As the OP I'd especially like to find and correct the cause. In my case it is so intermittent we're waiting for it to get more reproducible. You're the first I've heard to have it occur consistently. Now we're all counting on you kid!

 

I've got the front up on ramps to check for loose fittings and to paint the brake pipes as the good old British weather has made them rusty!!!
I grabbed the prop shaft at the front to give it a wiggle as I heard a noise from it yesterday when leaving Thruxton race track and I found about 4-5mm movement, could this be the cause of the noise?as it looks like my gearbox has been replaced as it's painted gold and all the diff feels solid.?
Now to find a reasonable costreplacement.

 

Good work Ferrarikid. Let's hope the fix isn't too dear to your budget. Please keep us posted.

 

The prop i off at last, and has been dropped off for testing to see if it's still balanced as it has quite a deep groove to the rear of it which lines up with a bolt in the handbrake mechanism support plate.
There is also a small mark on the front which seems to line up with a small plate in the transmission tunnel.
Also the jurid coupling has a split around two of the metal mounting spacers so a new one has been ordered.

 

I have just picked up the prop from Wimborne motors who have rebalanced it for me, Now i'm just waiting for the new jurid coupling to arrive the it's refit time!!!!

 

Looks like some nice work. I'm sure you'll enjoy getting back on the road with your kitty.

I hope that solves your problem as it will be a big clue for my own issue.

Meanwhile, I've now got intermittent Failsafe Engine Mode issues to deal with. I suspect it's in the area of the throttle body, hopefully just a bad vacuum line or a dodgy electrical connection.

 

At least you have some nice weather over there to work on your car,
we've had a week of really nice weather but now it's back to rain!!!

I changed my throttle body for an updated one a few months ago, i bought it secondhand from ebay, now she no longer cuts out when backing off from over 100mph.

i'll let you know on the outcome of the balancing, the mechanic seems to think it could be a misfire causing it but i have my doubts at the moment.

 

Well the prop and the jurid coupling are back in and i've taken it out for it's first drive and............................ the noise is still there so that's another one off the list of possibilities so the search goes on!!!

 

Sorry to hear that Ferrarikid. I and probably all the rest of us were hoping that would be the end of it.

I've got an update as well. Two days ago I hit the power going uphill and got a VERY hard downshift that caused the tires to chirp and then I got a TRANSMISSION FAULT in the display. Other than that, all seemed normal and the fault cleared by restarting the motor.

Yesterday with nothing showing in the display I was motoring down the road and at higher RPMs something started whining. Went back home, opened the hood and the noise seemed to be coming from around the throttle body area (been having cruise control issues and FAILSAFE MODE problems intermittently as well). Shutting down and restarting solved the problem. Went back on my errands and lo and behold after about three miles, got a permanent TRANSMISSION FAULT in conjunction with more whining. This time it couldn't be cleared and the transmission acted like it was permanently stuck in a higher gear.

It's now at the local Jaguar dealer (I've still got a few months left on an extended warranty - whew!) for analysis and repair. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

Royal Jaguar dealer here in Tucson says the transmission in my '99 XK8 is shot and must be replaced. My extended warranty will cover its replacement with a used transmission. The dealer has located one with 107K miles on it (mine has 111K miles) which will run about $4,000 installed with a one year warranty. Dealer says a remanufactured unit runs about $7,000 installed.

As I'd like to use this beast on extended road trips and such, I'm not terribly comfortable with a used transmission as I've already got some experience with one crapping out at 111K miles.

Oh Wise Forum: what are your thoughts regarding my options?

• Should I spring for the difference and get the remanufactured unit (ouch)?
• Take the used unit with 107K miles with nothing out of my pocket?
• Go somewhere in the middle by asking the dealer to look for a transmission with less miles and pay that difference?

That's what I've come up with so far. Now, please chime in (don't be shy) and let's have your thoughts!

Thanks,
Scott

 

I think I'd be weighing the options of the reman or a lower mileage unit.

IMHO 107K is a lot of miles when you don't know how it was treated.

 

That's exactly what I told the service rep! I'm calling our family mechanic tomorrow. Although I've given up on him for the XK8 he does good honest work on our more run-of-the mill vehicles. In addition to his regular shop he also owns a shop specializing in transmissions. I'll get his thoughts as well as the forum's.

 

That sounds like a plan, I assume the dealer doesn't mind you sourcing a unit yourself?
You'll get more opinions tomorrow.

 

+1 on Norri's list.

With 107k miles on the used trans and a 1-yr warranty, in 1 year of normal driving, you're easily back to your current miles (or more), out of warranty again and $4k poorer.

I'd keep looking for a lower mileage unit or spring for the reman one. Surely there is a wrecking yard out there with a good low mileage trans from a bad body car.

 

Thanks gents. You're all echoing my thoughts. It helps!

 

I had very similar symptoms to yours about 2 months ago, and I have comparable mileage (104,000). When the tranny was opened up, the gears were fine; we replaced the solenoids in the box, the harness, changed trans fluid and filter, and finally the shifter box and its internals. I did get 2 transmission fault codes on the first day back, but it's now been about a month and none since, and the trans is just fine. I probably spent about $3000 altogether, but if I didn't need a full rebuild why get charged for one. Replacing yours with one of nearly the same mileage is just asking for more troubles down the road, even if you have a warranty for a year. Have an indy Jag transmission specialist take a look. More often than not, these are electronic problems not mechanical or wear problems. Does your extended warranty require the dealer to do the work?

 

Thanks Tberg. That's good information. The warranty company does not require the dealer to do the work but ... I've found the dealers know how to deal with these companies (they can be a real PITA) much better than the indy does. Because of that I've taken anything that would be covered to the dealer. My local guy gets all the rest of the work and will get it all when the warranty expires. Biggest problems the indies have is getting the parts cost fully covered. The dealers seem to have more options in that area, but ... I digress.

I'll be speaking to my indy this morning about having him do the rebuild himself. He'll also be able to give me an idea if the dealer's costs are out of line.

 

Spent an hour searching the Internet and found that there are multiple shops (including two in nearby Phoenix) offering ZF 5HP24 remanufactured transmissions for just under $2,000.

Anybody heard of San Tan Transmissions in Queen Creek, AZ? Or, 1 Stop Transmission in Peoria, AZ?

Opinions please! With the Jaguar dealer telling me it's $7,000 for a remanufactured unit and $4,000 for a used one, I'm confused. That's a huge markup on the face of it. It could be these kind of shops are second-rate but they've got decent reviews on eBay. Waddya y'all think? Are these prices in the right ball park?

 

I would stay away from the main dealer sounds like he wants you to pay for his next holiday with that price, I know my local main dealer charges £120 an hour for labour!!!!
A recon box over here is about £1295-1500 form what i've seen on the internet and a lot of those include fitting.

 

At $7,000, the dealer was estimating a remanufactured transmission with OEM ZF parts with a warranty that will be honored by any Jaguar dealer. He was also including labor. I spoke to a second source who verified that kind of a transmission alone goes for about $4,800 here in the States.

My extended warranty company of course wanted to replace the transmission with a junkyard transmission of about the same mileage (checked out of course). This dealer convinced the warranty company that parts and labor for that job would be about $4,000 and the company has authorized that much for the repair.

The less expensive remanufactured transmissions are typically done with non-OEM parts and are much less extensive in parts replacement.

Once the dealer sharpened his pencil, the job for the OEM reman tranny was about $6,600 and I've agreed to pay the difference. I'll have peace of mind knowing that this tranny should be pretty much as good as a new one.

One less thing to worry about with this aging beast.

Now, we have to wait and see if the odd intermittent vibration (the actual subject of the thread) goes away with this repair.

BTW, while they were checking the kitty they found the source of my intermittent FAILSAFE ENGINE MODE indication coupled with loss of cruise control. Per Gus' remote diagnosis it is the brake switch assembly and it will be fixed as well. I'll post this in the pertinent thread.