Zandaqoi

hey guys,
So yesterday i was out offroading in sand, before i hit the sand, my gearbox was very hot, and to my dissappointment , when i charged the 4 wheel drive and dived in, the engine would produce no power, even just by driving around not climbing steep hills or anything, the engine would not go over 2000ish rpm in drive mode.
What gives ? i let the car cool down and went out of the sand, in 2 wheel drive , its all ok, and in 4 wheel drive whilst on pavement and speeding up, its great, but when i use it for any kind of offroad use, it doesnt produce power, whats wrong with my car ???

1999 XJ 4.0L automatic transmission.

93gc40

Stretched chain in the TC is my only thought. But I don't see how that would affect the motor revs.

93XJLI

deep sand? did you air down?

Zandaqoi

I have BF goodrich mudterrain tires, floatation is not really the problem i had, as hard wheels will still enable you to spin ur tires, however this time, it seemed as if my transmission was stuck on 3rd and wont produce enough torque , also, in reverse, it would rev up normally, I was thinkin something wrong with my transmission,

thanks

93gc40

I would normally agree on a tranny issue.. But you said the problem ONLY happens when 4wd is engaged, Not in 2wd. That would lead me to think you have a Transfer case problem.

93XJLI

weird.

try driving up a hill (on pavement, straight of course) in 4wd and 2wd... with a load on the motor see if that makes a difference.

i still vote tranny. check your fluid. with extra stress on it (like in sand) youre heating up the torque converter faster, and if it gets real hot, itll just spin and wont send power to the wheels.

also, try 4low. if you have a tcase prob it will be multiplied in 4low, so youll know for sure. if you dont, itll crawl everywhere without an issue.

Zandaqoi

Alright, so i topped the transmission oil, which apparently was low, and also i changed the transfercase oil, transfer case noise dissappeared.

I tried flooring it several times and it revs quiet well, i beat another XJ in a short race last night.
I think i'll take it dune bashing again to see if problem still persists. ( we only have sand and more sand where i live.. )
thank you all for your input.

Colinjohns

X2 on the fluid. Had the same issue a while ago. Since it got hot you may want to drain and replace all fluis... Transfer case and tranny because the fluid breaks down under too much heat. Hopefully that fixes it! Let me know!