My poor XJ's tranny died

My tranny died and I got qouted $1500 for the repair. How much time and $$ would it take to replace it? My local junk yard has over 10 xj's so i'm sure I can pull one from there if need be.

...explain how it died maybe it can be fixed

Year, engine, and type of transmission info might improve the responses.

My bad, I'm up at school so i still need to get the specifics from my dad.

It's a 96 4.0 HO with the AW4 tranny (230k on both), and it's 2WD so I have no transfer case. I'll post up more details of exactly whats wrong with the tranny tomorrow. It just seems like it might be easier to just replace it.

The AW4 tranny is pretty durable. The shifting is electronically controlled, and 98% of the time the problems are on the electronics side which are much easier/cheaper to fix than replacing the tranny. Pretty easy to diagnose most of those problems with a cheap multimeter.

In order of probability
- Throttle Position Sensor. Shifting at wrong rpm or not at all
- Bad shift solenoid. Shifting into wrong gear
- Bad trans computer. Not shifting or wrong gear

Throw some symptoms our way and we'll let you know what to check.

I just got off the phone with dad, and he says it makes a loud grinding noise in 1, 2 , and R but is fine in 3rd and 4th.

The guy at the tranny shop said that something was wrong with planetary gears. My sister has been driving it since I've been at school (she failed her permit test 6 times then failed her driving test 3) so I think she may have hit it in reverse at the while movin forward a few too many times.

OCMI_Teddy said:

I just got off the phone with dad, and he says it makes a loud grinding noise in 1, 2 , and R but is fine in 3rd and 4th.

The guy at the tranny shop said that something was wrong with planetary gears. My sister has been driving it since I've been at school (she failed her permit test 6 times then failed her driving test 3) so I think she may have hit it in reverse at the while movin forward a few too many times.

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YOU LET YOUR SISTER drive your XJ??????????????

OCMI_Teddy said:

I just got off the phone with dad, and he says it makes a loud grinding noise in 1, 2 , and R but is fine in 3rd and 4th.

The guy at the tranny shop said that something was wrong with planetary gears. My sister has been driving it since I've been at school (she failed her permit test 6 times then failed her driving test 3) so I think she may have hit it in reverse at the while movin forward a few too many times.

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Um, yeah that sounds mechanical. At least being a 2wd, there's less to involved with a tranny swap. I'd look for 91-96 for a junkyard swap. 98 had some sensor changes so you don't want to go newer. 91 is when the output spline count changed to 23, but that's not an issue for a 2wd although you probably want to grab the output shaft yoke just to be sure. 4th gear changed at the same time from .705 to a .75 ratio, which again isn't a big deal.

joe_peters said:

YOU LET YOUR SISTER drive your XJ??????????????

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My parents pay for school, I let her drive the XJ. It still works out in my favor.

Any ideas on the time it would take to do the swap? 14 hours?

OCMI_Teddy said:

My parents pay for school, I let her drive the XJ. It still works out in my favor.

Any ideas on the time it would take to do the swap? 14 hours?

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estimated time: 4-6 hours
actual time: 14 hours if it doesnt go as planned. when goes it ever go as planned when doing any work on a vehicle?

14 hours probably isn't too far off the mark. Remember, Murphy is alive and doing very well.

Should be able to find a salvage yard transmission for yours pretty reasonably. Of course, look for one with the LOWEST possible miles. Paying a small premium to the salvage yard for a lower mileage tranny is well worth it.

I had my transmission out in about 2 hours. Not hard unless you break a bolt.

If your sister needs a ride, drive her. Or marry her off.

If you're drunk at a bar, take a taxi home, or Call your new brother in law.

Some people just shouldn't drive.

Sounds harsh but...

Next time get a stick. That keeps my sister(s) from using any of my rides.

badgator said:

If your sister needs a ride, drive her. Or marry her off.

If you're drunk at a bar, take a taxi home, or Call your new brother in law.

Some people just shouldn't drive.

Sounds harsh but...

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Yay for stereotypical ignorance! Women being worse drivers must also be why the insurances rates are lower for women than men. I'll leave the obvious reading comprehension issues alone.... :doh:

Anyways, for the trans swap, yeah...they're usually pretty simple. I average 4-5 hours in and out on auto tranny swaps these days, little quicker for manuals. Beg/borrow/steal a tranny jack, and your life will be a LOT easier. Oh yeah, and drain the fluid BEFORE yanking the trans out. Made the mistake of not draining a few times, and got a nice ATF shower

urbexx said:

Yay for stereotypical ignorance! Women being worse drivers must also be why the insurances rates are lower for women than men. I'll leave the obvious reading comprehension issues alone.... :doh:

Anyways, for the trans swap, yeah...they're usually pretty simple. I average 4-5 hours in and out on auto tranny swaps these days, little quicker for manuals. Beg/borrow/steal a tranny jack, and your life will be a LOT easier. Oh yeah, and drain the fluid BEFORE yanking the trans out. Made the mistake of not draining a few times, and got a nice ATF shower

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stereotypical ignorance or fact? what percentage of women do their own work on their vehicles or know anything beyond 'put gas in and go' versus the same questions toward men? i grantee that men, in general, have a better mechanical aptitude. men for the most part knows that its a bad idea (will break stuff) to put the trans in reverse while moving forward etc. now that you bring insurance into the picture, those rates are based off different factors than mechanical ability. those factors are directly related to claims and loss. in general men take more risks behind the wheel than women do. women tend to be more passive and even timid behind the wheel. of the men i know that have had multiple crashes, its been because of doing stupid shit and taking unnecessary risks like driving aggressively. the women that i know that have had multiple crashes, it been lack of sufficient driving skills/ability, poor situational awareness, and poor navigation. there are more males getting into accidents then there are females, and thus the insurance rates for males is in general higher. i know that everyone here knows that one gal that puts our mechanically ability to shame and the guy down the road that didnt know how to change his own flat tire (he should be castrated as he has lost the privilege of being call a man).

harbor freight has descent price on a trans adapter to go on a floor jack. i havent used one of those but i remember being at HF and thinking i needed to get one some day.

oh, and OP- if your tranny really died, im sorry to hear that. i hear that you can go to Thailand and get a ladyboy to replace your dead tranny. oh wait, you werent talking about that kind of tranny:skull2:

stewie said:

harbor freight has descent price on a trans adapter to go on a floor jack. i havent used one of those but i remember being at HF and thinking i needed to get one some day.

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i got one of those to do my tranny swap, and hated it. it was too tall so the transmission didn't fit under the rock rails with it on jackstands, too akward to adjust, and the damn chain didn't fit over my ax-15. i tossed it aside and just got a friend to help balance the thing on my floor jack. waste of $40, IMO

Women get into more accidents per mile than men actually.

OCMI_Teddy said:

. My sister has been driving it since I've been at school .

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Theres your first problem. I let my sister drive mine while I was in Iraq a litterally exploded T-case was my welcome home present.

Dest said:

Women get into more accidents per mile than men actually.

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Yeah the insurance thing is just because when men wreck we go big. Screw fender benders if you aint rolling you aint $h!#

Hackmeister said:

i got one of those to do my tranny swap, and hated it. it was too tall so the transmission didn't fit under the rock rails with it on jackstands, too akward to adjust, and the damn chain didn't fit over my ax-15. i tossed it aside and just got a friend to help balance the thing on my floor jack. waste of $40, IMO

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I had a piece of plate steel welded to an old jack saddle, then bolted a piece of lumber on top of that. Works fine for an auto tranny. But I still need to have the Jeep jacked up as high as the 5 ton jack stands will allow it to get it out.