New member from Derbyshire with a question

[V8Graham]

Hi to all,
I have recently joined the club following the purchase of a 2003 XJ8 4.2 Sport, this is the fifth Jag I have owned and so far by far the best.
My Jag history started with a 1985 XJ6 4.2 manual, followed by a 2009 XF 3.0 diesel Luxury spec, then a 1995 X300 4.0 Sport, then another 1995 X300 3.2
I bought this XJ8 in December last year and on the whole I have been very pleased with it.

However I do have a question, every now and then it is slow to allow the selection of drive when the brake pedal is depressed, sometimes I have to press the brake pedal several times before the click and selector movement, once I tried keeping my foot on the brake and repeatedly trying to select a gear and it finally allowed me to. This is an intermittent fault, sometimes it is perfect, others there is a delay, does anyone have any ideas?
Cheers
Graham

[J44EAG]

I occasionally have the same issue myself.

One line of thought is that the brake pedal switch may be faulty. I discounted this as my small issue doesn`t often happen and in any case doesn`t clear by applying a harder pressure to the brake pedal.

As I understand it, the release from Park through the gate to Reverse, Neutral or Drive is an electro-hydraulic control unit. Perhaps low gearbox oil pressure initially after start up occurs within the gearbox under certain circumstances. I get around the problem just by holding the gear lever across the gate to the left until I feel a mechanical click feed back through the gear lever into my hand. That felt, the lever can then be moved out of Park to Reverse, Neutral or Drive. Sometimes the mechanical click can take ten or so seconds to occur. Knowing this, I just patiently wait until the occurrence, then drive away normally.

So that is my experience and work around. I`m not sure if this is a well known issue or whether my explanation is totally valid. However, rather than spend a fortune sorting this occasional issue, I`ve learned to live with it. The obvious thing is that you will do damage if you force the gear lever out of Park. A few seconds patience waiting for the mechanical click feed back is worth waiting for and in any case is no real big deal.

That is the best I can offer advice wise I`m afraid. Perhaps others here can contribute further views.

Mike K

[V8Graham]

Thanks Mike, its good to know I'm not alone with this issue.

As with any intermittent fault I have been trying to remember how it resolved each time it happens.
Sometimes repeated application of the brake pedal clears it, but I'm sure once I kept the lever against the stop and kept my foot on the brake and after a few seconds the solenoid moved and allowed gear engagement, this would suggest it is not a faulty switch on the brake pedal. I must remember and try and replicate this next time. As you say it is little more than an occasional annoyance at present but my fear is that eventually it won't let me select gear at all.
I wondered if it may be a software issue with slow communication between the brake pedal switch and the gearbox?

It will be interesting to see if anyone else has experienced this

Regards

Graham