I got a 2001 Jeep Cherokee with 168,000 miles. I am doing all the maintenance on it so I know when it has been done and I can keep up with it. I want to drop the transmission pan and change the fluid and gasket but not sure when the last time the transmission fluid has been changed. Shifts fine but I heard when you have a higher mileage vehicle and you don't know the maintenance history you shouldn't touch the transmission fluid because you might mess up the transmission. What is your take on this?

 

I was thinking about doing the same thing on my 96 with 148k on it. But after doing some research I decided to just drain and fill for now. It helped a bit. I found people saying its not a good idea to go from the "dirty" fluid to straight clean. It's better to work your way clean. So I drained and filled it once. And will do so again a few more times. But in between each I drive the jeep a bunch. It's been almost a month since I did the first drain and fill so I think I will be doing it again soon. Hope this helps. After reading on here for hours I truly believe that simply draining and filling the tranny slowly but surely is the way to go.

Sent from my DROID INCREDIBLE using Cherokee Forum

 

It's a common topic drain from the plug about 3-4 times then drop and clean the pan/change gasket and filter

 

Tranny pan drops can be somewhat stubborn due to the dipstick tube not separating. We used a small tubing cutter, short piece of rubber fuel line and clamps. The dipstick tube should be a non-issue for future tranny pan drops.