AW4 Transmission blew up
 

I have a 99 xj 2wd automatic. All stock except for fuel injector upgrade. My wife came home last night and said the jeep was making a noise.

I drove it and it was slipping a little bit. Fluid was full. This morning I adjusted the cable connected to the throttle body. It was a lot better. So I drove it to the shop I use. We went on a test drive and it got really bad. Almost did not want to go in D or reverse. The guy said the tranny might last until monday or a year. Drive it to it does not work anymore. Oh yeah I just spent $4500 for reman engine and labor in my grand cherokee.

I drove home. Got off the highway. Going down a street and it would barley go. Decided to take side streets back to the shop. When light turned green it would not go. I had to turn the jeep off and back on. Got to the next light and same happened plus it did tjis several times going down the street without stopping.

I decided to go with a used transmission. The shop found one with 130k miles on it and it comes with a 2yr warranty. I was told they get these transmissions from cars being parted out but were not involved in an accident. I could pay 2700 for a reman or 1600 for used including labor. Did I tell you I am married and I just spend $4500 for a reman engine?

The shop started the process of pulling the old transmission. They said the filter was juat covered in metal shavings. The whole filter was coated . They also said the TC was really hot. Too hot.

I know these things happen but my wife is not too happy with me right now. I would of gone with a reman if I was not married. Atleast I have a 2yr warranty on it. I bought this jeep 2 months ago. I dont know the history of the car. I paid 3k for it. Hopefully I have a year before something else breaks. My marriage wont survive needing a new engine for my XJ or a trans for my GC.

What shop did you go to? Please tell me you didn't go to AAMCO or Cottman those places will rip you off, make up "problems", may or may not actually do the work they charge you for (after all, why take the time to fix a "problem" that never really existed), have been known to do poor quality work, use poor quality parts, and even use incorrect fluids. I would highly recommend taking it to a trusted local transmission shop (not a chain) if you haven't already done so.

I'll agree that a used (preferably low-mileage) transmission is your best bet, the AW4 is very reliable and failures are rare so used ones are redily available at relatively low prices. $1,600 seems a bit high for a used transmission, it better be extremely low-mileage for that price (for $1,600 I would expect one with well under 100K mi, not 130k mi), you should be able to get a used AW4 installed for around $1k. I wouldn't care if it was in a wreck or from a vehicle being parted out for other reasons, as long as the trans wasn't damaged in the wreck it shouldn't matter (and most lower-mileage transmissions will come from wrecks).


I'm kind of surprised it went from a little noise to complete failure so quickly with no previous symptoms, I'm not sure how much I'd trust that shops diagnosis and the possibility exists that someone put something in the fluid. How did they measure the torque-converter temp (it is inside the bell-housing and not really accessible with the trans in the vehicle) and what temp was it which they believed was "too hot"? Was the fluid full of metal shavings? The "filter" isn't really a filter but just a screen to stop large particles so if it was fully plugged I would expect the fluid to be filled with particles and for them to be visible on the dip-stick.

Also make sure the transmission cooler and lines are thoroughly flushed or replaced (preferable, especially for what they're charging), if there is metal in the fluid it will be in the cooler and lines, if nothing is done with these all that "crap" will end up in your "new" transmission and damage it quickly.

I did not go to a chain store. I went to a local shop. When I had them put in my reman engine their price was the 2nd lowest for cost. I called 5 places. $1600 might be high but I do trust them. With a car that is limping in I really did not have an option of calling around. I just took to the place I trust. I am have to take my kids to school and pick them up plus do errands during the day. Maybe the location where you are labor is cheaper. I dont know. I drove the car in. Talkes to the guy. He got in the car with me. I drove it and then he drove it. It just got very bad very quickly. My wife drives the xj but a couple of days a week I take it fir a 20min druve because I love driving it. I never heard a noise or any indicarions of a problem until yesterday. I know the shop did not do anything to ruin it. The guy told me srive until it dont drive no more.

The only thing I did notice for the past month was that on a cokd startup when going from park to drive or park to reverse it woukd go into gear with a cachunk type noise. The car would try to go i the direction of the gear selected instead kf going into gear smoothly. I looked up that symptom and from what I read its common. So I never gave it another thought. The day I first noticed it I was driving down the street and it felt like when it was downshifting it missed a gear tooth and then engaged. I heard it and felt it. It only did that one time. I was going to change the fluid and filter but I never got around to it. This was only a month ago. After this first occured it would always make a noise when going into D or R on a cold start but never felt that banging noise I heard when driving down the street.