97 ZJ, 42RE Transmission, ~180k miles and I just swapped in a replacement 4.0 which runs great (Cylinder 3 blew out on the original 
). Pan has been dropped (replaced with one that has a drain-plug) and a Master Solenoid Service Kit, with the upgraded Governor parts, installed.
On trying to finish the job and fully replace the fluid, which had looked less than stellar, the issues which caused me to dive in came right on back.
It simply doesn't go into gear is the only way to put it. The shifter moves nicely, no hangup on Park-Reverse, all the cables underneath are attached and moving like they should (AFAICT), the parking pawl retracts allowing it to be pushed around the driveway, and it even causes the engine to change RPM
Sometimes
That is the biggest/most repeatable symptom I can point at; when shifting through the movement selections and then stopping on either Neutral (not every time) or Park (almost every time) it will bog the engine WAY down for a couple of seconds. Feels like it's stalling out but it has always recovered.
Aannddd... That's it. It won't do anything else
Of course before I touched anything it would drive around the lot, it didn't feel safe enough to take on the road so I couldn't test higher gears, while still cold but would get chuggy/start slipping/etc once it warmed up. Before that it was even okay on the road for a little while, it just wasn't quite right and quickly devolved to barely functional
That's kinda where I'm at folks, bummer of a first post but I've looked around the internet a bunch and can't find any more things to hit with my wrench. I've put a lot of time and enough money to care about losing it, I'd picked a Jeep because they're supposed to be reliable (and I really like them
) it just... hasn't gone well for me.
So if anyone has any suggestions on what I could try, resources of any kind to comb through, or better yet some kind of related experience I would be SO grateful!
). Pan has been dropped (replaced with one that has a drain-plug) and a Master Solenoid Service Kit, with the upgraded Governor parts, installed.On trying to finish the job and fully replace the fluid, which had looked less than stellar, the issues which caused me to dive in came right on back.
It simply doesn't go into gear is the only way to put it. The shifter moves nicely, no hangup on Park-Reverse, all the cables underneath are attached and moving like they should (AFAICT), the parking pawl retracts allowing it to be pushed around the driveway, and it even causes the engine to change RPM
Sometimes
That is the biggest/most repeatable symptom I can point at; when shifting through the movement selections and then stopping on either Neutral (not every time) or Park (almost every time) it will bog the engine WAY down for a couple of seconds. Feels like it's stalling out but it has always recovered.
Aannddd... That's it. It won't do anything else
Of course before I touched anything it would drive around the lot, it didn't feel safe enough to take on the road so I couldn't test higher gears, while still cold but would get chuggy/start slipping/etc once it warmed up. Before that it was even okay on the road for a little while, it just wasn't quite right and quickly devolved to barely functional
That's kinda where I'm at folks, bummer of a first post but I've looked around the internet a bunch and can't find any more things to hit with my wrench. I've put a lot of time and enough money to care about losing it, I'd picked a Jeep because they're supposed to be reliable (and I really like them
) it just... hasn't gone well for me.So if anyone has any suggestions on what I could try, resources of any kind to comb through, or better yet some kind of related experience I would be SO grateful!
Just to be clear, the transmission was shifting fine BEFORE you changed the engine?
Old fart with a wrench
Let me ask one important question. When you pulled the engine, did you leave the torque converter on the engine or did you disconnect it and leave it on the transmission? The reason I ask is because you may have bent the input shaft enough to crack the pump, so you're not getting any hydraulic pressure. You should check the pressures in the transmission by installing a gauge at the various test points as shown in a transmission manual. Also you installed a different governor which might have something to do with your problem.
We may never know.