grizman12

New to Jeeps and New to this forum, found a sweet 2000 Cherokee on craigslist and pulled the trigger about a month ago. White w a little 3 inch lift 125k miles, downsizing from a lifted pickup for better city driving and needed that 4wd so figured I'd buy the Jeep I always wanted, the classic Cherokee.

Anyways, was noticing some pretty severe lurching when I would come off the throttle and started to also hear a metal clank at lower speeds in 2nd gear. At first I was chalking this up to a rougher ride because its a Jeep. I checked under the body and saw tons of fluid, but also noticed that my valve covers need replacing, thought that my recent oil change had caused some overflow through the leaky valve cover or that maybe it was a rear main seal. The leak has accelerated substantially in the past 2 weeks so I took it in to my mechanic. He says that the transmission needs to be replaced and that the pump is shooting tranny fluid all over the underside and that the leaks aren't oil. (on the bright side he said everything else looks good).

I was wondering if anyone has input on what my next steps could be. I have found a used transmission from a yard w 90k on it that I could get purchased and installed for around 1300. Maybe a rebuild? Go with the used? Look for a new? I'd love to get about 2 years or more out of this jeep and right now I am on month 1.

Any help would be appreciated, It is kind of time sensitive, could get the used in there by tomorrow and be up and running by this weekend its up to me though. Thanks again !

dukie564

what year donor transmission? Unfortunately there are some minor but VERY important differences between years when it comes to transmission swaps that could be easy to overcome, or impossible.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1053970

^ Basically what you should gather from that is that you need a transmission from a 98-01 XJ to be a direct swap. Supposedly you can also make an earlier trans work if you grab the TCU from a 1997 XJ to swap.


As far as a rebuild, the AW4 is a very stout unit and rarely has issues, so i'd just swap it and run as-is (with new fluid and filter change)

grizman12

This is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks so much! I will call and verify the year of the used transmission and then have my guy install it rather than finding someone else to do a rebuild.

Fred/N0AZZ

I agree although the price seems on the high side for the trans and install at $1300 but considering a lot of AW4's go an easy 300,000 mi the 90,000 should have a ways to go with it. The swap is a fairly fast and easy one to do also the nice part on our XJ's.

grizman12

Yeah 1300 does seem a little high if its just bolt on, but guy will do new filters / fluids with a 6 mo warranty, plus I am having them replace the rear main seal for just the cost of the seal while the tranny is out. Mechanic has always treated me well in the past. Hoping to get a lot of life out of the new to me used transmission, obviously the PO didn't maintain it very well, makes me a little nervous about some of the other systems on the rig, time to get dirty and do some extra preventative maintenance I think.

Thanks for the info!

Fred/N0AZZ

Well with all the other things and a warranty the price might not be so bad after all. Your taking care of several issues while its in the shop anyway, might as well do the oil filter adapter O-Rings as most all of them are leaking by now anyway.

s346k

how does the pump shoot trans fluid all over the underside ? bad front / rear seal or a torque converter at most. sounds a little shady to me, you can't see the pump itself without removing the trans and verter.

grizman12

I am not sure how it is spewing fluid everywhere, but I also saw the fluid. I thought it was oil, but had the oil changed and the fluid was still black and spewing all over. Thought it might have been leaking down from the valve covers, but it they aren't leaking to this extent. The guy told me that it probably due to the PO not changing the fluid hence the darkness.

s346k

mine was spewing fluid so to speak when the xfer case vent tube got clogged. the pressure inside escaped out the output shaft seal and got slung all over everything.

grizman12

Thanks for all the feedback. Getting the used put in and replacing everything mentioned including seals, o-rings, etc.

Fred/N0AZZ

I should have taken note of that also, something strange going on there and more questions than answers so far. Hope to see what is repaired and found to be cause of problem, for sure I would be checking the transfer case as well.

The shooting of the trans fluid could be a cooler line also or connection, don't know. One thing the OP does want is to make sure he keeps his AW4 trans that is being replaced as a spare because its not know what the issue may be with it, could be a very simple and cheap fix. For the price charged surely they don't plan on keeping his old one unless they plan on an easy turn over on it and as we all know spare parts for our XJ's are good had to have around.

s346k

just saying. the seals and lines are cheap and easy to replace. $1300 is robbery on a trans that may not need it. and the rear main can be replaced with the trans it btw, no interference at all.

DSFB 96XJ

i'm about to change rear seal on my aw4. Would you happen to know if a simple seal puller will work for removal? Noticed the seal is surrounded by a thin metal piece at rear of transmission. What's that and does it interfere with seal removal? Ty

dukie564

i believe that's just a dust cover. You'll need to remove it to pull the seal