Jeep lost power, now clunks when going into gear :(

[Nubster]

Drove home from school and all seemed find. Pulled into my driveway which is very short but kinda steep and as I started up the Jeep just lost power. Engine seemed to be running fine and revving normally. I had to give it ALOT of gas to get it to move and make it up to the top of the driveway. Didn't make any weird sounds and nothing is leaking. I shut it down and went inside.

I went out shortly after and the power has return however when I take it out of P and into R or D it clunks really bad. Also between gears it clunks. But then I give it gas and it goes just fine, in the yard at least. I did not take it out on the road to run it through the gears to see how it shifted. I am checking the tranny fluid today and perhaps pulling the filter to see how that looks. Other than those simple possibilities, any other ideas what could be going on?

 

[winterbeater]

Check your universal joints for free play.

 

[Nubster]

Will do. Thanks. Also, I started it up this morning to move it to the carport and it was back to normal. I did not take it for a spin, just to move it but no issues. I did find some rust and leaks

 

[Nubster]

Also, just FYI...tranny has about 229k miles on it and I have no service records. Supposedly the PO (not the oringinal owner) worked at a transmission shop and while he had it flushed and filled the transmission. I can not confirm that. The tranny fluid looks slightly brownish but does not seem to have a burnt smell but I might not know what it should or shouldn't smell like anyways since this is the first time I have really messed with the transmission on a vehicle. I have only had this Jeep a week and I am just trying to do the TLC stuff before getting into the mods.

 

[89xj]

what year and transfercase.

could be worn splines on the slip yoke.

 

[Nubster]

Its a 96'.

 

[joe_peters]

And the fluid level, at normal operating temperature, on a level surface, and in park or neutral is?

 

[Nubster]

Fluid is fine. I actually changed that and the filter. Here is what I found today.
Today was the first time I drove it since this happened and when I left the house all was good. What I discovered while out on the trail was after the Jeep got warm/hot it would loose power but only in Drive or 3rd but when I dropped it all the way down into 2/1 it had full power. If I let the Jeep sit for 5 or 10 minutes then I had full power in D and 3 again until it warmed up then the power was lost. And when I say power I don't mean engine power. That is fine. Just no take off. I have to floor it and it just barely starts to roll. Almost like starting in 2nd or 3rd with a manual tranny from a stop if that makes since. Any ideas?

 

[jeep ride]

Sounds like your transmision is on its way out.

 

[ParadiseXJ]

Sounds like your transmision is on its way out.

It sounds like your torque converter is not filling up properly. Did you check the fluid with the Jeep warm, running and in Park?

I know I had a similar problem when I lost all my tranny fluid on the trail after blowing out a tranny cooler hose. Other than that I do not know WHY the torque converter isn't filling up. Maybe someone with a little more tranny savvy will chime in.

 

[Nubster]

When I checked it, it was warm and in park and I also did it in neutral. Levels before the fluid change was just above the lower safe mark and of course after the change it is at the top but there was no improvement. Someone else on another board suggested the torque converter and several others are saying the tranny is just on the way out which is very possible considering it does have 220,000+ miles.

 

[winterbeater]

Sounds like tranny is shot! There are many reports of 400,000+miles. Cheapest (unless you want to rebuild yourself) is a junkyard one. Look for 100,000miles or less.