[s-cars] Auto stuck in 1st

[Tony Curran]

Hi Paul,

For my sins I own a 2003 Jaguar XJ8 which recently experienced a limp mode
problem caused by a "gear box" alarm. My daughter drove the car home -
slowly. The next day my wife drove it to the garage and it appeared just
fine - similar to your own experience. The remedy was to replace the battery
(also changed the alternator). The TC has a solenoid that may be sensitive
to low volts.

So maybe your wife experienced a similar issue - which would explain the
burning smell with the TC and gears grinding. So as a suggestion either
check or replace the battery.

Good luck,

Tony
96 S6 and a 03 XJ8 - which is now running just great with the new battery!

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Paul Heneghan
Sent: March-22-13 8:20 PM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Auto stuck in 1st

Thanks for the replies chaps.

I've got a bit more information now. When it happened, I was away from home,
so I advised my wife to take it to a local garage where they've helped me
with a few things before.

When it arrived, they said it seemed to be very low on power and they had a
little difficulty reversing it into a parking space. The next day they
started it up and it seemed fine so they took it for a four mile drive and
it seemed OK. Very similar to an S2 that they happened to have in round
about the same time. Went up and down through the gears.

I've asked them to do a fluid replacement - best done on a hoist, also it's
freezing here at the moment so I'm not inclined to do it myself! They've
ordered a strainer and it will be here the week after next.

If anyone has any tips on the procedure for checking fluid levels or
draining/filling (no filler or tube on this car) that would be really
helpful. I'll fire up my old laptop and see if Bentley has any tips.

When I drove it home, I could tell that it wan't 100% happy. I could feel
the odd miss at low rpm under partial load. I'm now wondering if that could
be the root cause - an engine problem followed by limp mode (does an auto
box this old have one?). If it was struggling for power, it might not reach
the 4k revs needed to change from 1st to 2nd when it's cold.

Car has had new plugs (and timing belt) about 10k ago and is now at 145k.,

The garage pulled the codes and said there were a few trivial ones and one
serious one - engine sensor which they thought might be due to the engine
not running. I confirmed that this was the case. I have VAGCOM so I can look
for codes.

I won't be doing any work on it until the weather improves.
_______________________________________________
S-CAR-List mailing list
http://audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list
http://www.audifans.com/kb/List_information