XJ Auto Troubles

[rusty577]

Hey guys.

Been awhile since being active on this forum.. Ive got married and working hard towards getting a house so havent had much time for wheelin/camping etc.

A few of you may remember my jeep build thread and also run my rockcandy rocksliders i built for a few of you guys

Anyway back to my trouble... my xj has been unreal till just before my wedding.. I started to notice a whine coming from the auto transmission during winter first thing when it was cold.. but once warm for the day it would stop.

However I towed my grandfathers valient I used for my wedding car to my wedding venue. All went find but the next morning i notice the auto was whining a little louder then normal first thing.. didn't think much of it and drove home.

Now Ive been wheeling a few times since and the auto has never played up but recently the whine became noticeable during normal driving at low speed even when hot.

Today I headed up the double island point (local spot) its was coming off a high tided so the sand was soft in spots. Never trouble the jeep before but today everything was fine temps where up a little then normal (hot day/soft sand low range) but under 100c when all of a sudden temps started climbing to just over 100c and I started lossing drive like a slipping clutch and wouldnt change out of 1st. i pulled straight over and there was smoke billowing from under the car where the headers wrap under the engine and tranny oil everywhere. After a closer inspection it was coming from the tranny breather up high and running down to the exhaust.

I parked up for a few hours, had lunch and waited for the tide to come down.

Started her up cold and she ran fine put it in gear (still lowrange) and drove out of the soft stuff down onto the hard stuff... selected 2wd and took off now the tranny was whining like it was doing but it selected gears fine up to 80km/h and went into over drive. After about 3-5minutes its suddenly started to go down gears and the revs where going up (slipping) it got so bad i could barely do 40km/h

I shut her off and had a smoke got back in and she drove ok again for about 1 minute until i would lose drive again.

I got to the cut in to get off the beach to head home, low range and got a bit of a run up but just fell short to the point i was in drive reving to 4-5k and the wheels not turning in D or R.

Got towed out for the first time by a cruiser back up onto the tarmac and after a few minutes of them giving me the usual shit about owning a jeep I get back in 2wd and stepped on it and she spun the rears and shifted fine up to 80km/h when all of a sudden again started slipping and chaning down gears.

Anyway I drove the 15km home at about 40km/h and having to stop before a hill for a few minutes and restart to get enough drive up it.

Once home the car when u rev in P makes a metallic kinda noise when reved also does it in D and R I let the car warm up after a wash and sure enough it had returned to slipping to the point where in D or R there was absolutely no drive i was rolling back trying to take off in D...

I know something bad is wrong but not sure where to start... Thought someone may have some experience...

I feel the oil pump in the tranny is bad.... and where the original whining was coming from.

Is it worth my pulling the box and rebuilding myself? I am very mechanically minded and have a workshop or do I just fine another box cheap and swap it over.

[Roler]

Maybe kicking in the open door here, but since you did not mentioned anything regarding this: you said "tranny oil everywhere"....have you done step 1 in transmission trouble and checked level and color of your ATF?

And the next step: have you tried how things go when you shift manually through the gears?

[cherokee94nz]

Just go to the wreckers and get a S/H one.

[Richard buttocks]

Originally Posted by Roler

Maybe kicking in the open door here, but since you did not mentioned anything regarding this: you said "tranny oil everywhere"....have you done step 1 in transmission trouble and checked level and color of your ATF?

And the next step: have you tried how things go when you shift manually through the gears?

Once you have done this, remove a trans cooler line and start in neutral to see if the pump is working.

[djh13]

I'm no expert but it sounds like it's fooked. Good luck with it. I got a set of your sliders and they're a great bit of gear.

[layback40]

Rusty, your post intrigues me. You are 'mechanically minded' yet you revved up to 4 -5k when something was clearly wrong.
If there was a minor problem then you have just made it much worse, probably taken friction material off plates.
You have not mentioned anything about the trans fluid level or color.
The trans has had a wine for a while but no investigation done ~ drive it till total failure ? That is what you have done. Not what one would expect from a 'mechanically mined' person.
Probably given what has happened, you are best with a replacement second hand trans.
The wine could have initially been a pressure control valve being a bit sticky. Too late to just fix that. If it was a stuffed planetary gear then no point trying to fix.
If you have experience with auto trans, probably an inspection of the replacement trans would be good to insure the clutch packs etc are all good.
To rebuild an auto trans you need a clean room.

[rastus2571]

You have cooked the auto. The heat has boiled the fluid. As Roler said, you did not check the fluid level or colour.It also seems it has been low on fluid or dirty fluid for a period of time. Hence the whining noise. I always carry 5l of DX-3 with me. You have run the fluid low and boiled it. Sorry to say, but you know the answer already. Post on here or scour the wreckers for another box and install a good, large cooler for the auto too. I run a 3 row Derale cooler. It's approx. 10x14 inches in size. I bypassed the factory setup and the radiator totally on mine.