Just bought a 1997 Cherokee with 165000 mi. Totally stock. This is our 2nd Cherokee. 1st one (had a 5 speed) got hit & totaled. Our new '97 has the 4 speed auto. I am leery about the auto not being reliable and costing a bunch to fix.

What suggestions do people have to keep the tranny safe and sound? What will I find when I begin looking at the car (don't have posession of it yet will when we get money to the guy were buying from)? Does the stock Cherokee have a stand alone tranny cooler or is it part of the radiator?

Do people put coolers in? What about installing a temperature gauge?

Other tricks to keep the tranny going strong?

By the way, what is the code name for the 4 speed auto? I've been searching this site reading about this trans and that referred to by code names, and not sure what the name of the trans is.

 

It's an AW4. Manufactured by Aisin-Warner. They also supply transmissions to Toyota. It is one of the best transmissions on the planet in my opinion.

You don't need an auxiliary cooler. There are Cherokees happily running around in the desert and climbing mountains right now that don't have one.

Check the fluid level and condition when you get it. If the fluid is not cherry red, you should go through the drain-and fill procedure about 3-4 times to replace the fluid. It uses Dextron III or VI. You don't need to drop the pan or change the filter.

The AW4s in my two XJs were the most reliable thing on the vehicle.

 

I totally agree with firestorm. You won't find a better transmission. Three things I would do...

1. Evacuate the trans and converter - install new fluid.
2. Install a factory trans cooler.
3. Adjust the trans cable..

My AW4 shifts like it was brand new and I have 181K on mine.. the trans cable adjustment is key to firm shifts.

.

 

Or you can do what I did and clean it out all at once. See my sig.



WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

Some auto shops will look up your vehicle and tell you that you need some other, Chrysler-specific fluid. (Ah fergits exactly whut.)

Ignore them. They are wrong. Their computer is wrong. It sees "Chrysler product" and tries to sell you what Chrysler uses. It's not a Chrysler transmission.

DexIII/Merc and you're good to go.


The "filter" is just a screen. It has about a 1/16" mesh, maybe a bit bigger. It stops CHUNKS. If you have chunks that big, it's all over. Your transmission will be toasted, and you'll know it, long before that ever needs cleaning. Just change the fluid and you'll be good to go.

On the subject of its strength, I have towed a trailer loaded past the recommended limits many times. Never a problem. I just turned 268k on my '97.

There's a tranny cooler built into the radiator.

 

No worries. Do what Mark says if it's bad.

Factory recommended maintenance is a fluid drain and fill (3.8 quarrts) every 30,000 miles for normal service and every 15,000 miles for severe duty like Postal delivery etc.

Use only Dexron/Mercon III. It has a drain plug. Use it.

 

A little info to past on to you. Its called the TV cable,, (Throttle Valve cable)

 

And here is a video on HOW to adjust the TV cable:

 

Yeah Ive seen that jackasses vid before,,its okay I guess..

 

Yeah. His hands scare some folks who watch it.

I think he also made a hokey one on shifting a transfer case at 70 MPH.........

 

To elaborate... some do and some don't. Mine does because I bought it new with the HD towing/cooling package. I have a factory 2 row radiator and auxiliary trans cooler.

Looks like this...

.

 

Thanks... I was too lazy to get out my FSM to call it by its proper name.

.

 

Here is a few vids on installing Trans coolers if hell bent on installing one..

This is my vid with two trans coolers.. One cooler is OEM and one B&M. You need to have the OEM cooler already in there to do the coolers in the way I did with out cutting anything.



And this guy has a good vid on how to install a cooler if you dont have the OEM cooler.. and need to cut the line.

 

I think thats what happens to your hand when to much playing with yourself comes into play..

But yeah thats the dude.. Telling everyone you can shift the T-case at any legal speed, just a crazy nut lol

 

Yes that hand looks like something from Star Wars for sure.


To the OP my AW4 had 240,000 mi. on it all stock when I bought it and had been used off road, still in excellent condition. I did add a aux. cooler to it because of the off roading I do at low speeds but don't know if it really helped that much.

 

Thank you for all of the great info! Very good community here I can tell. By the way, I was born & raised in Toledo. I live out in Montana now, but spent 30 years in Toledo. The pride of Jeeps in Toledo is very high.

Looking at the diagram above, I think the one were buying has an auxillary trans cooler. The other day when I was test driving the Jeep, I remember looking in the grill and seeing a small rectangular looking little radiator in front of the regular radiator.

If you could clarify: What do you mean when you say - "you should go through the drain-and fill procedure about 3-4 times to replace the fluid"? It would seem you wouldn't want to drain and put back in the same fluid, so does that mean buy a bunch of quarts and so you can put in 3.8 quarts... drain... do it again... or are you continuing to put in the same fluid?

In my mind, as I change the tranny fluid, it would seem best to use Mobil1 Synthetic GM DEXRON III/Mercon Fluid because I don't trust automatics (only owned one in my 30 years of owning cars) and the Synthetic has a greater ability to stand up to extreme temperatures. Thoughts?

What does np242 mean? Is that the transfer case? Does a 1997 have a np242?

I have always come to a full stop before going into 4wd. I guess it's not necessary?! With our old Cherokee, I didn't like running highway speeds in 4wd unless totally necessary. I there any reason for concern there?