Hannes van Eeden

Hi everyone

My first post here after much reading on some of the threads here and on other sites. I do need help please.

I've got a 1998 XJ 4.0 with the aw4 auto box. (140 000 miles on the clock)

Over the last few months we've had the following issues:

While driving on the freeway, it intermittently refuses to go into "overdrive" leaving us crawling along at about 50mph at high(ish) rpm. It's now pretty much the norm rather than the exception.

I then had one or two instances where it would just be "stuck" in 3rd and I had to manually shift to get going. This resolved itself after disconnecting the battery.

It jerks a lot when shifting into reverse, really violently.


We have done the following:

I have dropped the pan and replaced the filter and ATF with DEX 3. this made a marginal difference to smoothness in shifts.

The ATF that came out the box was dark brown...

I have stripped and cleaned the nss on the box with no difference in behaviour.

Where to from here? I was thinking of replacing the TPS, but would that help?

Maybe solenoids?

Any thoughts welcome!

To recon this box in South Africa would cost a fortune, so at worst I'd swop it with a used unit rather.

Thanks!

fb97xj1

Mine is an AW4 as well (its a 97) and had shifting issues a couple months ago where it would shift great and all of a sudden struggle uphill, and give me a CEL (P0700). OD was hit or miss. Turned out to be a bad ground. The block ground near the transmission dipstick was coated in oil and dirt. Poor contact. Once i cleaned that up it shifted great. A bad ground can do strange things so thats where i would start.


Not sure about the jerking but u-joints and engine/transmission mounts come to mind. I could see a TPS or possibly IAC if the idle is too high, or even a shift solenoid but im still learning this stuff as transmissions are just out of my usual comfort zone.

Hannes van Eeden

Hi

Sounds like something that would be easy enough to for me to check! I'm hoping it will be something simple.

The jerking might be "normal" from what I've read. and it's only in reverse, so hopefully not too serious.

WyoCherokee

also adjust your throttle position kickdown cable. if it is to loose, it may not have enough tension to tell the tranny to shift

LiamLikeNeeson

My AW4 jerks around also. My TV cable is properly tensioned and it has proper ATF fluid level and it's still the pink color. It does it from neutral to drive and reverse every here and there. Also a little bit when accelerating with a light foot when the transmission is warming up. Nothing weird about it. But if your ATF fluid is low or in need of a change or your TV cable isn't tightened properly (YouTube has many video tutorials on how to do it on your jeep) then it could cause issues like you are experiencing. Hopefully it's not the solenoid or TCU. Come to think of it. Check that the wires coming out of the TCU aren't loose.

Hannes van Eeden

Hi

I have checked the tv cable before (and adjusted it as per youtube) So I'm hoping to do a check this weekend on the ground cable and I'll check the TCU.

I've found a used tps which should be with me next week, so I'll try and swop that out and see if there is any difference.