Desertfox1023

1994 Jeep Cherokee, 4x4... AW4, 231 blah blah..

Ok, so it's leaking this RED fluid from the bell housing...

My AW4 has an oversized cooler, bigger than factory, but I still managed to overheat it last July doing some stupid crap in 2WD for about 15min straight trail riding up a mountain with the torque converter not locked up riding the stall the whole way. Was all fun until the smoke came pouring out. Cooled down on the side of the trail, got it back up to temp idling and topped of the trans. It was a qt. low.

That's when the leak started...
I drained the trans, replaced the filter, and it was no longer burnt and brown but a nice red color.

Flash forward to now the leak has become worse... the jeep is leaking enough fluid to where it runs on to the exhaust and lets the magic white smoke out, FIRE HAZARD. The Torque Converter has also been acting up, constantly wants to kick in and out on the highway.

On the bright side I have no issue on or off highway with it shifting gears. Its never slipped or even delayed going into gears. It only has 115K on it so I'm pretty sure the clutches are good.


With that all said here is MY plan:

Pull the trans, fix the leaks, replace enough "what if" components to where I don't have to do this job twice. Since the Shifting is fine, I don't want to tear it apart for a full rebuild.

Items to Replace:
1) Torque Converter - $140
2) Trans Pump (I don't feel like taking the pump apart to replace the bushing) - $150
3) Trans Input seal & pump seal encase they don't come with a reman pump - $20
4) Trans Output Seal - $10
5) Torque converter solenoid, (Just in Case, again I don't want to do this twice - $70
6) Some of that Red Fluid & a bottle of Lucas - $50
7) 231 Input Shaft Seal -$10

All together that's $450 dollars

I know I can get a used trans for $200, plus $100 in fluid, so $300 total but it's got over 200K on it and unknown condition.

I'm not skilled enough to rebuild the whole trans and the shop wants $1400 for that.

So what would you do?

Desertfox1023

I updated the first post to include a 231 Input shaft seal.
Might as well since I'm going to remove the T-Case to replace the rear output seal on the AW4.


Can anyone comment on how the AW4 should shift on the highway?
My trans will go 3rd, OD, then TC-Lockup.

When I hit a hill though going 62-72mph the engine doesn't have enough torque and speed starts dropping.
So I give it a little more gas, The TC-Unlocks and the RPMs go from 2200 to 3400... Then after a second it shifts to 3rd with TC-Locked Up and it sits at 3000.
From that point it has enough power to pull the hill so it shifts back to OD again with the TC-Locked Up, so 2200rpm. Then I'm back to square one and it unlocks, down shifts, up shifts, repeat.

Just want to know if this is normal shift pattern for an AW4?

BlueRidgeMark

Sounds about right. On many hills I drop into 3 just to avoid the back and forth.

Desertfox1023

OK, Thanks!

Yeah, I do the same. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't masking another problem. Besides the need for deeper gears...

XJlimitedx99

I can't comment on most of this but I also drop to 3rd for almost any hill on the highway.

I find that if I don't drop to 3rd then the trans will drop itself to 2nd. It typically will unlock and sit around 3k rpms for a few seconds before locking and dropping to 2800 or so.

When I pull it down into 3rd before I get to a hill it will also stay unlocked for a second and then the rpms drop when the TC locks. This is typical of very unhealthy shifting but I do my best to be aware of what the TC is doing and to make sure its locked for any long climbs and whatnot.

Desertfox1023

Well good news!

I've bought my self sometime.
Changed the fluid and add some Lucas to it.
Whatever was leaking in the front has now stopped, for how long we'll see