Gearbox not working

[Carpy]

I type this with a heavy heart I got into the car this afternoon, started it up, waited a bit and selected reverse. There was a slight lurch as it engaged and instead of rolling backwards it just made a sort of whining noise which disappeared when put back into neutral or park. I got the same whining noise in any gear I then selected but no movement. There are no fault messages on the dash. Any thoughts though I fear the worse.
The car is a year 2000 3 litre 5 speed automatic.
Thanks.

[J44EAG]

What mileage?

This is a typical example of a completely worn out 5R55N gearbox that probably has never had an oil change. 130k miles is as much as you are likely to achjive unless an oil change has been done.

Given the age of the vehicle, you have to consider what the car is worth now. With a worn out gearbox, most breakers will give you £200. Sorry not to be able to be more encouraging.

A reconditioned gearbox is likely to cost around £2300 plus VAT. Need I say more. I`ve seen the same problem several years ago.

You would be best advised to look for a more modern car as a replacement. Loads of good 4.2 examples to be had on ebay, Trovit, Newsnow, Gumtree etc, etc. You might be quite pleasantly suprised what you can find.

The early cars are now well over the hill unless buckets of cash are thrown at them. Consider also sill and rear subframe rust condition, mileage, age and market price guide. I have a V8 tweaked car which is now available for sale on an MY02 plate. It is in great general condition but despite mods and even condition, it isn`t worth that much. Heating/aircon needs some TLC. Other than that it is the probably the quickest and best handling S-type around. As former S-type Co-ordinator, the history of this car has been regularly publicized in our magazine. No apologies for using this post as a plug to help you get back on the road or for me to sell this car on. Buying an XJR tomorrow!

I think time to move on and get another car. PM me if interested in my very fast and lairy V8. It is a good one for a fast driver but very hard on the suspension for most people for everyday use. Its available if you are interested with a reconditioned gearbox that has only covered 37k miles.

Mike

[Carpy]

Mileage is about 110 thousand, it has a full service history but don't know if the gearbox oil has been changed. Just seems odd it was working perfectly fine up to when it was parked up and the next day just gave up the ghost. Gutted to be honest.

[J44EAG]

All those years ago, Jaguar marketed the car with a "Filled for life" gearbox. How long is a reasonable life?

Sadly, it doesn`t make any difference whether the car has a full service history in the case of gearbox failure. "Filled for life" meant that the gearbox did not require to have the occasional oil drain and refill. So oil changing on the gearbox does NOT appear on the service item schedules!

The early Ford based 5R55N unit is known to be weak and unreliable. The newer six speed ZF unit is more reliable but also prone to similar oil type issues. It is not just Jaguar with this issue but also other mainstream car makes that have also experienced problems.

Soon after these cars came on the market ie about four years later in fact, people began to get gearbox failures at mileages usually above 100k miles. My V8 gearbox exploded at only 53k miles.The same issue also affected XK8 and XJ models of the period. As a Club, we noted this issue and soon realised that something had to be done. What we did was to regularly highlight the issue and suggest that gearbox oil changes should occur around 60k miles. Perhaps we need to bring this matter up again for newer members. These gearboxes can be flush serviced by a competent well equipped gearbox reconditioning business.

I know this doesn`t help you much, but many of us including myself have had a similar catastrophe.

Take a look at this link. This is what may well have occurred inside your gearbox.
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... 4564,d.ZGU

We are always happy to help with any questions you may have. However in this case all we can do is to try to help you make informed decisions for the future of this car.

Mike

[Carpy]

Thanks Mike for your well informed reply. I have a lot of thinking to do.
Cheers
Steve