My neighbor recently bought a used 2001 Jeep Cherokee sport 2wd auto 4.0L. The trans fluid is a light brown. I thought auto trans fluid supposed to be a reddish pink? He called 3 jeep dealers and they told him they do not drop the pan all they do is drain the fluid and refill. The fluid still has a brown tint to it. Without flushing the system - that means the torque converter still has the old brown fluid in it. Correct me if I am wrong but should you not flush the system to get all the old fluid out? And the fluid should be pinkish red correct?
Thanks in advance!

 

I believe that the AW4 uses a screen as opposed to a filter as other Japanese automatics do. The screen doesn't require changing, but certainly can be. A flush recommended by Honda is a series of draining, refilling, driving around the block, and repeating four or five times, and also works well on the AW4 with a drain plug.

Buy 12 or 16 quarts of Dexron III/Mercon or the latest improved version. My owner's manual states that the total fluid capacity of a dry AW4 is 8.5 quarts, three drains and refills will give you about 87% new fluid. Four would be 92%. That's close enough to a total flush. Then drain and refill the transmission maybe every other oil change. It'll never turn brown again.

I would recommend that the first time that you drain the fluid into a clean container. If the drained fluid only contains small flakes that look like fine metal flake paint, continue the procedure. If it contains larger irregularly shaped debris, don't bother going any further. Just refill and drive it.

I have over 226,000 on mine without a problem, and I only drain and refill periodically.