John Settle

I've always driven manual transmission vehicles and so have little
experience or knowledge of those with an automatic box.
Having just bought an S-Type with automatic transmission, I have been a
little disappointed in its acceleration which I would describe as sluggish
with the exception of when in 'sports' mode and pushed.
However, on kickdown there is a couple of seconds delay between pressing the
pedal and actually accelerating - not as instantaneous as I would like it to
be and until you get used to it quite alarming in its delay and then
aggressive acceleration which if not done carefully makes the car quite
difficult to control as its off like a rocket..
Additionally, I have been able to smell something akin to a freshly lit
match following kickdown in the cabin area - again something I would not
expect and have an unnerving feeling all is not well.
Has anyone any ideas what may be causing the above?. I would be very
grateful for any suggestions or ideas.

John

T.G. Lambach

As to the sulfur smell, it's from the exhaust - some gasoline brands
have more sulfur than others, switch brands and the smell may disappear.
It's also indicative of either an exhaust leak or that the trunk lid
isn't as tightly sealed as it could and should be, allowing some exhaust
to be pulled into the cabin.

As to the down shifting, the transmission needs to "know" the throttle's
position so it can properly respond with a down shift or up shift. You
need to have an experienced Jaguar mechanic look at this car to know if
its correctly adjusted or not. It may be computer controlled in which
case he will shrug and say: "They all do that".

Alex

On Sun, 24 Apr 2005 23:18:30 +0100, "John Settle"
<settlej@lineone.net> wrote:

>I've always driven manual transmission vehicles and so have little
>experience or knowledge of those with an automatic box.
>Having just bought an S-Type with automatic transmission, I have been a
>little disappointed in its acceleration which I would describe as sluggish
>with the exception of when in 'sports' mode and pushed.
>However, on kickdown there is a couple of seconds delay between pressing the
>pedal and actually accelerating - not as instantaneous as I would like it to
>be and until you get used to it quite alarming in its delay and then
>aggressive acceleration which if not done carefully makes the car quite
>difficult to control as its off like a rocket..
>Additionally, I have been able to smell something akin to a freshly lit
>match following kickdown in the cabin area - again something I would not
>expect and have an unnerving feeling all is not well.
>Has anyone any ideas what may be causing the above?. I would be very
>grateful for any suggestions or ideas.
>
Mine does the same thing. You soon learn to drive around it.

The smell is probably the air con. Get it sanitised.

Alex

Alex

-Warning, may contain traces of reason

Blake Dodson

Hi,

There have been a few firmware revisions for the transmission
controller that address shifting quality. Be advised that these
transmissions are known to fail using older firmware. The dealer can
do this upgrade for you, and ask if its covered under a recall.

In sport mode shifting is what I would consider "Normal", however, out
of sport mode is for cruising the boulevard.

DieInterim

John Settle

Many thanks for your most helpful replies - I at least know that I am not
experiencing anything peculiar to 'my' car and that there are remedies
available - albeit, possibly at a price, if not covered by a recall remedy
re the firmware.

Thank you most sincerely for your comments and advice I shall check them out
and rectify appropriately, hopefully without too much expense.

On the plus side, I love the car - as a child, all the childrens comics
featured either Jaguar cars ( D & E-Types ) or Spitfire Fighter Aircraft.
Well after 40 years I have my Jag - anyone got a spare Spitfire lying
around.

Regards
John