2001 Jaguar XKR Differential Fluid Change

[@lilycara5249]

Good job Ted

[@iainbagnall4825]

Convertibles have an extra bracket in the way and two diagonal braces that significantly complicates access by giving you way less room to get that extension in. Im busy digging through a manual to see if I can just unbolt one of the diagonals for more access, as drilling a hole through the car and then that brace isn't trivial either. I have the car on stands and concerned that uncoupling the braces might cause the vehicle to fold up on me while im under there lol. Its a pretty unlikely scenario but the consequences are severe enough to be super cautious anyway LOL.

[@richardsutton01]

The design of your 2001 model is totally different to my XK8 1997 convertible. I would guess that the space needed for the roof retracting mechanism explains the difference. In my case the only solutions were either drilling the forward side of the trunk (boot) to access the fill plug or dropping the entire diff subframe assembly. The drilling was simple and effective and invisible unless you remove the spare wheel.

[@brian8700]

Much better approach than drilling massive holes in ya bodywork 👍. What length 3/8 wobble extension did you use. Great job thank you for sharing

[@TedsGarage]

I can’t remember the exact size used, but I think that was a standard extension. Glad you found this helpful!

[@brian8700]

@@TedsGarage not done the job yet but for sure I will not be drilling holes in myXK8. Can I ask how difficult was it to put the filler plug back in after you had filled with oil. Great work and thanks

[@TedsGarage]

@@brian8700 I didn’t consider my method to be very difficult at all. I don’t recall any significant difficulty getting the plug back in. I don’t think I had to do anything special at all for it.

[@iainbagnall4825]

@@brian8700 If you dont have a convertible, no need to drill any holes, I agree. I don't much like it myself but judge not until ye have been under a convertible trying to remove this fill plug.

[@brian8700]

@@iainbagnall4825 hi Iain yup mine is a convertible..... So will have problems for sure. I see you're looking at removing a cross brace and wonder myself if this is possible. Under no circumstances will I be drilling a hole in my XK8. To be honest I've yet to get to grips with this issue and not even give it a good look yet. Let me know how you get along. I'll do the same

[@antiqueclockandradioshop6857]

what oil and grade did you use?