is it ok or not
 

ok my frend just got a 89 cherokee to day with the aw4 trany. the guy he got it from said that he went out wheeling and went through a deep water hole. and the next day he was driving down the road and it was like the trany just went to nutral so he put it in park shut it off looked underneath did not see aney thing out of place.got back in started it put it in drive and it was ok.it did this a copule times so he changed the filter and fluid now it wont do aney thing in drive. but some times in reverse it will move. is there somthing the previous owner did wrong when he changed the fluid or is the tramy shot. aney info will be good thank you.

maybe torque converter? I'm not too knowledgeable on transmissions(and more spefically automatics)

I have had a very similar problem to yours. I had heard that it may have been a dirty throttle position sensor causing the torque converter to unlock when you don't want it too, so I cleaned it up. A combination of cleaning the throttle position sensor and putting a lot of transmission additives fixed the problem for me. Which one actually did the job? I don't know?:icon_rolleyes:

The TPS didn't have anything to do with ur trans!!! Lol as for the OP the guy probably hadn't ever replaced the tran fluid & so it builds up metalic shavings from wear. The trans start to depend on the shavings, so u can get some good additives that might get him by for a while! I'd be getting ready for the next junk yard 50% off sale to get another AW-4...

BuiltNotBought89 is right, the best way to fix anything is to do it the right way, I just needed a simple fix. As for the TPS, my problem seemed more as the torque converter was unlocking at certain RPM's (so maybe not too similar to your problem.)

you said you went through water hole, well there is a breathing tube on top of your tranny so the hot air can escape, is it possible you got water in there? what color was the fluid when you changed it?

do not know my frend bought it this way we did not do the fiuid change

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Bro. But, I think the PO porked your buddy. I think the tranny never did work right after he took it through that deep water hole. That combined with a lot of other brutal miles most likely did the tranny in. You buddy really should look into getting a replacement tranny. All drive gears acting like neutral, with no apparent fluid leaks, usually means an auto tranny has given up the fight.

well my frend found a trany at a jy for 250 with torque con so we are just going to replace it and call it good. he payed 1000 for the cherokee so not bad it has 6" skyjaker lift and newer bfg 33/12.50/15 on ion fake beadlock wheels ac converted to on bord air custom front and rear bumpers .the guy he got it from sed it is locked frunt and rear have not confermd this yet.thank you for all the help