Originally Posted by mr eli

Hi all,
1996 Cherokee w/ 4.0, AW4, 2wd, 130k miles

I’ve been having some unpredictable shifting issues in my Cherokee lately. When accelerating from 0-45 or so, the torque converter will sometimes lock, then unlock about a 1/4 mile down the road while cruising on flat ground or downhill, or sometimes not even lock and almost feel like bucking coming from the rear axle as if the tc is trying to lock. The transmission *most of the time* will shift smoothly 1st-tc lockup, but after driving for 20 or so minutes this will happen. After this happens, if I were to stop at a stoplight and come to a complete stop, it will then smoothly go through all gears as well as torque converter lockup. 90% of the time when I try to cruise on the highway at 60-65 mph, a similar issue will happen but it will then shift down into what feels like 3rd gear and I will be running around 3k+ rpms at 60 mph. Again, after a 20+ minute drive on main roads stopping at stoplights, it will shift from 1-2, then downshift back into 1 for no apparent reason (not heavy acceleration) then shift back into 2-3, etc. All of these will mostly happen on drives 20-30+ minutes long.If I pull over, turn off the Jeep and turn it back on, it’s completely fine and the problems seem to go away

I have attempted to test all transmission solenoids from the tcm plug under the dash and all 3 solenoids are ~12 amps (give or take a few 10ths), I checked the brake light switch and it was correctly making contact with the brake pedal, I inspected and used electrical cleaner on the plugs at the tcm and dipstick in the engine bay, I adjusted the kickdown cable on the throttle body multiple times to no avail, I tested the tps through its entire range and it was smooth from closed to wot, and I even tried swapping in a new tcm. All things tested were within spec to what I’ve read on other forums and the new tcm did not change anything either. I also unplugged the tcm and shifting the transmission manually and it shifting through all the gears smooth. My only worry is that I tested all of these while the Jeep was cold and maybe the outputs are completely different when warm.

Currently, the tab on the throttle position sensor plug is broken and held on with a zip tie, so someone has most likely replaced the tps before me. My jeep was made in February 1996, so I believe it has the upgraded OBD2 plug on the tps. I also can’t find a mopar tps that is a guaranteed fit for my jeep online that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I’m thinking maybe water and heat are making my tps do some funky shifting.
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My question is if I would be able to splice in a new pigtail and swap in a tps from a 97-01 since I have the updated OBD2 plug and they’re abundant online and at the junkyards around me. If that swap isn’t doable, would I be able to swap the tps from a 4.0 zj or a 4.0 wrangler with the same plug? Or do those tps give different inputs and mess with my computer.