'89 Verses '96 AW4 Transmission

Need to know if these two are interchangable. Our 1996 XJ smoked the AW4 transmission and we have a 1989 XJ that has a good AW4 transmission. Can I swap them out?
Thanks in advance!
BBB

spline count for the t-case is diffrent. I think the 89 is a 21 spline and the 96 is a 23 spline. The 89 also should have the "adjustable" shift (comfort button) where the newer model does not.

Jess said:

spline count for the t-case is diffrent. I think the 89 is a 21 spline and the 96 is a 23 spline. The 89 also should have the "adjustable" shift (comfort button) where the newer model does not.

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The two are electronically the same, though. This is controlled by the TCU, which is also, as far as I know, the same. The later model simply dropped the switch and hard wired the power switch setting into the harness.

Change out the t case while you are at it and you should be good!

1985xjlaredo said:

Change out the t case while you are at it and you should be good!

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I had thought about this but the T-cases are different. The 89 T-case has a ton of vacume lines going to and or coming from it while the 96 has none.

I may have found a good 2000 AW4 transmission for a decent price. Will it interchange with the 1996???

I'm not sure when the change in the AW4 was. SOme claim 96/97 with the OBDII change, and others have reported it was in 1998. Anyway, the newer trannies have an extra sensor on the drivers side up near the bellhousing for sensing the input shaft speed. The older tranny will not have this. The rear speed sensor also changed from 1-pulse/rev to 4-pulses/rev. You can pull the tailcones off and swap the rotor and sensors though.