My owner's manual says to check it in park, and the dipstick says neutral. Which one is correct, or does it make no difference? I was under the impression the only mechanical difference between N and P was the parking pawl engagement which wouldn't appear to affect the fluid at all.

 

Either is acceptable for the AW4. The manual is a single print that covers 2.5L models with the 32RH transmission which only moves fluid in neutral. The AW4 however moves fluid all the time.

 

Salad, I can recall we had a similar discussion a while back on this same topic, wasn't it?
Apparently one of the members came to find out, on his dipstick it said in Park...dodgy aftermarket dipstick haha.

Your explanation though explains also ,why I couldn't do the shifting between Park and Neutral one-man's technique for the forward flush of my trans when I tried it...it would pump fluid all the time, where another member stated he shifted from Park in Neutral and back, filling separate bottles this way during the forward flush....so his couldn't be a AW4
But, come to think of it, the 2.5L's, those were only manuals and not auto's?

 

2.5 had automatics but were extremely rare

 

All my Jeep's factory dipsticks, and the ones left over from part-outs say Park.

 

That makes sense, as the manual says neutral for the 4.0/AW4 and park for the 2.5/32RH. They probably figure if it doesn't make a difference, then park is a safer recommendation and hence the differing recommendations.

 

Check it hot (after driving a bit) in park, level ground - might be a good idea to go through all the gears for about 10s each before checking it.