Too much or too little

88 aw4 shifting really hard.. Is this usually a resul of too much or too little tranny fluid? It used to have a switch that controlled the firmness but it isnt hooked up.. Also i have tranny fluid leaking out where bell housing meets engine? Ideas?

Do i check tranny fluid in neutral or park? If there were too much fluid where would it spill over and come out?

If there is too much fluid it CAN foam up and spill out of the tranny dipstick...if the tranny gets too hot...depending on how much too much. Not really a great idea to figure it'll spill out if you put too much in.

The AW4 takes about 8-9 quarts of Dex III or better. If you are just draining and refilling it takes 3.5 quarts...the Torque Converter, tranny lines, pump etc. is holding the rest.

You need to check the fluid on a level slab, like a gas station, after the Jeep is up to temp (driving for 20 minutes), in Park (or Neutral) with the engine running.

If you think you have TOO much, drain the pan and put 3.5 qts. back in.

I dropped the pan and replaced the filter last weekend, I put about a gallon back in. I think it has just a little too much and is spilling over out the hole where the bell housing meets the engine block on the bottom. There is like a little open slot between the piece of stamped sheet metal and the bottom part of the transmission housing. I let it warm up and ran it thru the gears a few times and checked the level. The fluid level was above the hashed marked section by about an amount equal to that hashed marked section.. I think this means it has about a quart too much but I'm not really sure. I am wondering if I dont have a reverse solenoid that isnt functioning properly as it only shifts real hard when I put it from park to reverse. It shifts hard enough to move the whole jeep with my foot on the brake. Any other ideas from anyone would be much appreciated.

If the torque converter is not unlocking when it shifts, you will get a very solid shift.

Maybe the TV cable adjustment and a high idle?

old_man and 8Mud have some good ideas.

Back to fluid level though, you do NOT want to overfill an automatic transmission. It can result in "frothing" of fluid, which results incomplete lubrication. Also hard on seals.

Always be sure that you are not over the FULL level on the dipstick.

If the torque converter werent unlocking wouldnt i have problems other than just really hard shift into reverse?

Drop the pan and refill with ~3-3.5 quarts immediately!! If tranny fluid is leaking out of the bell housing you may have blown the front tranny seal....gotta pull the tranny to replace it.

There are really only three ways that you can mess up an AW4, overheating it (solve that problem with a tranny cooler, all XJs should have aux tranny coolers installed if you want the tranny to last forever), sinking it in water (it's not waterproof, there is a vent on top), and over-filling it by a lot. I wouldn't think that adding 4 quarts would make it blow the seal but who knows??

Cant i just open the drain plug? Its a PITA t drop the pan

Yes, pull the plug, see if you can "measure" how much fluid comes out, like into a gallon container.

Tonight i pulled the plug and drained about 4 quarts of tranny fluid out of the plug and I also realized that one of my cooler lines was leaking severely right where the hard line mates to the soft line and goes up to the coolers. I wonder if this wasn't my problem as with the leak being as bad as it was the wind would blow the tranny fluid down the hard line to the tranny pan and then it would go across the tranny pan and some on the exhaust pipe and smoke, I never really saw the fluid coming out of where the bell housing meets the block it just all seemed to be in the vacinity of that overflow drain so I assumed that is where it was coming from. In order to get the leak to stop I ended up having to cut the hard line back about 2 inches and use 2 hose clamps. I refilled with 3 quarts and worked my way up to the appropriate level on the dipstick a little at a time, ended up taking about 3.5 quarts to fill back up. I know for a fact that I lost a good amount of tranny fluid today and that it was over filled by about a quart to 1.5 quarts. I think I am going to run it by the local transmission shop and get a free diagnosis to see why it is shifting so hard. Then I will go from there as far as repairing. Hopefully it's just the solenoid since that it so easy to replace and hopefully this will be the end of my tranny leaks but only time will tell. Any other ideas send em my way.. have any of you used the manual control box deal for the AW4? If so how did you like it?

Ok so the tranny is still leaking.. Anybody know the part number for that front seal? What is the actul name of the seal.. Anything else i should change while i have the tranny off?

Found the seal part and back to the hard shift.. Is it more likely to be the solenoid or the torque converter? It shifts food to all gears except really bad from park to reverse and from neutral to reverse.. Thoughts

Did you ever adjust the TV cable?

it's a brand new cable. I pushed the button then opened the TB all the way but I didnt hear any ratcheting noise.. does this mean it didnt adjust? I did this several times.

I figured out that my cable indeed needed further adjusting.. It doesnt seem as bad as of now.. Once i get my pump seal replaced and drive it ill beable to really tell..