I need help please, my jeep won't move and hearing a whining noise when in gear. Heres a little background, 97 GRC 4.0, I think it has the 42re, ok so heres what happened, my trans cooler lines are leaking so I have to add fluid periodically, well I overfilled it by accident, probably a quart over and it was shifting a little weird but nothing major but when I put it in 4wd it felt like it was in neutral, now it won't move in 2wd or 4wd. I pulled off the cooler lines to see if the pump was working,.. there is pressure but not a steady stream. Another thing I was thinking is maybe the transfer case is stuck in between gears? Any help is appreciated, thanks

 

Two things here. The trans pump doesn't run in Park so the cooling lines won't be pressurized. It IS in neutral, that's why you need the check fluid level in neutral.

The transfer case may be in neutral or between gears. The transmission and transfer case are two separate units.

Running the trans overfull may have foamed the fluid and caused air to be sucked into the pump.

These are just rumblings in my brain. Take it from there.

 

Yep I was checking it in neutral, like I said it had pressure but not steady, I don't know if this is normal or not. The fluid is clean and doesn't smell burnt. I also checked to see if the cooler was blocked, it wasn't. Now its not engaging in reverse it engages in drive but it takes like 10 sec. to engage and only moves a little bit, also when I put it in neutral it feels like it wants to stall.

 

mine does something similar, it will move a few feet in reverse or drive, then if you stop and try to go again, it acts like its in neutral. turn the engine off, wait a couple minutes, and restart, it does the same thing. moves a few feet then act like its in neutral.

 

Shift solenoids can go out in the transmission causing it to "pop out of gear". There are methods to test the solenoids just like you test the AW4 in the Xjs.

 

I'm not very familiar with the Jeep transmissions, but there must be a pressure test port somewhere. If there is, you should test for line pressure in various shift positions to see what you've got. It may be a pressure control valve or solenoid isn't doing it's job. I once heard of a spring breaking in the valve body causing symptoms similar to yours.

 

Is there any codes present? Cycle the ignition switch off and on three times then leave the key in the third position forward. Now watch the OD light (not the check engine light as its for the engine codes while the OD light is for the transmission). Let me know what you find. The Governor pressure solenoid (main solenoid in the 42RE) is known to plug up/fail. But we need to rule out any other electrical problems as well. Let us know what you find. I have my old Transmission teacher (was a lead tech at Chrysler for 20 years) on standby to help out as needed.

 

Ok I cycled the ignition and 55 comes up, from what I understand that means no error codes, is that right? You mentioned that the shift solenoids could cause it to pop out of gear, do you mean literally pop out gear or just stop moving? Cuz it seems like it stays in gear but it feels like the tranny is slipping I have to rev the engine way up to get it to move, could a bad torque converter or the clutch solenoid do this?

 

Yes, both can cause problems.

 

Ok so I started the jeep up today and it engaged in gear and moves but I'm getting a bad whining noise when in any gear except park.

 

Sounds like the front pump or converter.

 

I was afraid of that, damn its to cold up here in new england to start dropping tranny

 

I don't know if this helps or not, but I blew the turbine in my GM truck converter and all it did was whine and try to move a little. Testing line pressure, I only had 60 psi. After replacing the converter, I had full line pressure and it drove fine.

 

Ok so a little update, I changed the tranny filter and fluid, and it is driving fine, except when driving slow it keeps shifting in and out of 1st and 2nd gear,... when I dropped the pan I found that donut looking magnet totally in the wrong spot, I put the magnet back in the right spot when I reinstalled it,...but the magnet was wedged in between the pan and the solenoid, I think its the gov. pressure solenoid, is it possible this ruined the solenoid. Also about 2 weeks before I started having this problem with tranny I had to replace the exhaust manifold, it was cracked at the collector, could any sensors on the intake manifold have anything to do with this?