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Won't move in gear

X

xcspeedy

NAXJA Forum User
Location
NY, Long Island
On my buddys 92 cherokee we replaced the transmission and torque converter out of a 98. First time he made it about 100 ft before he blew up the torque converter from our own stupid mistake. We just replaced the torque converter with a brand new one but, now it doesn't feel like its being shifted into gear yet park and neutral work and it doesn't more in drive or reverse. Anyone know if its something simple we are missing or could the transmission be garbage?
 
First off, what was the stupid mistake? Where did you get the tranny and how many miles were on it?
 
What does it do when you put it into gear? Does the engine rev? Does the trans whine? any shudder?
Need more info!
 
I did the same thing and had a "similiar" problem. I put a 98 trans in my 95 but I could drive in 1st gear, trans just wouldn't shift out of 1st. Forgot what fuse I pulled from the PDC, but after I pulled it I could manually shift the vehicle. I drove it back and forth to work (never over 50 mph) for a week, but when I got on the freeway and ran for a few miles at 3500 rpm the camshaft catastophically tried to exit via the oilpan. Actually it succeeded. It was one of the most hateful sounds I ever heard.

I believe 97-98 was a crossover year for AW4 (maybe someone knows more than me), but I believe there is an ECU change that the older XJ doesn't recognize and this could be causing your problem... I am not exacty sure what I found but I seem to remember that being the findings of my research... This was back in may of 2010 and I have been deployed to Afghanistan so that foggies my memory still some more.
 
Oh yea the TCU is different from the 98 that has got to be it. Something about the TCU wants to tell the ECM what gear the transmission is in IIRC. Im not for sure never owned a 4th gen.
 
My friend bolted the torque converter to the flywheel first, he got it from one of his friends who was parting out his truck and it had about 100,000 miles on it.

When put into gear nothing happens, it doesn't sound or feel like anything is happening. The transmission doesn't whine and when you rev the motor nothing happens, not even a shutter.

Sorry for the lack of info we were in a rush trying to get it out of the borrowed garage and see if there was an easy fix. But as for the TCU why would it have worked the first time we installed it, but not now?
 
Did you mess up the trans pump gear?
 
is the converter attached to the flex plate? converter fully inserted into the trans?
 
Not sure about the pump gear, the converter is attached to the flex plate, and was fully inserted into the trans. We had another friends dad there who is a transmission guy to check things over. After running through a number of possibilities such as the linkage not being hooked up correctly or fluid levels and what not he was stumped.
Could the lack of a neutral safety switch cause this? it has been bypassed for starting and wasn't hooked up the first time it worked.
 
Sounds like it's not building enough pressure to switch gears. Did you fill the converter before installing into the trans? Are you sure you have enough fluid in it?
 
Converter was filled before we installed it and the fluid level was checked a dozen times and was perfect. I'll see if the neutral safety switch makes a difference, thanks guys
 
We have determined it was the pump gears that went and have a line on a number of different transmissions, one of them being another 98 which is the most readily available. If we don't change the TCU will there be any problems?
 
Dozer11B said:
I did the same thing and had a "similiar" problem. I put a 98 trans in my 95 but I could drive in 1st gear, trans just wouldn't shift out of 1st. Forgot what fuse I pulled from the PDC, but after I pulled it I could manually shift the vehicle. I drove it back and forth to work (never over 50 mph) for a week, but when I got on the freeway and ran for a few miles at 3500 rpm the camshaft catastophically tried to exit via the oilpan. Actually it succeeded. It was one of the most hateful sounds I ever heard.

I believe 97-98 was a crossover year for AW4 (maybe someone knows more than me), but I believe there is an ECU change that the older XJ doesn't recognize and this could be causing your problem... I am not exacty sure what I found but I seem to remember that being the findings of my research... This was back in may of 2010 and I have been deployed to Afghanistan so that foggies my memory still some more.
Click to expand...

1985xjlaredo said:
Oh yea the TCU is different from the 98 that has got to be it. Something about the TCU wants to tell the ECM what gear the transmission is in IIRC. Im not for sure never owned a 4th gen.
Click to expand...

stockli said:
I think 98 will only work 97+
Click to expand...

IIRC there is an additional sensor that a 96 and down ECU does not recognize. not sure if there is a way to modify it to work, but with my original NSS on the 98 trans, mine still didn't work without a fuse pulled in the PDC. And then I was manually shifting it which eventually led to the downfall of the Wartoad MKI (RIP)...

I have lost a lot of my digital research due to puter changes and crashes, plus my mem sucks to begin with, but thats three cats saying it might be a headache...:NAXJA:
 
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