at the mercy of the accuracy of the machine. I should've furthered my statement by saying I'd rather new rotors if the existing are too far gone.

 

Now, you can change and add SOME, just not ALL...

 

Well, that's certainly one school of thought. Wasn't he standing in front of an older Camaro?

 

Makes sense though, if it's a higher mileage and older fluid. Hard parts get used to a certain consistency and such. Change it and who knows what goes on.
My dad used to tell me to never change more than half of any trans fluid because it could mess stuff up.