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AW4 issue....maybe

sls97xj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
virginia
First post. Bought a 97 XJ about a month and a half ago, and have been searching this forum to fix all the little issues. Seems it had pretty much all the usual glitches. My question is about the transmission. This is my first experience with an AW4 trans. Shifts smooth, no slipping, no unusual noises. I live out in the sticks on twisting, hilly back roads, so all my driving is in 3rd. I pretty much never use OD. When it shifts to 3rd, it goes straight to lockup within a second or so. My experience with other transmissions has been that rpm's will continue to build a bit before lockup. I adjusted the TV cable as described on here, and while it did help with the 2 to 3 shift ( I felt it went in to 3 too early), that had no effect on lockup point. Do I have an issue, or is this normal for the AW4? One wildcard in the deck is that the previous owner told me the trans had been swapped for one out of a 95 so not sure about the wiring. I read the all you wanted to know about the AW4 thread on here, but didn't see this issue covered. Thoughts?
 
my 00 does this also. While in the 3rd (drive) selection, it hits 3rd and immediately locks up the torque converter. My Ranger will not do this, it does like you said drives a bit farther before locking up the converter. I've just come to live with it in my Jeep. It has not bothering anything in the years that I've owned it.
 
The two XJ'S I have owned did the same thing. All my driving is done on the street so it is not as much of an issue as it would be in your area of operation.

I must admit though that it is annoying on the street to have the AW4 shift to fourth and OD/lockup at 40 mph at which point the engine RPM drop to the point of struggling. When this happens I manually shift into 3rd which which keeps the engine RPM higher.

There is a thread here on this forum outlining the procedure for installing an after market toggle switch to control the converter lockup. Most of us simply live with little quirk.
 
Yes an ON-OFF switch wired into the TC lock solenoid circuit would allow you to control lockup. But be aware it will also throw a CEL code say the solenoid is faulty. This can be an issue if you don't like looking at the CEL and if you have inspections to pass.
 
It's just one of those "Jeep things", I don't give it much thought.
 
Well it seems that's just the way it is, so I'll move on to the next issue. Maybe that headlight harness that I think is under the Christmas tree. :)
 
Not sure if there is separate wiring on the 97 but on my 88 it has a separate wire on the brake switch for the TCU. You could splice that to a switch and it will keep the TC from locking. Don't know if it will effect shifting however.

Sometimes on the highway I just touch the brake pedal to get it to unlock to build a bit of speed.
 
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