Guys......

Never a dull moment......for two years now, my '07 XK8 would occasionally jump into Paddle Shift Mode while sitting stopped. This means stuck in first gear; it recovers normal operation if I stop and go to neutral and back to drive. The gear indication jumps to 123456 on screen. This happened twice yesterday. Has anyone seen this or fixed it? It is awkward to get off to the side and stop sometimes.

 

First thing, it's NOT an XK8, just a regular XK.
Second, I thought this happened to me a lot when I first got my car. I discovered that the paddle would hit my knee (knee hit the paddle?) once in awhile. It still does it occasionally, and it's always my knee.

 

I knocked the paddles with my hand occasionally.. I just move the shifter to sport and then back to drive. The OP might have some other issue though.

 

OPs post is confusing. If the car jumps to manual on its own. Is this while at standstill and are you able to drive off and shift into 2-6? Or is the transmission stuck in 1st gear?

 

Agree, the post is confusing perhaps because the OP doesn’t have full knowledge of how the shifters work.

Sounds like whilst stopped in gear it’s automatically shifting to 1st gear and his fix’s shifting from drive to neutral to drive which’s normal. Also if in manual mode 1st gear, pressing and holding the right paddle shifter should switch it back to automatic mode.

 

If the car is in D and you accidentally go into a lower gear just tap back up one gear and let it go back to Auto D on its own. If you’re in Sport mode it will go into full manual mode.

 

You have to pull back and hold the right paddle to do that.

 

Yes I can upshift when it jumps to paddle mode; I do not believe I am causing the problem.

 

What happens when you pull back and hold the right paddle? Does it go back to D
as it should? Perhaps there’s a short in the left paddle or wear in the shifter assembly.

 

mine is programmed differently. It will not react to holding down a paddle for an extended period.

 

Then something's wrong, it's designed to do that.

 

It doesnt feel like it lol. Its quite easy to work with and I use all modes every time I drive it

 

Not saying you're wrong, you apparently are the first ever member to report this malfunction.

 

I hear ya. Ill leave it as since there other more pressing issues to take care of with my XJS.

 

I still say the OP accidentally bumps a paddle.