A scary thing happened on the way home Wednesday morning. I went around a corner and the trans seemed to shift to neutral, then caught itself for a second. I figured low fluid so I stopped and checked. Nope, full. OH oh!

Starting out again, it was in "limp" mode. Got it home and read the codes. P0711, P0713, and P1762. At 8 AM, I called my mechanic Dave and he said he'd get the governor sensor, governor pressure solenoid, and transducer, call me when they were in. At 3 PM, he got the parts and set up an appointment for first thing in the morning. I called AAA and set up the tow. I probably could have driven it there, but didn't want to chance it.

AAA got me there at 7:30 AM but because Dave had to clear a lift, I didn't get it in until 9 AM. He opened it up and found the shop had sent the wrong parts! Waited until 11 AM for the parts, got it back together by 12. Checked it out, cleared the codes and road tested it. Down the road at 12:30 PM. Total cost of parts, fluid, and filter was $244.86, labor was $120. If I took it to a trans shop, I'd be looking at $2800 for a rebuild!

Meanwhile, I'm sitting around and drinking coffee, BSing with everybody, and helping to sweep water out the bays because it was raining hard and everything was melting. The temp got up to 60* if you can imagine that! We had to break up some ice to redirect the river that was coming off the hill in back of the shop. I had to detour twice on the way home because of flooding. Tonight it's going to get cold again with freezing rain and snow later. Here we go again! Right now, the temp is 25* with 10-20 mph wind.

 

So hard to find a good mechanic! You are completely correct, a trans shop would have just said the trans is shot. Glad you got it figured out for pretty cheap!

 

Yes, I trust this guy. He's a motorhead just like me, only he's got money! He's active in the classic car and custom rod scene. He's got 2 metal barns full of cars that I just salivate over! The one that gets my attention the most is a cherry 68 Road Runner with a Hemi done by Keith Black! It's electric blue with black interior and looks stock except for the tubbed-out slicks! They're not offensively wide, just about 12".

His best mechanic, Angel, is Cuban and came over in 97. I was talking to him while he worked on my jeep and he said the reason he is so good a mechanic is because in Cuba, if you need a new transmission, you have to fix the one you've got because there are no new ones on the island! Even getting new clutch kits is hard. Any new parts shipped from the US have to go thru another country before being shipped to Cuba! He said most people who own cars there drive 40s and 50s cars, mostly American.

Dave's shop rate is $85/hour, but he only charges me $60. Until recently, I always paid in cash.

 

85 bucks an hour is unheard of. $60 is like a miracle. The lowest I have been able to find around here is $100. Most times it is well above that. I was using one independent garage that was charging $150 until I got wise to these other shops. My question is, was this the first time you replaced those parts since you have owned that Jeep? I know you deliver papers in it and it's a high mileage workhorse. Curious about how much you have done to it. Always looking for a bit of hope...

 

When I bought it in 2012, maintenance records said nothing about the transmission except for a fluid change done at 100K miles. It had 125K on it when I bought it. This was a pampered soccer-mom's grocery-getter that was cleaned and garaged all the time. I changed the fluid and filter at 175K and changed the solenoid pack because of a torque converter clutch code. It turns out the TC clutch itself is not functioning, so I've just been driving it that way for 5 years. Still getting 26mpg on the highway in the summer. She's got 228K on her now.

This was the only true malfunction that ever happened to it. The only thing I do with it that most people don't do is ALWAYS let it warm up for a short period in neutral, duration depends on air temp. I've done that since one cold night I started it up and almost immediately put it in reverse. It acted sluggishly and threw a governor pressure code. I let it warm up a bit and it acted fine. That was almost 2 years ago.

Each time I've dropped the pan, there hasn't been an overabundance of debris in it, just a slight coating of grey clutch mud that wiped out with a shop towel. It's never been overheated and I run in lower gears going down steep grades or pulling up them. In all the time I've had it, I've only used full throttle a few times to get me out of trouble merging on the highway.

 

The extreme cold then wild "January-thaw" warm swing (beach day!) plays havoc on our old beasties. Sorry to hear but glad you got through that little SNAFU so easily. Was there no way to isolate if only one item had failed? Or did you replace all three sensors/devices simply because they were all accessible at once? The very cold temps are back again and will likely be with us until end of February. Hopefully, there'll be no more issues until "self-service temperatures" have returned!

 

Well, the P1762 code has to do with the pressure sensor output voltage not being normal for 3 consecutive Park/neutral shifts. Dave's DRB III scan tool said the governor pressure was right, so that only leaves the pressure solenoid as a control point. He said it was a good idea to replace both while it was apart and I agreed. This type of deal is why the O/D solenoid and the torque converter solenoid, as well as the temp sensor, are built into a single component. Replace them as a unit and chances are good you won't have to pull it apart again.

I also replaced the filter because it was coming up on a 50K fluid change anyhow. People can say what they want about the 42re, but in my experience if you don't abuse it, don't overheat it, and keep the fluid changed, it's as good a transmission as any. It is definitely designed as a medium horsepower trans, so keep that in mind.

Here's one for you. My 83 Chevy truck was an old workhorse when I bought it. It had been used to deliver loads of firewood and probably severely beat upon before me. The THM 350 died shortly afterwards and a friend had a 200R4 out of a Buick he said I could have. A little research told me it would fit and function except it was shorter and had O/D and lockup. All I had to do was move the crossmember to the 4wd location and come up with a longer driveshaft. Other friends said it wouldn't last. 40K later, the frame cracked, so it went to the shredder! The engine was a 305 2bbl that had a 4bbl put on it.