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AW4 tranny sludge

JohnJohn

Member #42
Location
Austin, Texas
I have a question about my '98 with 130k daily driver. I took it in today to have the tranny flushed. They ran 17 quarts through it. The first 3 quarts that can out of it was very "varnished" and "sludgie" I just had the tranny serviced 20k ago. Is this normal for a 130k AW4? If not what problems am I having inside? What should else should I be doing? I have been using the DexIII for over two years.

p.s.: I drive it at highway speeds for about 3,000-4,000 miles per month.

Thanks,
 
JohnJohn said:
I have a question about my '98 with 130k daily driver. I took it in today to have the tranny flushed. They ran 17 quarts through it. The first 3 quarts that can out of it was very "varnished" and "sludgie" I just had the tranny serviced 20k ago. Is this normal for a 130k AW4? If not what problems am I having inside? What should else should I be doing? I have been using the DexIII for over two years.

p.s.: I drive it at highway speeds for about 3,000-4,000 miles per month.

Thanks,


why did you have it flushed? was it acting up?

not to sound like a doomer and gloomer.. but your tranny may start acting up now.

***personal opinion follows****** NEVER FLUSH YOUR TRANNY! NEVER FLUSH YOUR TRANNY! just change the fluid that comes out of the pan.
think of it this way... all the little metal shavings and sludge..used to sit in your torque converter... now it has been forced through all the gallys and such in your transmission... I run 2 cherokees both in excess of 300,000 miles.. never flushed the trannies.. only changed the fluid once and a while. no problems. I have seen in person and heard on many a message board that flushing a tranny can and may cause a operating tranny to act up.. or die. I feel it is a tool for dealerships and oil changing places to rip off the customer. Just think.. you got charged for 17 qaurts of fluid(HOLY CRAP!) plus labor, for a service that you really didn't need and may cause damamge.***Personal opinion ends*****


but what do I know :D :D :D
 
Ive always been told that metal fillings damage things, especially tranny's! I think that flushing the tranny is a good idea. The reason i heard not to flush was because the metal filings would help the converter to build up pressure!(BS?) What color was the sludge? could it be that you drove through a rather large water puddle and got some water in your system? (altough i'd imagine the system is closed) I myself have a tranny leak coming out between the bellhousing and tranny, has anyone ever tried stop leak (or whatever that crap is called) in their tranny, if so does it a work (even a litlle). The spots in my driveway are starting to piss me off. I gues i could cover the whole driveway with a couple of quarts:) (the redneck solution) anyways enough of my opionated ranting:)
 
Yeah I too would like to hear someone come up with a good answer to this question, I have been told that if you flush your tranny and change the fuid on a regular basis then it wont be a problem, but it is when you neglect your tranny and dont change the fluid or flush it often is when you will have issuses because you remove all the impurities when you finnaly flush it or change the fluid and that all the impurities help to add friction to your worn transmission. But then again I think it was some manufacturer like Mercedes or BMW that was equiping thier cars with sealed transmissions to prevent changing of the fluids, because as the transmissions wears its requires extra friction in the fluid to work, which was supplied by all the crap from not changing the fluid. I personally like to change the fluid on regular basis and I am at about 100k and have no tranny problems at all as of now.
 
Flushing an automatic trans is not normally needed or recommended. If the fluid has gotten really bad and been bad for a while, then introducing new atf, even just what is lost when dropping the pan, can cause clutch packs to start slipping. If the fluid has all of the sudden gotten bad, such as unusually hard towing, i would think it would be good to get out as much of the newly burned trans fluid as possible by flushing. The trans has not gotten 'used' to the bad atf yet at this point.

Another time flushing can be good is if the trans has symptoms of solenoids and hydraulic valves sticking causing shifting irregularities. Sometimes this will clear things up.

More and more autos are virtually requiring trans machine atf changes due to no dipsticks!! Just worked on a 2002 Mountaneer that had no dipstick. Hummm. An SUV with no real way to ck the trans fluid?? What kind of sense does this make??
 
Judd W. VA said:
More and more autos are virtually requiring trans machine atf changes due to no dipsticks!! Just worked on a 2002 Mountaneer that had no dipstick. Hummm. An SUV with no real way to ck the trans fluid?? What kind of sense does this make??

No dipstick, WTF? Damn Fords. LOL :laugh:
 
AW4 tranny needs flushing

Dexron ATF is a high-tech lubricating and hydraulic oil, with additives to keep it working and in-spec. Just like engine oil, those additives fail eventually, although the oil molecules are still mostly OK. When that happens, wear rates go up, clutch surfaces start to take a beating, and overall life of the tranny is reduced. The many posts about long lasting AW4s are a tribute to a great tranny- they lasted like that in spite of lousy maintenance. I change my ATF every other year (about 30,000 mile for me). I also run a real tranny cooler (the one out in front of the radiator, in addition to the deal in the radiator tank). Keep the heat down, change the fluid, and it will likely outlast the jeep (barring operator stupidity on the shift lever!). The only tranny I have had to rebuild (not an AW4) needed the rework due to varnished clutches and lousy internal valve operation- classic fluid failure problems. Transmissions don't have to fragment gears to quit working. I got it used, and suspect the tranny had not been serviced. 4xBob
 
Judd W. VA said:
More and more autos are virtually requiring trans machine atf changes due to no dipsticks!! Just worked on a 2002 Mountaneer that had no dipstick. Hummm. An SUV with no real way to ck the trans fluid?? What kind of sense does this make??
A friend has a '99 Jetta w/ no tranny dipstick...it's sealed...wtf?
 
Last edited:
Xjdubber said:
Ive always been told that metal fillings damage things, especially tranny's! I think that flushing the tranny is a good idea. The reason i heard not to flush was because the metal filings would help the converter to build up pressure!(BS?) What color was the sludge? could it be that you drove through a rather large water puddle and got some water in your system? (altough i'd imagine the system is closed) I myself have a tranny leak coming out between the bellhousing and tranny, has anyone ever tried stop leak (or whatever that crap is called) in their tranny, if so does it a work (even a litlle). The spots in my driveway are starting to piss me off. I gues i could cover the whole driveway with a couple of quarts:) (the redneck solution) anyways enough of my opionated ranting:)

It's most likely leaking around the bolts that hold the pump to the transmission case. I had the same thing, I installed a used transmission and yes I did replace the input seal before I put it in. It leaked so bad the lift gate would get covered in atf when travelling down the highway. I removed the seven bolts that hold the pump to the case cleaned them and installed them with hydraulic sealer on the threads. No leak now.
 
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