My jeep has about 220k on the clock, I have no idea if the fluid has ever been changed before, I've gotten mixed answers about doing high mileage changes. Either it'll be ok, or it won't move after you change it. It drives good now, shifts firm, but not hard enough to think somethings wrong. SHould I go ahead and change it, or do it a couple quarts at a time til it's flushed, then drop the pan and do filter too?

 

XJ with a AW4 trans?

Removing the drain plug will give you just under 4qts. Drain it as often as you want until the fluid (Dex/Merc,Dex III) looks like new. No need to drop the pan as there is no filter per se. Just a wire screen.

Do this also:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/aw4...-issue-240078/

 

this^^,

Nothing else.

 

I just did mine using another optional method I would not recommend... I just turned mine upside down and dumped it all out of the fill tube instead of using the drain plug. lol

Joking aside...I am truly surprised how reliable these seem to be considering they only have a screen and no filter.

 

I cant think of any way the jeep wouldnt move after just a fluid change. The very first time the transmission fluid gets overheated it starts to break down. Doing a change out should only improve things. And if it doesnt, you were close to walking one way or another.

 

I'm prob gonna have to drop the pan anyway, got a small pan leak, Nothing major, it might just be the bolts aren't tight enough. There's a couple of drops that form on a couple of the bolts, but since I fixed the valve cover gasket, and hand tight oil sender, I haven't noticed any drops on the ground.

 

torque spec for trans pan bolts is only 5 ft/lbs. Do not over tighten them or a) you'll strip the threads out and you'll be thread tapping upside down, or b) you'll put small pressure dents in the pan around the bolt holes and your pan will never properly seal. I experienced both due to the previous owner of my jeep

 

My anecdotal ¢.02: My '98 had 180k on the clock when I bought it and I was uncertain the last time the tranny fluid was changed.

My thinking was I would just take the gamble, drop the pan and change the fluid. As a benefit, I would be able to see if there were any larger pieces of debris in the screen. If the tranny didn't last long, I figured I'd just have it rebuilt. It now has 213k on the clock 6 yrs later and most of the miles I've put on it were in the Tx & Az heat and I don't baby it when I take it out.

The tranny will most likely be just fine when you're done. Unless it has been subject to extreme neglect, the AW4 is very durable.

 

Dropping the pan on the AW4 just to say "Hello!" to the filter screen is a massive waste of a fine Saturday afternoon..

Just drain it with the handy plug and refill. Repeat in 3 more weeks.

Enjoy your Saturday doing something OTHER than laying on the ground fighting a stupid dipstick tube that won't come out.

 

^^^ this.

 

I do a drain and fill on mine every 20,000 miles. For my amount of driving that's about every 2-3 years.

 

Well I finally got off my lazy tail and changed the fluid, went ahead and dropped the pan because the gasket has been leaking since I've had it, and to see what the inside of the pan looked like, there was a light coating of black/gray crap, no chunks of anything, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, And the fluid was still red, albeit dark red, but still red.


Someone had been into it before since it was a gasket and not the rtv from the factory. And the tube was fairly easy to seperate. No telling how long ago tho.

Filled it back up with about 4.5 quarts, since I went ahead and threw a screen/filter on it since I was in it, it took about 1/2 quart more, because when I broke the seal on the filter more dumped out.

Took it for a ride through the woods and down the road a few miles, checked the fluid, looked good, bright red, no burnt smell, just smelled like hot transmission fluid. Pulled hard in first, no signs of slippage, shifted good into 2nd, ran it up to 65 a few times, everything seemed good, when it downshifted into passing gear it felt like it shifted harder and pulled harder than before. So far so good, time will tell.

 

Well, imagine that!!!
Run it for a bit and smell the fluid. It wouldn't hurt to do a drain and fill if it's stinky at all.

 

I’ll prob put 500 miles on it and do another drain. But as much as I drive it that’ll prob be in august or September. Lol. I added a small cooler back last year think it was 11x6.5”, ordered another one last night a bigger 11x10 going to swap them out sometime this week. Not really concerned about over cooling it, there’s maybe 7 days worth of below freezing temps a year where I’m at.

 

I wish there was a way to firm up the shifts some, on my Sonoma and blazer I swapped Out the servos for corvette servos. Made a world of difference.