[xj-s] Tranny stuck in park

Hi

I’ve just joined this discussion list so will intro myself below.

But 1st my problem (well one of them)

PROBLEM
My XJS’s auto (the GM one) is �stuck in park�. The gear lever moves thru
all the gates, but rather stiffly, but the tranny won�t release the park
device. I think it is engaging the gears when I move the gear lever since
revs appear to drop when in gear. I’m parked on my driveway, facing down a
medium slope hill.

Help

INTRO
I live in Sydney Australia, and have owned a XJ-S 86 build, 1st registered
in 87 in Australia. After looking for 3 months, it was the second rust free
one I found and had a good mechanical report from Jag mechanic used by many
Jag club members. Since purchase, I’ve had some preventive maintenance done
and a couple of minor, but car stopping, problems fixed by the Jag mechanic.
It is a great car to drive to work most days of week (40km drive out of
peak hour traffic), and it has had a couple of longer country drives � a
dream on those runs.

I have dreamed of getting a manual box in it and was talking to Jag mechanic
about that recently. He had a XJ12 S2 (300hp version) with 5 speed manual
and some tweeking for club racing he was selling for another Jag club guy.
So took the easy way out and went halves with a mate who only needs a 2nd
car for his family around half of month (he works over in SE Asia other half
of month). This goes like a dream, but has recently stopped with almost raw
petrol coming out LH exhaust when running and air filter covers when
starting !!! (subject of another question soon).

As you may soon tell, I like Brit cars. Always dreamed of owning an E-type
and MkII Jag (one day). I also have a 67 MGB Mk1 roadster. That is my
current convertible for weekend use (great in our sub tropical climate and
we live near beach) and will only be sold to make way for E Type.

Looking forward to participating on this discussion list

Peter Vann_________________________________________________________________________
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Peter,
I had a like situation, the cable to the lever was bending and
a new one was just put in by former owner. Quick solution, a piece of
copper tubing from hardware store that fit over cable in console, never
a problem since. Had to remove ski slope to do the work.
Hope your problem is as simple.
Bob"Peter Vann" peter_vann@hotmail.com wrote:

Hi

I’ve just joined this discussion list so will intro myself below.

But 1st my problem (well one of them)

PROBLEM
My XJS’s auto (the GM one) is ?stuck in park?. The gear lever moves thru
all the gates, but rather stiffly, but the tranny won?t release the park
device. I think it is engaging the gears when I move the gear lever since
revs appear to drop when in gear. I’m parked on my driveway, facing down a
medium slope hill.

Help

INTRO
I live in Sydney Australia, and have owned a XJ-S 86 build, 1st registered
in 87 in Australia. After looking for 3 months, it was the second rust free
one I found and had a good mechanical report from Jag mechanic used by many
Jag club members. Since purchase, I’ve had some preventive maintenance done
and a couple of minor, but car stopping, problems fixed by the Jag mechanic.
It is a great car to drive to work most days of week (40km drive out of
peak hour traffic), and it has had a couple of longer country drives ? a
dream on those runs.

I have dreamed of getting a manual box in it and was talking to Jag mechanic
about that recently. He had a XJ12 S2 (300hp version) with 5 speed manual
and some tweeking for club racing he was selling for another Jag club guy.
So took the easy way out and went halves with a mate who only needs a 2nd
car for his family around half of month (he works over in SE Asia other half
of month). This goes like a dream, but has recently stopped with almost raw
petrol coming out LH exhaust when running and air filter covers when
starting !!! (subject of another question soon).

As you may soon tell, I like Brit cars. Always dreamed of owning an E-type
and MkII Jag (one day). I also have a 67 MGB Mk1 roadster. That is my
current convertible for weekend use (great in our sub tropical climate and
we live near beach) and will only be sold to make way for E Type.

Looking forward to participating on this discussion list

Peter Vann


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At 14:06 2001-03-02 +1100, Peter Vann wrote:

My XJS’s auto (the GM one) is “stuck in park”. The gear lever moves thru
all the gates, but rather stiffly, but the tranny won’t release the park
device. I think it is engaging the gears when I move the gear lever since
revs appear to drop when in gear.

No, more likely that’s because there is a microswitch telling the ECU that
the trans selector isn’t in Neutral or Park (the switch is not part of the
trans), and can therefore go into closed loop operation.

If it’s stiff, I’d suspect the linkage is being interfered with. I haven’t
been into the mix on my XJS, but I have a TH400 in my Buick (and I’ve been
into the trans several times). There may be a cotter pin holding the shift
linkage together, and it’s possible it came out, and the linkage “rotated”
to the other side. I’m being overly vague here because, as I said, I
haven’t been into the transmission stuff on my cat.

month). This goes like a dream, but has recently stopped with almost raw
petrol coming out LH exhaust when running and air filter covers when
starting !!! (subject of another question soon).

I’d get that addressed before you have a fire. I’m serious.

http://jaguar.professional.org/
Sean Straw '88 Jaguar XJSC 5.3L V12 (LHD) ‘Black Cat’ 63K
Marin County, California '85 Jaguar XJS 5.3L V12 (LHD) ‘Bad Kitty’ 210K
'69 Buick GranSport 455 V8 324K

No, more likely that’s because there is a microswitch telling the
ECU that
the trans selector isn’t in Neutral or Park (the switch is not
part of the
trans), and can therefore go into closed loop operation.

Nothing that sophisticated in the V12 set up; the ECU knowns absolutely
nothing about what the gearbox is doing. If it is stuck with the parking
pawl engaged it can only be because the internal linkage is bending because
the pawl is jammed. Gear engagement and parking pawl are operated by the
same external lever.

Have you tried putting it in reverse and trying to move the car backwards?
That should release the pressure on the parking pawl and allow it to pop out
of the toothed wheel.

I’m guessing you were relying on the gearbox pawl to stop the car rolling
away, and weren’t using the parking brake.

Craig

Peter,
I had a similar problem on a cevy Nova once aith the same tranny. Some how
the park pawl got wedged from being on a hill. I couldn’t release it except
to get some freinds to push on the car while I used moderate pressure on the
lever.
Good Luck
John Dominick 90 XJ-S

No, more likely that’s because there is a microswitch telling the
ECU that the trans selector isn’t in Neutral or Park (the switch is
not part of the trans), and can therefore go into closed loop
operation.

Nothing that sophisticated in the V12 set up; the ECU knowns
absolutely nothing about what the gearbox is doing.

Quite the contrary, I thought it was a brilliant analysis! The ECU
does know what the SHIFTER is doing, so if the shifter is physically
moving from P to R, N, D, it’s going in and out of closed loop –
which would affect idle RPM and perhaps convince the owner that the
gears are actually engaging.

There is a compression joint on the transmission end of the cable.
It may have come loose (stressed by the car sitting on the hill), and
now all moving the shifter does is slide this part in and out.

– KirbertOn 2 Mar 2001, at 8:10, Craig Sawyers wrote:

PROBLEM
My XJS’s auto (the GM one) is �stuck in park�. The gear lever moves
thru all the gates, but rather stiffly, but the tranny won�t release
the park device. I think it is engaging the gears when I move the
gear lever since revs appear to drop when in gear. I’m parked on my
driveway, facing down a medium slope hill.

Hmmmm. Try reverse, and apply a goodly amount of throttle for a very
brief amount of time. It may be that the cog won’t disengage because
the weight of the car is loaded against it on that hill.

– KirbertOn 2 Mar 2001, at 14:06, Peter Vann wrote:

PROBLEM
My XJS’s auto (the GM one) is �stuck in park�. The gear lever moves thru
all the gates, but rather stiffly, but the tranny won�t release the park
device. I’m parked on my driveway, facing down a
medium slope hill.

I had a car with a BW trans stuck like this once had to back a pick up truck
up agaist it and nudge it “uphill” a little to free it. I think the T400
mechanism is similar, ie a pawl engaged with teeth on the rear shaft. On the
BW the weight of the car was keeping the pawl loaded even with the control
released. Pushing it upslope allowed the pawl to pop free and I never used
it on a slope again.
Cheers
R. GriffithsOn 03/02/01 14:06:30 you wrote:

Quite the contrary, I thought it was a brilliant analysis! The ECU
does know what the SHIFTER is doing, so if the shifter is physically
moving from P to R, N, D, it’s going in and out of closed loop –
which would affect idle RPM and perhaps convince the owner that the
gears are actually engaging.

Well, in the UK we have no steenking open/closed loop to worry about.
However, nowhere can I find any wiring that connects the shifter to the ECU,
for any market. How exactly does this work, Kirbert?

Craig

Quite the contrary, I thought it was a brilliant analysis! The ECU
does know what the SHIFTER is doing, so if the shifter is physically
moving from P to R, N, D, it’s going in and out of closed loop –
which would affect idle RPM and perhaps convince the owner that the
gears are actually engaging.

Well, in the UK we have no steenking open/closed loop to worry about.
However, nowhere can I find any wiring that connects the shifter to
the ECU, for any market. How exactly does this work, Kirbert?

Well-known to us with oxygen sensors. When in P or N, a microswitch
on the shifter puts the EFI in open loop – unless a test loop in the
boot is pulled, which puts it in closed loop, same as if it were in D.

– KirbertOn 2 Mar 2001, at 19:58, Craig Sawyers wrote:

Gregory

Spot on

After pulling console out, and following transmission shifter cable from
gear stick to tranny under car, found the “twisted” steel conduit around the
shifter cable is detached from the end near the transmission. By careful
pushing of the inner shifter cable, I at least got it out of park and rolled
it into my garage. Furthermore, with careful pushing/pulling of shifter
cable, can change thru gears - so can get it to a hoist (one push of cable
into reverse to get car out of garage then another into drive) to change
cable.

Peter Vann
Sydney, Ausralia
'86 XJ-S
'74 XJ12
'67 MGB Mk1

----Original Message Follows----From: Gregory Wells sales@coventrywest.com
Reply-To: greg@coventrywest.com
To: Peter Vann <@Peter_Vann>
Subject: Re: [xj-s] Tranny stuck in park
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2001 08:57:24 -0500

Peter Vann wrote:

Hi

I’ve just joined this discussion list so will intro myself below.

But 1st my problem (well one of them)

PROBLEM
My XJS’s auto (the GM one) is �stuck in park�. The gear lever moves thru
all the gates, but rather stiffly, but the tranny won�t release the park
device. I think it is engaging the gears when I move the gear lever
since
revs appear to drop when in gear. I’m parked on my driveway, facing down
a
medium slope hill.

Sounds like a broken transmission shifter cable to me.

Best regards,

Gregory Wells
Coventry West, Inc., Atlanta, GA
New, Rebuilt, & Used Jaguar Parts
http://www.coventrywest.com
800-331-2193 x103


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