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Wheres all this tranny fluid coming from on the dipstick???

jtdesigns

NAXJA Forum User
My 96 XJ 4.0l got pulled over on the side of the road today because the AW4 decided it would slip.. Cruz'n along had it set at 70 mph,,, then rpms just started climbing, and not going nowhere.. "CRAP!!!" Pulled over sat for a second letting the big trucks go on by, checked the fluid and gezzzus it was way to full.. Came home drained at least a qt of the red-brown,, nasty,, junk till it read right in the middle of the stick,, idling,, in neutral... Took it for a spin a lil mix of hills, highway, and stop 'n' go traffic,, shifted like new... About 10 mins from the house started shifting crazy in n out of OD or not shifting right, just being eratic; got home and it was overfilled again... not as much but maybe an 1/8th over the full line..

Think the pump is going bad in it??

Or am I just being parinoid and when I drained it the first time extra fluid was in the valves,, ect???? But I checked it again after the test drive while running in neutral after going through the gears,, so Im just pretty much out of any answers........

I have about 2 or 3 qrts of GM Dex III, from changing the fluid in my Rodeo,, thinking about draining about whats left in the jug and replacing a bit.. FSM says the AW4 takes a lil under 8 qrts 8.45 to be exact,, just dont have that much..

If It sat overnight draining at the plug would all 8.45 qrts come out??

Thanks for any insight on this,, I have 2 vehicles down right now,, we cant afford another one down.. It sucks already trying to find rides while my wife is driving the XJ to work & school...

When it rains it pours here.....
 
complicated answers... first of all, the fluid should be blood red. any brown-ness to it means the transmission is silipping and overheating the fluid (it turns brown when it over heats). i would check your coolant if you are still using the stock trans cooler. its located inside the radiator, and if coolant is leaking through it into your transmission it would cause exactly what you are describing, but there would be some foaming of the fluid i think. if your coolant is pink or oily looking i would say you need a new radiator.

as far as all the fluid leaking out of the trans from sitting overnight, no. the torque converter holds a couple quarts, and various other passages and the cooler lines hole another couple quarts ... the fluid would not completely drain on its own.

the fact that the fluid level is going up is a strong indicator that its the transcooler allowing coolant to contaminate the system. at the very least you need to find where that extra volume of fluid is coming from.

hope this helps.
 
complicated answers... first of all, the fluid should be blood red. any brown-ness to it means the transmission is silipping and overheating the fluid (it turns brown when it over heats). i would check your coolant if you are still using the stock trans cooler. its located inside the radiator, and if coolant is leaking through it into your transmission it would cause exactly what you are describing, but there would be some foaming of the fluid i think. if your coolant is pink or oily looking i would say you need a new radiator.

as far as all the fluid leaking out of the trans from sitting overnight, no. the torque converter holds a couple quarts, and various other passages and the cooler lines hole another couple quarts ... the fluid would not completely drain on its own.

the fact that the fluid level is going up is a strong indicator that its the transcooler allowing coolant to contaminate the system. at the very least you need to find where that extra volume of fluid is coming from.

hope this helps.

Ericka!!!! Holy smokes you know I never thought of that!!! Yelp I have a leaking rad as a matter of fact.... Have to top it off every morning. But I also know the coolant is leaking out on the ground straight from the rad. ,, so...

ok... I think I'm going to pull the rad right quick and cap the lower hose hole and put a lil air pressure in the trans cooler,, you know just to see if I get any bubbles..

If it was leaking water/coolant in to the tranny,, wouldnt I see it on the stick,, or when I drained the first qrt???

I guess my question is does water and tranny fluid mix??? It looked non oily,, just brown..
 
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just an un educated guess here but what ever has more pressure will be the one that wins the leaking war and in this case id think the rad. would have more pressure than the tranny thereby causing the coolant to go into the tranny fluid and not the other way around
 
the coolant and tranny fluid would not mix. oil floats on water, so your dipstick would show the fluid being higher and the water would no show up as it would be collecting at the bottom of the transmission pan. the same goes for engine oil. if your oil level starts climbing on the dipstick you probably have a cracked head or block. the coolant and or water sinks to the bottom of the pan so you never see it on the stick. i would drop the tranny pan and have a look at what comes out. if your fluid is already brown its worth changing it out anyway even if that is not your problem.
 
Well I pulled the rad. and removed the end cap off the rad.. Pulled the tranny cooler out, filled with around 20psi in a bucket of hot soapy water.. And no bubbes..
But I did find the rad leak.. going to try and solder that back up and put it all back together.. I put alot of pressure in the cooler. Its really not what I was expecting to find.. It looks like a large cooper pipe with two fittings on each end + looks like itll only hold about 2 to 4 ozs...
Might pump the pressure up to 40 psi,, but still dont think it was leaking into the tranny...

Not sure what direction to go now... I need the Jeep on the road tomorrow ,, well today ,,, in a few hours, so the lil lady can goto work.. This sucks... I thought for sure this was the problem.... GD'it...

About the fluid mixing with water.. I hope you guys dont think Im that dense!!! I just didnt know the fluid was oil based.. If I had known I wouldnt looked like such a horses a55.. :D
 
If you had coolent in the trans it would turn it into a strawberry color. in the motor oil it would look like a chocolate milk. a trans has a lot more PSI in the lines than a coolant system.
 
Well got the rad leak fixed... Yippee!!!Got it put together and drained about 3 qrts of fluid and refiled with some GM Dextron III Took for a test didnt shift back in forth but it kinda felt like it was sliding in to gear when you pressed the pedal. Came home and it was still a lil high about an eigth above full,, drained another qrt and put a half back in.. Right on the dot,, literatlyl!! Well shes off to work and im crashing..... If it acts up anymore Ill be back!!
 
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