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Old story, update.....
At first it only acted up on cold mornings, first run of the day, last 3 winters, over about a 30,000 mile, 3 year period. Once the T fluid warmed up it would finally engage 1st gear and drive. Reverse has always worked, still does, so it is not the torque converter IMHO. I have given it 2.5 quart Dex III transfusions 2-3 times a year the last 24 months, and 2, 1/2 pint treatments of Trans X each winter, all which helped the last 2 winters. I added 1/2 quart of transX 4 weeks ago as the fluid was a 1/2-1 quart low.
Then this week I added 3/4ths of a quart of Dexron III, and got it to the middle to low end of the hatch marks cold. Fluid looks and smells fine. But the last addition of Dexron III did not get it the 1st gear engagement working again like normal. Even after a good warm up, it now wants to slip badly, and slips with some noise (new noise, mild noise, but definatly not a normal noise), so I am trying to decide what to do next.
Not sure a series of transfusions of Dexron III fluid will do the trick anymore (like they did in the past), as the cold temp that causes problems has reached about 75 F this time, versus say 60 F, and 45 F two winters ago. And this week, it did not want to work even at 80 F. Seems to have a small leak developing too, but not sure the extra dose of TransX did not cause part of the lost volume, as it has a very thin viscosity, solvent like. It is supposed to help swell old seals and help them seal, and help clean up, dissolve varnish that can make the valve body valves stick.
I don't think there is any reason to suspect the solenoid, as I have not heard of them being temperature sensitive and weak...., and the Tranny computer is ruled out too, mostly because they have worked fine while this progressive cold start up winter issue has gotten slowly worse over 3 winters now. This winter the problem started at 75 F, not 45 F.
3 years ago someone here suggested the valve body might need new o'rings and seats/seals.
I have a lot of choices, including a spare 87-89 tranny that was working when pulled, sitting in my shop. It has been in my storage for 3-4 years now (so it might need new seals from lack of use?). But I don't have a lot of spare time. Lastly I don't trust others to work on my junk anymore, and don't know anyone I trust really. But if there was someone others have used in the South East Houston area that really knows AW-4s that would work with me, I might consider using them. Otherwise, I need the fastest simplest route, and I don't need to be swapping the tranny five times, as I am "Getting too old for this Sh*t"!
I don't mind spending some money on say a new valve body, to install in the current AW4 if that might solve the problem. I guess I need to pull the pan next and see what if anything is in the pan, to see if the clutch plates are OK or not. I know there was some kind of work done (flex plate, Tranny...) before I bought the jeep, but I don't know how much they really did to the AW4, if any. It had 224,000 miles when I bought it in 2004-05. Now has 278,000 miles.
I have the AW4 manual.
So, looking for some expert guidance, ideas from those who have rebuilt AW4s, in part or completely, or found easier fixes for this problem. One person suggested recently that I try Lucas tranny additive, the thick stuff made specifically for slipping transmissions. He said it worked for him for a long time on the company 1996 XJ at work, and is still working!
I can't help but think that maybe the extra TransX may have dissolved some varnish, then dried up again and left the varnish in a worse spot since I did not drain and flush it! I am wondering about running some transX in neutral for 30 minutes, then do a few transfusions (say 5 quarts) with Dextron III to dilute and remove the varnish and transX, then try the Lucas last, before moving onto real hardware replacement if needed.
At first it only acted up on cold mornings, first run of the day, last 3 winters, over about a 30,000 mile, 3 year period. Once the T fluid warmed up it would finally engage 1st gear and drive. Reverse has always worked, still does, so it is not the torque converter IMHO. I have given it 2.5 quart Dex III transfusions 2-3 times a year the last 24 months, and 2, 1/2 pint treatments of Trans X each winter, all which helped the last 2 winters. I added 1/2 quart of transX 4 weeks ago as the fluid was a 1/2-1 quart low.
Then this week I added 3/4ths of a quart of Dexron III, and got it to the middle to low end of the hatch marks cold. Fluid looks and smells fine. But the last addition of Dexron III did not get it the 1st gear engagement working again like normal. Even after a good warm up, it now wants to slip badly, and slips with some noise (new noise, mild noise, but definatly not a normal noise), so I am trying to decide what to do next.
Not sure a series of transfusions of Dexron III fluid will do the trick anymore (like they did in the past), as the cold temp that causes problems has reached about 75 F this time, versus say 60 F, and 45 F two winters ago. And this week, it did not want to work even at 80 F. Seems to have a small leak developing too, but not sure the extra dose of TransX did not cause part of the lost volume, as it has a very thin viscosity, solvent like. It is supposed to help swell old seals and help them seal, and help clean up, dissolve varnish that can make the valve body valves stick.
I don't think there is any reason to suspect the solenoid, as I have not heard of them being temperature sensitive and weak...., and the Tranny computer is ruled out too, mostly because they have worked fine while this progressive cold start up winter issue has gotten slowly worse over 3 winters now. This winter the problem started at 75 F, not 45 F.
3 years ago someone here suggested the valve body might need new o'rings and seats/seals.
I have a lot of choices, including a spare 87-89 tranny that was working when pulled, sitting in my shop. It has been in my storage for 3-4 years now (so it might need new seals from lack of use?). But I don't have a lot of spare time. Lastly I don't trust others to work on my junk anymore, and don't know anyone I trust really. But if there was someone others have used in the South East Houston area that really knows AW-4s that would work with me, I might consider using them. Otherwise, I need the fastest simplest route, and I don't need to be swapping the tranny five times, as I am "Getting too old for this Sh*t"!
I don't mind spending some money on say a new valve body, to install in the current AW4 if that might solve the problem. I guess I need to pull the pan next and see what if anything is in the pan, to see if the clutch plates are OK or not. I know there was some kind of work done (flex plate, Tranny...) before I bought the jeep, but I don't know how much they really did to the AW4, if any. It had 224,000 miles when I bought it in 2004-05. Now has 278,000 miles.
I have the AW4 manual.
So, looking for some expert guidance, ideas from those who have rebuilt AW4s, in part or completely, or found easier fixes for this problem. One person suggested recently that I try Lucas tranny additive, the thick stuff made specifically for slipping transmissions. He said it worked for him for a long time on the company 1996 XJ at work, and is still working!
I can't help but think that maybe the extra TransX may have dissolved some varnish, then dried up again and left the varnish in a worse spot since I did not drain and flush it! I am wondering about running some transX in neutral for 30 minutes, then do a few transfusions (say 5 quarts) with Dextron III to dilute and remove the varnish and transX, then try the Lucas last, before moving onto real hardware replacement if needed.
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