  X-ray Transient Absorption Spectroscopy (XTAS) and theoretical calculations
are used to study CCl$_4^+$ prepared by 800 nm strong-field ionization. XTAS
simultaneously probes atoms at the carbon K-edge (280-300 eV) and chlorine
L-edge (195-220 eV). Comparison of experiment to X-ray spectra computed by
orbital-optimized density functional theory (OO-DFT) indicates that after
ionization, CCl$_4^+$ undergoes symmetry breaking driven by Jahn-Teller
distortion away from the initial tetrahedral structure (T$_d$) in 6$\pm$2 fs.
The resultant symmetry-broken covalently bonded form subsequently separates to
a noncovalently bound complex between CCl$_3^+$ and Cl over 90$\pm$10 fs, which
is again predicted by theory. Finally, after more than 800 fs, L-edge signals
for atomic Cl are observed, indicating dissociation to free CCl$_3^+$ and Cl.
The results for Jahn-Teller distortion to the symmetry-broken form of CCl$_4^+$
and formation of the Cl -- CCl$_3^+$ complex characterize previously unobserved
new species along the route to dissociation.
