hey people i just bought my cherokee a week ago today. its in perfect shape and runs like new.. everything works great.. i check my fluids, everything was good but the tranny fluid. it is a brown color lighter brown not too dark and has a weird smell. it shifts tightly with no hesitation, no slippage nothing. over drive kicks in. i have another car so i rotate. i was wounder if it can hurt the tranny driving on this fluid color? and also is it normal for the atf fluid to turn from red to brown? im guessing its like engine oil changing colors when needing changed? well any how im not cranking it until i drive it to my mechanic for a tranny flush. it has about 162.000 miles on it bought it from a older couple and they took very good care of it.

 

I have heard a high psi tranny flush for these vehicles is not good. But that being said it might be the only thing to help you. When the tranny fluid gets brown not good. Atf fluid has a lot of detergents in it so when you put in the new stuff in your old tranny its going to clean it now that sounds good but some stuff could get clogged into your valve body or other places and that would be bad. If its a light brown change it quick and you might be ok. if its a dark brown almost black just wait until your trans fails your going to need one anyway. Pm for anything else.

 

Is that weird smell like it is burnt. The least you need to do is change the fluid a couple of times and get some good clean fluid in there.

 

If you don't know the service history, you should change every fluid on the Jeep period. You don't know by looking at diff, brake, tranny, power steering, transfer case, and radiator fluids when they need changed. Regardless of how the previous owners took care of it in your opinion, if they didn't annotate when the last time the fluids have been changed then spend a weekend and a litlte cash and change them all. It's cheap insurance. Your sign to change tranny fluid is not when the tranny starts to act up. It's called preventative maintenance for a reason.

 

i called the owner i bought it from. everything has been serviced. tune up,oil changed. i asked when the last time the tranny has been serviced. he told me about 2 months ago he had to get a rear seal changed and they put fluid in when they did that but didnt replace the tranny filter..my machanic is gunna relpace the filter and fluid and use dexronIII fluid..

 

I can't imagine that fluid turning brown in 2 months.

 

hmmm my tranny fluid has some similarities and has bubbles to, is this normal? (the bubbles)

 

Tranny fluid has a anti foaming agent in it. I would suggest that it is starting to break down. Tranny fluid should be changed every 50,000 miles anyway. If you service your tranny regularly, it will last much longer.

 

my jeep had the exact same thing i dropped the tranny down and took it to a reputable tranny mechanic and had it checked out he told me that it had a couple of clutches worn out and seals so he installed a tranny kit.dont have the kit numbers but like i said any reputable mech should know what u need.make sur u remove the tranny u would save couple of $$$$ instead them doing all the labor.... my jeep fluid looked like coffee but it ran good and shifted real good...

 

I am now dumb founded... The trans on this rig was rebuilt a few weeks after buying it in 1999 and when the mechanic dropped the pan, the magnet had ALOT of shavings and there was a bronze color material stuck to the bottom of the pan and the mechanic recommended I rebuild the trans...

Can someone PLEASE share there thoughts.

Now, this rig shifts NICELY, the overdrive works, this jeep RUNS LIKE A MILLION bucks! So, I do not know if I should wait it out and NOT rebuild it (it will cost me $1500... OUCH!)