With my 1989 XJ6, I’ve been having hard time with the gear shift lever - it would be very hard to move between gears the first thing in the morning on these cold Dec and Jan days, but it would move easier later when the car has been driven a bit. Another, possibly related issue is that it is hard to get the gearbox in Park - I have to push the lever forward, and it won’t go further, so I have to shift back, through RND, and back forward to Park to actually get it in Park. Anyone experienced anything similar? What is the first thing to look at? Can’t seem to find any documentation on the link between the driver’s lever and the gearbox, but feels like there is a cable that got old and tired…
Also, would anyone know if the linkage between the drivers lever and the gearbox has changed between 1988/89 and newer XJ40s, in case I can source parts from the 1990 model?
The first thing to look at would be the gearshift cable.
While you have someone operate the gearshift look under the car and observe the cable where it’s attached to the transmission by a bracket. The bracket holds the cable encased in rubber. It’s a common problem for the rubber to fail and allow the cable to slide back and forth rather than actually operate the lever on the transmission.
The picture is looking up from below the car and the yellow dot is where the failure occurs, There should be no movement of the cable in this area.
If you observed that that the cable was not slipping in the rubber encased barrel (yellow dot) then I would disconnect the end of the cable where it connects to the transmission shift lever (number 2 on the diagram). Now move the gearshift in the car through the different positions, it should move smoothly with no restrictions. If it’s hard to move or sticking it’s most likely your cable has corroded inside. If it now moves smoothly then it’s an internal problem with the transmission.
Remember the transmission on your '89 is a “ZF 4HP 22” which has no electrical controls. It’s purely hydro/mechanical so there is nothing external that effects it except for the “kick down cable”
that only effects the shift points.
Zigmund, I’ve got the same problem. I started and moved my car for the first time in three months recently, and it was quite a task to get it to shift. It had been a little difficult previously when the weather was warmer, but I really struggled with it this time, possibly because the weather was well below freezing. I’m going to need to do the same thing to figure out why my cable is not shifting properly.
I solved the problem by replacing the whole shifter cable. I located the problem by detaching the cable from the gearbox, and finding that now gearbox lever can be moved by hand without too much effort.
The cable has failed because water and dirt got into the cable as the accordion-type rubber boot at the gearbox-end broke, not surprising after almost 30 years in service. As the cable got hard to slide through its jacket, applying more force at the shifter caused the cable to separate from the bracket…
The photo is of the failed cable, the gearbox end.
Not too bad. With no rush, but nothing going wrong, maybe under an hour.
Inside the cabin: Remove the armrest, then ashtray, and then the gear-shifter rubber-chrome trim and the ski-slope. Now you can detach the cable - there are two nuts, small one (10 mm wrench, I think) holding the cable to the white plastic piece that the shifter lever is engaging, and the large one (22 mm wrench if I recall correctly), that holds the cable jacket to the shifter mechanism frame. Check if there are zip-ties, holding some of the electrical wires to the shifter cable.
From under the car, the job is simpler. there are two small bolts that hold the cable bracket to the gearbox housing, and one nut that attaches the cable to the gearbox lever (all 10 mm wrench I think). As soon as you detach the cable there, try to move the lever by hand, to verify that the problem is with the cable. 90 or newer XJ40 requires a bit more work there since there is an electrical gearbox position switch in the way, so you got to detach it too, but it’s fairly straightforward and physically easy.
With the both ends detached, pulling the cable out is trivial, push through the floor from the top (including the rubber grommet), pull from underneath…
Thanks for the info. As I recently installed my engine and transmission, I know what’s involved under the car, but its been many years since I’ve had the console apart.
