Dreamin

Hello everyone,

My wife took on a job as a Rural Postal Carrier while going back to school. We picked up a Factory Right hand drive 96 Cherokee Sport 4x4 in December that supposedly didn't leak anything. Drove it the 3.5 hours home and the next day noticed Transmission fluid in the snow.

Close inspection showed the line that connected to the Radiator near the battery was so loose i could easily pull it off and push it back on the nipple so I replaced the hose clamp, topped it off, and crawled under to catch any loose Transmission pan bolts since they said they just changed the fluid. Found some loose bolts but tightened them all up.

Few days later we were still seeing Transmission fluid leaks so we had the shop look at it when they were replacing the engine and transmission mounts. Their suggestion was replacing the Transmission lines, so we scheduled an appointment for the next free day.

After the service I decided to do an oil change and noticed the new lines, as well as the fact they bypassed the small auxiliary cooler that is in front of the radiator and had left the ends open.

From there we started noticing minor transmission drips but nothing too major, until my wife picked up another route with higher speeds as well as a section on a 65 mph free way. one spot in particular she jumps on the freeway, heads south a bit, then crosses over and heads back north. almost every time, she heads north and then after turning back off the high way she gets a puff of smoke from fluid hitting the exhaust as well as a small amount of transmission fluid on the ground.

Saturday she had both routes the same day and started early with adding 3qts of fluid followed by the in town route. She stopped back before heading to the highway run and fluid level was the same as when she left. Then she finished and came back after the higher speed run with the highway and was down 2 qts again.

So I'm partially at a loss since I'm barely seeing any transmission fluid in the drive way and is seems like the higher speed stretch is blowing fluid out somewhere with the lower position of the dip stick looking like a leak point right onto the exhaust.

We have already sunk almost $1000 into this jeep in the last month and our emergency savings is shrinking since the Jeep is consuming more then she is making so I'm asking for any advise. This damn Cherokee has grown on me and I would like to see it fixed rather then my wife quit the job and send the Jeep down the road.

Thanks in advance, and have a great day!!

Martin

jordan96xj

Did you check the dip stick itself (where the handle inserts), to see if any is being blown out from there? This can happen when it is not venting properly. There should also be a properly fitting o-ring where the handle inserts. It would be consistent with your loss of fluid at higher speeds.

Oswalla

I am afraid to say older cherokee's are gonna need some work and it will get expensive having a shop do all your work. There is thousands of threads here to address these problems on your own with the help of members and a good factory manual. Learn the search bar and you will find knowledge.

As to the pan leak and loose bolts, was the pan re-sealed by shop when they did the lines ? My experience has been just tightening bolts on a leaky pan is they don't re-seal themselves. Also don't forget to check the output shaft seal for leaks. Check the fittings by radiator too since it sounds like your saying it is leaking more now after the line job. You probably have a nice oil coated under carriage at this point, your gonna need to degrease to find the leak/leaks. Brake cleaner or one of those self car washes, also Simple Green is a great oil degreaser much cheaper too.

Dreamin

Jordan, doesn't look like it is blowing out the top of the dipstick tube, but seeing fluid around the area the upper tube meets the lower tube.

Oswalla, Yeah due to only having Sundays to work on the jeep and not having a clear spot in the garage, I sent it to the shop. I have since cleared out a spot and have been under and over looking at it. Damn thing will need floor boards. under carriage pressure wash may blow through the passenger's side carpeting. LOL

Factory Right hand drives up north are hard to come by. Thinking the trip to Tennessee for the other one that was 2k more would have been the batter option!! LOL

So at these time, the places I'm seeing fluid are between the dip stick tube halves, and the plug in the side of the transmission that were replaced directly below the tube connection.



Any reason why we would be getting a boost in pressure pushing fluid out? Drove it 3.5 hours home with a section of 70mph interstate and didn't go through fluid like this.

Oswalla

Those tube halves are a pain to seperate, if it wiggles loose easily that might be your huckleberry. Looks like it's not seated all the way down. If the oil change included dropping pan then they had to seperate that tube, probably not seated or oring got damaged. Jordan might have it with the breather vent on top of tranny being blocked.

Dreamin

Pulled the Dipstick tube and o-ring looks good. guessing any #22 o-ring will replace it?




Now as far as the breather goes, found a breather tube next to the dip stick tube and it was covered in gunk. Grabbed our battery powered pressure washer and gave it a good cleaning. End is now clear.


Should I dig further and pull the end cap off?

Dreamin

Re-seated Dipstick tube into the lower portion and bolted it back to engine.

Searched Cherokee forum and found the 2 vent tubes I did showing AW4 and TC. Pulled cap on AW4 and it is clean inside. Originally it was caked with GOO when I first found it.

Will give it a run tomorrow morning and hope all goes well without losing any Trans fluid. Lots of spraying and Simple Green. slowly getting the gunk off but this Cherokee has not been kept clean at all.

Will also call the shop tomorrow to talk to them as far as WHY they decided to bypass my transmission cooler. This part is still frustrating me.

Thanks for the help and guidance, I have lots to research and smooth out in this old girl!

Oh odd part, the Transmission Vent on this AW4 is not up top, it is instead on the left side if the transmission (direction while sitting in the vehicle). I hugged the transmission for a while making sure I was not missing anything up top but there is just this vent hose, and the one running back to the TC.

gat

It could leak from the gasket at the pan, the joint of the dip stick to the pan, and the connections of the lines to and from the cooler as the prominent places. There could be a rare crack somewhere else. You can use a cheap ultraviolet dye with glasses to try to help find leaks.

Can you tell whether a gasket was used for the pan or whether a liquid gasket was used? The gaskets are cheap enough that is just replace that provided that I suspected a leak. You can start to cover suspecting joints one at a time with tape to try to diagnose. Tape the mating point of the dipstick to the pan. If you still have the same leak, then move to the cooling lines. I don't know whether you can tape anything to where they lead to the transmission, but I'd try that or some silicone sealant.

GreaseMonkey17

Dreamin

Took the Jeep out for 40mi ride and still blew through a qt of fluid. No idea where it is going.

Decided to call and talk to the shop that did the transmission line work to mention the trans cooler being bypassed. They were upset (at the employee who worked on the jeep) and said that they will re-plumb it no cost and to keep track of the fluid we have been putting in to be reimbursed. They mentioned if you did not ask or OK the cooler being bypassed it should never have been disconnected.

Shop goes out of their way to make sure they can get the jeep in and out the same day due to the work schedule so I just felt I had to make that call and glad I did.

gat

That is a great reply from the shop!

DFlintstone

Ye gads! We need to reset the Mayan calendar to the Chinese year of the Pig. A tyranny shop done good? Maybe the "year of the pig" bodes well for the hoards of the unsuspecting sheep lining up for shearing.....

Dreamin

LOL, Yeah, really interesting since we just came across this shop when the Crank Position Sensor failed and I couldn't replace it (just hurt my back and didn't have a free spot in the garage). Decided to give them a try and was really impressed with how focused they are to making sure the Postal Vehicles make it in and out quickly! After having to take it 2 them 3 times First was CPS, 2nd was Engine and Transmission mounts, and 3rd was to just have the over patched Transmission lines replaced, this just seemed out of place. Plus I knew the guy since he started working on cars back when I was running auto parts 25 years ago. LOL

Just hope they find a place the fluid is leaking out. Checked this morning under the Jeep and just minimal drips that you couldn't even fill a 1/4 of a water bottle cap if that.

Next project will be the Valve cover gasket but I will be doing that one. Have already told my wife I want one of these in Left hand drive, but with a solid floor! LOL

Dreamin

Just wanted to add a final recap. No more leaks the last week since they re-plumbed the cooler back in.

Turns out the guy that I have known since my parts days who had also just became a mechanic back then is the owner of the shop and a very stand up guy!!

Jeep went back to the shop Tuesday of last week. Before they replumbed the transmission cooler they wanted to test it out and see if they could find where it was leaking.

They left it running outside for a while and no drips.
Brought it in side and put it up on the lift with it running looking all over for a good 20 minutes and nothing.
Lowered it back down and the shop owner jumped in so he could hold the brake and hit the gas hoping to cause pressure to show the leak. Nothing

So after at least 45 minutes they re-plumbed the cooler back into the the lines and wouldn't take any money even though spent at least an hour trying to find a leak.

Fast forward a week and the fluid is still at full! There are still the minor drips here and there but they all look like the pan and gasket are leaking which the shop did not touch. Previous owner did a fluid change shortly before his wife retired from the post office so I will more than likely replace the pan and gasket once we get the other issues worked out on the Jeep.

Mortgage Payer

Thanks for updating your thread.