passed around jeep

Ok. So here it goes.....

A 1996 jeep cherokee country was bought new by a friend.
About three years back the engine went, a 4.0. It was replaced with a 4.0 from a 2000. Drove well for about a year, then the transmission went. It was replaced with the tranny from the same 2000xj that the engine came from, an aw4. It was never fixed well enough to be road worthy again. The guy working on it finally gave up on it after doing who knows what, and swappin out its anybody's guess- TCM, PCM, ISS, OSS, NSS. tail shaft rotor, solenoids, idk, I was around for none of this.
So I have had this heep passed along to me because my daily driver died, a 1999 escort, now I need a new daily driver.
Thought I had it whopped when i went and got the transmission wiring harness off the 2000 and wired up the OSS with the 2000 pigtail and achieved a working spedo. Still didn't shift quite right, but thought:doh: it was close enough to drive while shifting manually. BIG mistake. Took it for about a three mile test drive, and about a mile from home lost all the transmission fluid. Pushed it into a convenience store parking lot and went in and got three quarts of dextron to hopefully make it home on. By the time that I got a quart and a half in the clerk was running out to ask me to stop pouring fluid onto his parking lot.
So I guess I have two questions; 1. Is it even worth it to try to get this XJ running well enough to be a daily driver? And; 2. Is there a soul on the planet that can even tell me where to start?
I have been a long time fan of the XJ, but this is my first hands on experience. Hopefully I've brought my prayers to the appropriate temple.

Thanks abunch
XJjamez

Well, start by crawling under there and seeing where that fluid is leaking from.

Sounds like a rotted/broken trans cooler line from your description.

Can it be "fixed"--yes. Can you fix it--maybe. Will it happen overnight--hardly.

Good luck.

Sheesh you got a mismatched sack of wet turds there. That engine has a head known for cracking on it, why the hell did anyone put one of those into a jeep that fits a 91-99 engine (very common and reliable and cheaper than a 2000 engine) bolt-in? :dunno:

Post pics of: the TCU, the connector for the NSS, the wiring harness and sensors on the throttle body if possible, and get me the part number for the ECU. I'll try and figure out what you're working with.

Pouring out from bell housing, behind torque converter.

Yep, you're dropping the tranny. Sorry man.

Like I said in the other thread I'd almost suggest putting in a 91-97 tranny just so you know it has the right sensor drive rotor...

The seal is cheap, but getting to it involves pulling the tranny out of the jeep completely. You may need a bushing as well, not sure.

Yea didn't know the sack was full of turds, but did know it was squishy and stinky, and not a soul around to wanted to touch it. I'll post some pics and get some #'s soon.
Got a motor coming for the escort so I can take a little time on this xj and get it right. There is a couple of other things that I need to address on it too, pwr windows not working all the time- didn't work when i went and picked it up, started working fine, now not working again- and there is a popping noise coming from the rear while turning sharply at slow speed, (ie backing out of driveway).

Kool, at least it'll be easier to photograph with it out anywayhoto:ha ha.
Looks a bit hefty tho.

Anyway, got some #'s off that tranny.
Model# 231J
Assembly# 5209 9212AB
Serial# 10 28 99 C3
Ratio 272

XJjamez said:

Anyway, got some #'s off that tranny.
Model# 231J
Assembly# 5209 9212AB
Serial# 10 28 99 C3
Ratio 272

Click to expand...

Those are the transfer case numbers--NP/NV (New Process/New Venture) 231J.

party1:[/IMG]
HaHa tada TCM

Excellent. As I suspected, that's the proper TCU for the year of the jeep (1996.) That should make things easier IMO as it means the wiring for the transmission probably hasn't been monkeyed with TOO badly.

dont know if the NSS is this one
or this one, but this one has the OSS plug on the other end.

#'s off tranzfer case
Model# 231J
Assembly# 5209 9212AB
Serial# 10 28 99 C3
Ratio 272
So is this a command track, or a select track?
The shiftier lever on console is set up for a select track.
And yes I was wrong about the OSS plug.
All and all things are going pretty well for the passed around jeep now. I ground down three of the four ping pegs on the OSS rotor, replaced the NSS,(Although I should have tried to clean the old one first), replaced torque converter boshing, and the tranny started acting a lot more like it's supposed to. Then I had a line leak, ran out all the fluid and burnt the front seal. Tranny back out, fresh seal bopped in, put it right back in,put some missing O-rings on the lines and stopped the leaks, filled it up with some ATF+4 and it drives like a champ. Although sometimes it seems to hold onto first gear a bit long sometimes.??? So that's the big an skinny on the tranny.
On to other things. I'm not sure if this motor is a 2000. Or it may be an early model 2000. Reason being, it does not have coil packs. Only thing that I'm sure of is that it is the mate to the tranny. This post is getting a little long, so lets hear y'alls thoughts on things before I really get into much more "other things".
I am bypassing the pwr window lock out today.

Window lockout bypass worked great, but the switch still locks out the windows. Weird, but its got the windows working.
Ok, so after about 350 miles its finally started throwing some cel codes. The thing is there are a lot of uncertainties about this rig. I'm pretty sure that the PCM has been changed out, but to what I dont know. The TCM, I now know is a 96, however I'm not sure of the correct model of the tranny. It did have a 4 ping OSS rotor, so I know that it's newer than a 1996. Anyway about to have to go make the doughnuts. I'll try to get some pics of something identifiable on the motor and PCM this afternoon. Later.

Yay. I have a 1996 with a OBDII plugin. This IS a weird one. The scan tool told me that I had a miss fire on #6, which I heard a miss the other day. Figure some plugs and wires for that... I hope. And a shift solenoid malfunction-#1- that was malfunctioning, but has since started behaving. So perhaps I may not have crossed over into CELhell.

96s all had obd2. It was 95s that were weird and sometimes had obd2 on very late builds.

Thanks kool, glad I got one. I was worried that the TCM and the PCM spoke two different languages.
What was the last year of the distributor?

So here's the numbers on the valve cover. Perhaps the correct year of this motor can be ciphered from these #'s. Also what exactly is a renix jeep? Next will a photo of the PCM.