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To drop the Pan or Not!!

rav

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Albany, NY
Hi guys,
So i finally found Proline Dexron III Automatic trasmission oil for my 95 XJ AW4. I then went to the dealer to get the filter and gasket (BTW he wanted $5 a quart for Mopar DEXIII), he says that there is no gasket for the pan and I should use the RTV sealant.

Then he says since your jeep has 120K he would not recommend dropping the pan, just drain and refill, and that the screen rarely gets clogged.

The local pep boys also says that it will make it worse if i drop the pan and replace the filter.

Now 120K does not seem that much to me, what doe you guys think? should I just drain and refill? I just bought this jeep and wanted to change to Dex III as i am sure the guy who i bought it from did not use it. The tranny shifts fine BTW.

Thanks,
Ravi
 
when i did mine, 2000 xj with the aw4, i got the filter and it came with a gasket. i would do the filter anyways. its like changing you oil, you change the filter so you dont contaminate the new oil.
 
hmm...higher mileage to ME means replace things more often. I think they're full of shit, buy the kit and swap it.

local mechanic friend of mine (he's a genious btw...high school dropout who builds his own CNC machines, helicopters governing system for helicopters, rebuilds turbines, swaps camaro engines into MG's and does normal mechanic work too) always replaces them. if it's old, it gets replaced.

and there is a gasket for the pan btw. so they're full of shit there too. I always RTV the gaskets either way, but I make sure not to over-torque any part of the pan or it will leak, they need to all be equal torque.
 
Definitly recomend it. You can just clean the filter if you want, but the kit is cheap and it comes with a pan gasket. Easy to do as well just a little messy. Remember to unbolt the dipstick though, if you dont its a real pain.
 
it's amazing that ther are so many stupid people out there. at 120,000 miles your xj isn't even broken in yet :) change the filter and the kit DOES come with gasket. at least they didn't tell you to use ATF+4 for chryslers. you have the right fluid.
 
yea...NEVER use synthetic on a aisin-warner 4 tranny. it ruins the brass clutch plates quick fast and in a hurry
 
I've heard that flushing an older trans could cuase problems. BUT, you are not flushing, you are only replacing about 4 quarts and a filter. Go for it. You can get the filter at any parts store with a pan gasket.
 
jeepcomj said:
yea...NEVER use synthetic on a aisin-warner 4 tranny. it ruins the brass clutch plates quick fast and in a hurry

Hmm...Ive been running Mobil 1 ATF since 30k and I am over 130k now and it still shifts great and I have no problems whatsoever. I tow a small trailer or a boat almost every weekend and havent had a bit of trouble. I drain and refill every 10k and replace the filter one a year. Maybe I am just lucky
 
Do it. Get a filter kit and change the filter while you're at it. It doesn't matter if you use a gasket or RTV....but next time you go to drop it, if you use RTV, it's easier to get off than a gasket. It sux removing the original OEM gasket....use a grinder!!


The urban legend about not changing tranny fluid in high mileage trannies only applies to manual transmissions. In some cases, it will be true, but in general, it's always better to have nice fresh fluid in there. In terms of an auto tranny, it's always better to have good clean fluid in there.

Add a tranny cooler, the fluid lasts longer, and so does teh whole tranny.
 
racer-x, you are lucky.

I've seen aw-4's switched to synth blow within 500 miles, and it's because the design of the tranny generally causes issues with the clutch plates inside the tranny.

quite a few xj owners have learned that the hard way. you're VERY lucky....
 
Racer-X said:
Hmm...Ive been running Mobil 1 ATF since 30k and I am over 130k now and it still shifts great and I have no problems whatsoever. I tow a small trailer or a boat almost every weekend and havent had a bit of trouble. I drain and refill every 10k and replace the filter one a year. Maybe I am just lucky

That's a very short change interval for an AW4, so maybe that has something to do with it. Just curious, is there anything in the filter when you replace it? When I did the filter on my 87 at 175K, there was about a quarter of a teaspoon of crud around the edge. It could have gone for a half million more miles without replacement.
 
Go to napa and get the kit....ran me about $30 last time IIRC, but don't hold me to that
 
from bumper to bumper and napa, it costs me less than $20 for the fluid kit and the gasket. and no, the gasket hasn't ever been hard to remove in my experience...but experiences vary.

I always put a gasket in regardless. good safety measure and who really wants to dump all tranny fluid in the middle of nowhere or on the highway anyways?
 
*filter kit, not fluid kit
 
Thanks a lot for the replies, just went to Napa and sure enough got a rubber gasket and filter as a kit.

Just curious how difficult of a job this is? I change my own motor oil but never tried this before, and do not want to pay $75 in labor for this.

Thanks,
ravi
 
Not hard to do at all. After you take all the bolts off the worst part is getting the two parts of the fill tube apart.

Clean out the pan and magnets.

Put some grease on that fill tube O-ring when you put it together.
 
The reason some people will tell you to not change the fluid is if your fluid is very old and actually become thick, it can mask internal seal leaks in an automatic trans..... seals on things like accumulators and clutch pistons...... if these seals leak fluid the trans will slip because it cannot hold the required pressure to apply things. ..... the other reason is because the old fluid has friction material suspended in it from normal clutch wear..... changing the fluid will remove some of the friction material that is suspended..... a really old worn trans can rely on some of this material to help the clutches do their thing..... the bottom line is that if changing your fluid causes problems, the trans was very close to dying anyways...... change the fluid and filter often...... it greatly increases the life of a trans.....
 
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