Ok, so I have a '97 XJ that has 225K on the odometer and according to the previous owner he bought it from a guy that was going to turn it into a rock crawler it was completely gutted so he installed a radiator, engine and trans with less than 50k on it. After aboot 2 weeks of daily driving it 30 miles I got a check engine light with no discernible symptoms other than codes P0700 and P1898 after some research I went ahead and replaced the shift solenoids (clean fluid and almost no shavings clinging to the magnets on bottom of the pan. Solenoid replacement didn't get rid of code so I have since swapped out the TCM and output shaft speed sensor with no differences.


I took it to a reputable Eagle transmission shop in my neighborhood and they couldn't find anything wrong that they could see, owner was honest and told me to go swap out the speed sensor and either test or replace the TPS and if that doesn't do anything then they would check continuity on all the wires and generally go over the wiring. Now today while driving to work as I was just about to crest a moderate sized hill I felt (didn't hear anything) barely like the trans either shifted or maybe the torque converter etc engaged or disengaged not sure but 1 second later the check engine light was back on. Still as always no noticeable symptoms other than the light. Anyone got any ideas as to whats going on?


Through all of my reading I have learned that the 97 was a transition year and just about everyone with this year has problems. At this point I am seriously considering calling lkq etc and getting a 98+ transmission and putting it in, assuming I got one that has the correct number of splines is it just a matter of swapping out the harness that goes to it and the appropriate year control module? I believe the only thing added post 97 was an input shaft speed sensor which is why I assume a harness swap is necessary. Any thoughts or ideas are much appreciated!

 

Nick 96's were the transition yr and had a few issues. By 97 most all of the issues had been worked out 97-99 were the desired yrs. with 99 the most desirable.


This may take a bit of poking around to find all the issues because of the way you received it.

 

actually the AW4 in a 97 was a standalone year. 98-01 AW4 interchanges, however I remember seeing some threads about how to correctly hook it up with different years without triggering a CEL.

I know a guy who put a '98 AW4 into a '95 XJ and he swapped a few parts to make it work.

 

Not sure what to do anymore. Talked to the owner at Eagle Trans again and he said he's almost certain it is not the trans itself. Suggested next to swap out the internal trans harness and after that all he can do ischarge me two hours and go over all the pin outs and connections and make sure there's contenuity etc. I'm starting to think swap the internal and external harnesses. After that it could only be the damn transmission lol

 

Ok, so I downloaded the AW4 service manual. Great stuff in there but no test procedures to test all the wiring for it. Anybody have a link etc?

 

Have you cleaned the contacts in the neutral safety switch? The range select signal goes through those contacts. If the contacts are dirty you're going to have problems.

 

No I've read that it could be what the issue is. From what I'm understanding is to pull it apart clean all the contacts and old grease out (presumably with dielectric spray) and repack it with grease and reassemble. I'm thinking about either ordering a new one from the same place I did for my Solenoids for about 60 bucks or going to the JY pulling one and cleaning and greasing it then installing it. Going to try one of these this weekend or next..

 

I think I can also check resistance and everything on it with a multimeter correct?

 

Yep.

By the way, you don't want "dielectric spray". I never heard of that, anyway.

What you want is contact cleaner. This stuff is probably the best. Not hard to find at auto parts stores, or even WalMart.

Then, once it's all cleaned up, you want to protect the contacts with dielectric grease.

 

SO I checked the resistance to the solenoids today. Stuck a needle in cavity 24 as a ground and progressively put needles in cavities 11,12,13 each one I tested the number bounced around and eventually settled around 22...I have changed the solenoids and am pretty confident they are fine so either I didn't do it correctly which I believe I did or is it something with the wires themselves? Or should I be checking continuity to determine that?

 

I have noticed the last two times the light was triggered I was going around the same speed with around the same amount of throttle when I felt the trans either shift up or down or lock/unlock not sure but same thing has happened the last two times. Leads me to think a faulty tps which I know I can test but I've also read that it can test ok but still be bad by reading incorrectly at certain points...basically trying to decide if I want to spend 50 bucks on a new tps... Really at this point its the tps, internal or external wiring harness fault or the trans itself is somehow the culprit.

 

So what I’m getting at here, is what do I need to do to make a 97’ trans work with my 99, what has to be switched, is there any shortcuts, I need all the details

 

Long thread, but lots of valuable information
https://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1053970