S type gearbox problems

Very common to have failure on these 'boxes, they're dreadful!

Replacement is the only cure, sorry. See Honest John's site for more info.

Tim..

they die at 60,000 miles

Any idea of the cost of a replacement box v. value of car?

Si

likely 2000 for the box, car about 4000, so it is worth doing (in many people's opinion, not mine)

Is there any modification to the box, or will the replacement fail at 120K?

Yes, the most important is you *must* have the updated software flashed to the ECU, which stops the box freewheeling on over-run, and also tightens up the changes.

It also addresses a glitch where the ECU could summon reverse gear when at speed forwards (don't ask!) and also change the fluid every 20k.

Tim..

Sorry, I'm going to ask...

WTF?

How in the name of all things holy did they do that?

"I can't let you do that, Dave. This car is too important to let you jeopardise its mission"

LOL!

Chris

At what point can something like a duff automatic gearbox be described as "unfit for purpose"? A gearbox design that regularly fails at such low mileage surely gives reasonable grounds for claiming that it ought to be replaced FOC or at least at relatively minimal cost to the owner.

Anyone got any experience in this field?

Tim

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@pipex.net...

For what it's worth, the ZF 6HP26 6-speeder in later S-Types is a hell of a lot better. I wonder if the later 'box can be fitted easily to the earlier cars?

That's the limp home mode.

Likely an electronics fault. I dunno if the gearbox ECU is separate or part of the engine one on this car. If separate, I'd first check it is actually getting the correct voltage.

Take it to your prefered / reliable auto box shop, unless you have knowledge of the internals its probably o/s your scope

Finding a reliable 'auto box shop' is likely to be difficult in many areas. Many simply fit reconditioned boxes bought elsewhere and aren't experts in them.

The fact it's gone into limp home mode suggests to me it's not likely a problem with the gearbox internals but the electronics which are in the main external.

Sounds like the ECU may have failed, but certainly more likely that you need a new transmission.

As far as I know, the dealer has the proper diagnostic tools.

Blake

I would look to the transmission ECU; sounds like you are in "limp- home" mode.

Blake

We did that a week ago. ;-)

Well, if you have the pre facelift model I know why...

Ford made Jaguar use a gearbox from a Ford pickup truck to save money.

Mine went (1999 model) 3 months after the warranty ran out.

Cost me a small fortune for a refurb box.

Later model used a pr>Hi,

Auto boxes ain't inherently cheaper because they're 'from a truck'. Jaguar are owned by Ford and naturally use many Ford components. Which is where they went wrong, IMHO.

It could be ZF offered a better price - they are a very large supplier. And of course at the forefront of gearbox design. Ford never seemed to get on top of making decent autos for some reason.