96 Grand Cherokee Laredo
 

Hey!!! I have read so many forums, I decided to join one lol. I have personally have a 09 Liberty and LOVE it. So our boy turned 16 last month and it was time for his first ride. We found the 96 Jeep for $1000. 4x4 with inline 6. Now I understand when buying a used (especially with 210,000 miles) we would need to put cash into it. Our first task was fixing a leak with the valve cover...mission accomplished. That's when all hell broke loose!! The battery died after not being started for a week, charged it up and the idle was horrible...had to give it gas to keep it running. It would eventually even out once warm. It was pretty low on fuel so we put seafoam in it. While driving it around, the transmission suddenly would not engage. One it cooled down a few hours later, we were able to barely drive it back home. Forums told me to change fluid and filter. Did that and it engaged and shifted like new. So I was back on the idle issue. Changed the fuel filter, and that was not it. Forums said perhaps a bad battery could make the electrical stuff not funtion properly. So I went a bought a new battery, the idle was good...but it was also still warm. On the way home, I pulled out of the parking lot, gave it gas and it acted like it was in neutral!! It would not engage in any gear, the idle was really rough and check engine light came on! A nice gentleman helped me push it out of the road, called for a ride. Came back a couple hours later to see if it would go once cooled and nothing. Had to have it towed home. Looking at forums again, perhaps the throttle position sensor is bad...but they said it would be shifting hard. Thank you in advance for your advice on where to look next!!!

Welcome to CF! All of us here are pretty much friendly and like to help. Just keep in mind this is an "opinion" site and not all answers are fact, just the poster's opinions or personal experiences.

First of all, you need to get the transmission checked out. Fluid condition, filter, broken parts in the pan, pressure checks to name a few. Even the shift linkage may be broken. The fluid level in these transmissions needs to be checked in neutral and not in park. The difference can be about a quart and that can cause shifting problems if it's low. My opinion is the forward clutch is shot. This clutch is engaged in any gear, even reverse. This clutch pack has a 600 pound spring behind it and is held in with a snap ring. You probably need a good transmission shop to check it out. Be warned that they will tell you that you need a rebuild because of the mileage, but that might not be so. The forward clutch is inside the overdrive housing that unbolts from the back of the transmission and can be fixed separately. An inspection of the contents of the transmission oil pan can determine a lot, like pieces of that snap ring.

BTW, the transmission is a 42re.

You need to find out the code(s) set by the check engine light. You can get those with the "key trick". With that, you turn on the key until the warning lights come on, then off, then on, then off, then on again and wait. The CEL will flash on and off. Count the flashes and write them down. A code 55 is end of test. You can do this a number of times if you can't follow it. You can also use a code reader if there's one available.

I'm not trying to scare you about the transmission. I just wanted you to know the possibilities.

Thank you for repylng!! I was a daddy's girl that was always in the garage with him. Now that he is gone, I am very thankful for the brains to pick here. 😀 I feel very comfortable doing small jobs, but inside the tranny work I will leave for my last resort mechanic! Haha. When I changed the fluid ( without a drain plug...so you know how clean that was haha) I didn't notice anything too abnormal. The fluid was not as bright red as it should be, and the magnet had about 1\4 inch of black sludge on it....and a few shavings. The filter was pretty we'll clogged. Thank you for the other tips too.…i had no clue you could count the flashes!!! I will give the others a try and see what happens...I know diagnosing an issue is a game of try this and that!! Lol Thanks for your input and welcoming!!!

My opinion... but the first thing I thought of.

Check all your grounds. You have a ground strap that goes to a valve cover bolt. This would have been removed and replaced when you changed the gasket.

Then you have two more beneath it. One near you cam position sensor and another down further near your motor mount. Oil leaking and getting on these grounds can cause electrical problems. One of those things that don't cost anything to check....

Thank you! I will check to make sure they were properly put back on, and check the ones underneath. It would leak a saucer size puddle each time it was driven in the driveway.

There are 2 things with the transmission that I though of. The hydraulic pump and the torque converter. A pressure check will tell if the pump is okay.

My Chevy truck just stopped driving and made a swooshing sound one day. The truck just would not move at all. After rebuilding the whole thing, it still wouldn't move. The torque converter looked good and a trans guy said he thought it was good also, but it was the only thing I hadn't replaced, so I did. It turned out the turbine blew apart inside it and that's why it wouldn't move! The pressure was supposed to change to much higher pressure when it was put into gear, but it wasn't. I took that control valve apart several times and it checked out. I put the new converter in and BINGO, it worked beautifully. It least I learned a lot and my transmission had all new clutches in it. I lost a lot of sleep working nights on that after I got home from my day job.

OK, I figured out the codes, and the result was 3-3-2-1-5-5
The closest codes I could find was for a 94 JGC, would that
be close enough?
21 oxygen sensor signal, neither rich or lean detected. 33 a/c clutch relay circuit, open or short detected.....if I'm reading them right.

Once I seen the o2 sensor, I remembered I failed to mention earlier that I took it to echeck and found out somebody had taken the catalytic converter off and put straight pipe on. Perhaps part of idle problem?
Also, I had wanted to check the tranny fluid again. Since I cant drive it, I let it run for 30 min, put it in neutral and it was showing above the max line. Either its too full, or didn't get hot enough...which the fluid didn't feel to warm. 5 quarts was put in when I changed it last week.

I double checked with the pictures I took prior to removing anything and it's all good on the top. Looking beneath it, I couldn't tell much because it is not in my garage where the is light, lol. However I did see 2 hose type things (pardon my ignorance) that appear to go toward the radiator that had drops of tranny fluid on it.

YES, you're reading them right. The 02 sensor isn't detecting anything because it either isn't working or the exhaust gasses are passing it too fast for it to get a reading. It needs the back pressure of the catalytic converter to function properly. The computer reads the signal and adjusts the mixture to keep the combustion within limits. Without this signal, the computer (PCM) is relying on preprogrammed mixture settings in it's memory. This can cause lean stumble on acceleration and poor idle, as well as really poor fuel mileage.

The code 33 tells me the A/C clutch relay has probably been removed or the fuse is blown.

Those "hoses" are the transmission cooling lines that go to a coil inside the radiator and possibly an auxilliary cooler in front of the radiator. Check to see if there is any coolant on the trans dipstick or fluid in the radiator. Trans fluid in the coolant will show as an oily sheen on top of the coolant in the filler neck or reservoir or as pink foam. You can use a suction device to remove a quart thru the dipstick tube and that may show coolant in the transmission. I hope not.

I hope you'll bear with me. Trying to diagnose long distance with a keyboard is tough.

Awesome! Thank you!! Hopefully once the catalytic converter is fixed, that will take care of a couple issues.
I will check to see if there is any fluid leaking into the coolant system today. We had flushed it when we bought it, thought it was a little late in the year to only have water in it!!! Haha! It didn't looked discolored, but it was moving then too!
I checked on how to check the pressure in the transmission, as you referenced earlier, but I needed to get it in my garage to do so. My husband had his 84 mustang in there at the time the jeep was towed home. Anyways, him and I both could not push the jeep backwards in nuetral. We could push it forward, but would not budge backwards!!! Does that say anything? I have no clue how to get it in there! Haha

No, I truly thank you for bearing with me!! I understand how hard it is to troubleshoot when you are not physically there!! I really appreciate it!! Our son on the other hand is ready to sell it!! I tried to tell him that when you buy an older used vehicle, to plan on putting the amount you paid for back into it! I think it will be a great first vehicle for him once all the bugs are worked out. The straight 6 in it sounds amazing...when its idling properly....hahaha!! Thanks again for all your help!!

Yeah, been there, done that! I bought a really pretty 97 ZJ for $1600 and wound up putting $3000 into it for repairs which included a transmission rebuild! It was my first jeep and I was smitten by a pretty face. Enough said.