Gearbox Oil Change

[christopherspeed59]

Hi everybody,

Just had my oil changed today, car has done 94k with no signs of a previous oil change. The oil came out in pretty good condition still looking nice and clean, with a good colour to it. In the sump pan there are magnets which had a tiny amount of sludge on them, have been assured this is perfectly normal and would have been deposited there when the box was new. Really pleased with the job and feel i can relax and not worry about the box for now, car driving spot on with really smooth changes. A job well done, happy days.

Chris.

[Montana5]

Chris, sounds like there is a marked improvement with the box after the service, are those niggling doubts you had now gone, I suppose it must be quite reassuring when nothing untoward came out the box after draining it. Did you use an Independent Garage.

Doug.

[J44EAG]

There we go. Fresh oil rules ok.

Mike

[christopherspeed59]

I use a small independent garage, just 2 fitters working there. The main man worked in a Porsche specialist for 10 years before going it alone earlier this year. He done a major service for me in june before i went touring France and i can't recomend him highly enough.

[jeff1954]

I'm having the gear box oil and filter canged and flushed by a local indipendant.
He will allso do a re-flash of the gearbox. As I have had a re map done on the engine he thinks this re flash might wipe the map off. I have spoken to the re map people and the say that a gearbox re-flash will not affect the engine ECU.

Opinions please.
Thanks in advance Jeff.

[J44EAG]

I think you can be pretty certain that any gearbox reflash will not touch the engine management section of the module.

After I had the gearbox rebuilt on J44 several years ago, Bristol Transmissions had problems clearing the huge number of fault codes generated when the box failed. Eventually, they succeeded but I was concerned they would destroy my £600 engine management reflash.

All came well and the engine reflash was totally unaffected.

Hope that helps to reassure you, Jeff.

Mike

[jeff1954]

Thanks Mike for your promt reply. As I said the re-map people said that it will not affect the engine ECU, but its nice to get other peoples views on the matter.

Once again many thanks.
Jeff.

[honoria1]

Hi everyone. Acquired my first S Type a month ago. I took the car to my local Jaguar independent garage today for a replacement key. I asked about gearbox oil changes and was told that the oil should not need changing. A number of S Type owners had recently wanted their gearbox oil changed as a result of looking at forums . I was also told that the gearbox oil does not need changing by the previous owner of my car and he had had Jaguars for the past thirty years .Dinky.

[Montana5]

Hi honoria 1, welcome to the Bulletin Board.
For peace of mind most people try and have the Gearbox serviced between 60k-80k miles, I believe some Jaguar Dealers are even coming round to this way of thinking. I had mine done by my local Indy at 67k which was not long after purchasing the Car, had the box reflashed at the same time.
It would be useful if you were to include your model and year in the signature panel.

Doug.

[J44EAG]

This subject has rattled around since the S- first saw light of day.

Jaguar motted "filled for life" not "sealed for life" How long is "life"? The owners manual says words to the effect of "or when the car is used in harsh conditions" oil should be changed. All rather contradictory and somewhat confusing. Quite what defines harsh conditions is difficult to quantify.....

Oil changing for S-type gearboxes is not on the service scheduled. Not good. So dealers don`t do it unless asked to so do. Madness in my opinion.

Those of us who have had to have reconditioned gearboxes fitted will be aware that if failure occurs, one is faced with an invoice of £2000 upwards. Oil ages, oxidises and breaks down due to the effect of heat and pressure. So if we are wise we change the oil at regular intervals. Not to do so will eventually result in failure. Changing oil is done as a preventative measure to help extend the life of a transmission. To ignore that will lead to a shorter service life.

I bought my first V6 S-type when it was six years old. At that time i attended the first JEC seminar and was appalled to learn about the regular instances that Club members had as regards modern Jaguar transmission failure. That included XJ8 and XK8 models. It became very apparent that oil changing had to occur to preserve the life of a gearbox and the subject became a regular item in our magazine. At that time the subject was also debated at length on these Bulletin Boards and we all learned the good sense in oil changing.

Those of us who are familiar with the issue would not ignore the need for having transmission oil changed. It has a service life which when expired will progressively lead to a transmission failure. Best advice is to take a car directly to a local transmission specialist and have them do the job. Expect to pay around £400 for a full flush and refill which should include oil being changed in the torque converter and oil cooler. Anything less is only half a job.

I am surprised to learn after all these years that some Jaguar dealers may still not be undertaking oil changes. To my knowledge the wisdom of oil changing did eventually filter down to dealer level and become accepted practice.

Most dealers will not do gearbox oil changing themselves. Expensive and complex oil change machinery is involved and many will simply sub a car out to a gearbox specialist and charge you a premium for such work.

For further information on this subject, look in the gearbox sections of XJ8, XK8 and S-type Bulletin Boards. You will find a huge amount of information about gearbox oil changing on these boards and find a common conclusion being reached.

Mike