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AW4 transmission troubles

HeyAwesomePeople

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Las Vegas
I was driving around town today and as I pulled off from a stoplight my car felt extremely sluggish like it didn't want to go forward or accelerate. It would slowly climb speed but RPM's had trouble climbing at all. I pulled off to a stop and I put it into 1st gear when in the parking lot. It barely wanted to move even a little bit. It would go very slowly. I wasn't able to rev the engine up to try and go faster either. It was like something was stuck. I pulled into a parking spot and put it into neutral and revved the engine. That worked just fine.

I then put it into reverse and it wouldn't move. At all. Put it into reverse and let my foot off the brake and it would just sit there. Revving it was sketchy and wouldn't let it go above 2k rpm, but once it got to around 2k rpm (with my foot almost to the floor) the whole car would jerk back a few feet. Not like light jerks either, like the car was hopping backwards. It jumped back about 3 times before it stopped and wouldn't move anymore. It then rolled a little as if you parked and a hill and didn't put your parking brake on before releasing the brake.

What's going on here? I checked the transmission fluid and it was low. Didn't even see it on the dipstick. I know that there was a small leak out of the slip yoke but I didn't expect it to drain the fluid this much. I filled it up with dexron-III and same thing happening, it wouldn't move. It would inch forward in drive but still be very slow and sluggish (I was in a parking spot so it's not like I could rev it forward).

Thanks for any help. And yes I know it was dumb to let the fluid get that low. I guess I know now. But what did I possibly damage? Torque converter? It's sitting at that parking lot now and I'll get video of it before I get it towed back to my house.
 
When you run a transmission low on fluid the line pressure drops and it doesn't have enough hydraulic pressure to fully apply the clutches in the transmission, revving it and trying to get it to move when it has very low fluid can easily toast the clutches in the transmission.

I would get it home, drop the pan and see what you find in there.
 
Have you adjusted the transmission cable, at the throttle body?
The cable controls the transmission's internal operating pressure.
The greater the throttle opening, the higher the pressure.

My 2001 XJ's transmission's cable end broke, when it did, it would accelerate slowly, no matter how high the RPMs were.
A friend's XJ had a similar problem, occasionally, it would not move at all, sometimes for 20-30 seconds and then would suddenly takeoff.
Opening the hood and manually pulling on the transmission cable a few times would 'fix' it for while .
The problem was internal and required pulling the valve body to access the sticky piston that the cable operated .
 
Just to clarify for you...the transmission leak is not at the SYE. The transmission and transfer case don't share fluid, and the SYE is on the transfer case. Look for your fluid lead somewhere else.
 
Everyone so far has given good advise.

The fact that this happens in reverse as well as in forward gears is not a good sign. It means it is definitely a mechanical or hydraulic issue of some sort, since there is zero electrical control involvement engaging reverse gear.

If you can't get it to behave, last thing to try is to run the fluid a pint higher than the dipstick says to. I have had this "fix" high mileage abused AW4s that did not want to move and/or would slam into gear after you revved them up a bit. It's not a permanent fix but it does sometimes help.

Unless the fixes lazyxj recommended are fruitful, you are probably looking at a replacement transmission or a rebuild. If you do either, make sure you flush the cooler and lines forward and backward with solvent or you will be doing it again shortly afterward... the debris contaminated fluid in the lines and cooler can doom the replacement transmission to a quick death.
 
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