Hello All,
Over the course of the last 2 years my ZF transmission has been giving me issues. Initially, I was noticing a harsh 2-1 downshift when coming to a stop. this went from being intermittent to probably 70% of the time. As time progressed, shifts when decelerating and accelerating also became abrupt, sometimes slamming. I haven't received any transmission fault codes at all. This is for the Jaguar 4.2 S/C engine with the ZF transmission with 154k miles.
After taking it to Range Rover they advised me not to clear the adaptives as this would most likely make things worse. As far as what I could do... well replace the transmission! That was to the tune of many thousands of dollars. Upon researching the topic further I went to a local transmission shop and had another evaluation done. They recommended replacing the Mechatronic unit which included the TCM unit along with a new valve body. That was better but still almost 4k. Looking further I noticed a company that was close by in Charlotte, NC. Revmax. They had a remanufactured valve body for this transmission in stock. The transmission shop said they could do this, but it might not be as good as OEM. For 1600 out the door I thought it was worth a shot. With my vehicle it proved to be difficult. The first valve body wouldn't relearn the adaptives after being installed. The second valve body, upon test driving, was slow to relearn, but after 5 drive cycles finally smoothed out. I've put 500 miles on it and it's shifting silky smooth, better than it ever has for me since I purchased it at 60k miles. A complete mechatronic unit would most likely have been the easiest option. I know also that the transmission shop most likely won't ever do that again as he said it was a "nightmare" to relearn. My own experience with this topic was interesting in the progression of repair costs and that I think I was definitely lucky with everything in the end.
As a side note, if you are receiving trans fault codes, there are a couple of pieces that go between the mechatronic unit and the transmission. Specifically a bridge adapter and connecting sleeves. These are fairly inexpensive and in a few forums I've read where you can replace those items along with performing a transmission service and have had successful conclusions. That would probably be around 5 to 600 hundred dollars. My bridge adapter and sleeves were still in good shape. CTSC transmission out of CA had a good assortment of small parts and service items available.
I hope this might help someone out looking into this concern.
Over the course of the last 2 years my ZF transmission has been giving me issues. Initially, I was noticing a harsh 2-1 downshift when coming to a stop. this went from being intermittent to probably 70% of the time. As time progressed, shifts when decelerating and accelerating also became abrupt, sometimes slamming. I haven't received any transmission fault codes at all. This is for the Jaguar 4.2 S/C engine with the ZF transmission with 154k miles.
After taking it to Range Rover they advised me not to clear the adaptives as this would most likely make things worse. As far as what I could do... well replace the transmission! That was to the tune of many thousands of dollars. Upon researching the topic further I went to a local transmission shop and had another evaluation done. They recommended replacing the Mechatronic unit which included the TCM unit along with a new valve body. That was better but still almost 4k. Looking further I noticed a company that was close by in Charlotte, NC. Revmax. They had a remanufactured valve body for this transmission in stock. The transmission shop said they could do this, but it might not be as good as OEM. For 1600 out the door I thought it was worth a shot. With my vehicle it proved to be difficult. The first valve body wouldn't relearn the adaptives after being installed. The second valve body, upon test driving, was slow to relearn, but after 5 drive cycles finally smoothed out. I've put 500 miles on it and it's shifting silky smooth, better than it ever has for me since I purchased it at 60k miles. A complete mechatronic unit would most likely have been the easiest option. I know also that the transmission shop most likely won't ever do that again as he said it was a "nightmare" to relearn. My own experience with this topic was interesting in the progression of repair costs and that I think I was definitely lucky with everything in the end.
As a side note, if you are receiving trans fault codes, there are a couple of pieces that go between the mechatronic unit and the transmission. Specifically a bridge adapter and connecting sleeves. These are fairly inexpensive and in a few forums I've read where you can replace those items along with performing a transmission service and have had successful conclusions. That would probably be around 5 to 600 hundred dollars. My bridge adapter and sleeves were still in good shape. CTSC transmission out of CA had a good assortment of small parts and service items available.
I hope this might help someone out looking into this concern.
