1998 5.9 4wd rough shifting

From : jon

Q: hi i thought i would post my 1998 5.9 jeeps problem on here as i get no sense from the jeep boards as they only made 1600 5.9 grand cherokees so not many owners know it or post on the web hopefully one of the many millions dodge 360 owners can shed some light on my truck before i take it to my local 5* stealership.... i seem to get a rough shift or seems like a slap when under medium accelerating poss slack being taken up if i accelerate real slow or hard it doesnt seem so rough! it seems most noticeable when accelerating at the normal traffic pace and just before it shifts into 2nd or 3rd ease of the gas and you get an upshift and a slap just after i got the vehicle i had the tranny power flushed and service with filter change at 84000 then at 87000 i got a leak and had another service 5 star chrysler dealer and just the other week it had yet another service 89000 after i was told that the fluid wasted 5 star dealer again when i took it in for a check engine light 0720 which seemed to happen just after trying to shift into 4wd lo on the transfer case. the dealer replaced the sensor and also charged me ontop of the bill and extra 80 bucks for factory setting the gearbox memory and said that its possible that is has been running around in 2nd gear and thats why the fluid was dark red i thought that this could only happen on the new 5sp auto any ideas as to why i seem to get a rough shift on 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd 3rd to 4th and lockup with just a very slight touch of judder but seem ok occasionly in 4th with the tq conv locked i accelerate hard and it would seem that the revs go up before the speed does only a hundred and fifty revs or so i can drive a few more hundred yards and sometimes hear a clunk and it wont slip!!! the dealers have said no codes on the computer re slipping and i was wondering if it was the viscous coupling in the transfer case its equiped with a tow bar and it was at somepoint used for towing its only running mopar fluids and most likely a combination of 7176 atf+3 and atf+4 atf+4 in the transfer case. thanks for any advice jon .

Replies:

From : redneck tookover hell

said that its possible that is has been running around in 2nd gear and thats why the fluid was dark red i thought that this could only happen on the new 5sp auto i was wondering if it was the viscous coupling in the transfer case on saturday mornings here we have a call in and fix your car show. last saturday the host talked about all wheel drive vehicles and that viscous coupling. one thing he said was the fluid in it needs to be changed every 15000 miles. there can also be problems with power flushing automatics using chemicals which loosen varnish or deposits causing the filter to plug you can also cause problems with the coupling if one tire is not quite the same size as the other 3. the coupling senses slip and tries to compensate burinig up the fluid the hosts name is tom turner his e mail address is kviautoguy@aol.com. he runs a large independent repair facility in federal way wa. he encourages people to cantact him and states he answers all e mail i think he can probably get you pointed in the right direction on your vehicle politics the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich. .

From : ed

while this may not fix the problem its something to look into on any newer auto trans... modern electronically controlled transmissions have to have a good electrical ground to the chassis which is achieved through the case. because its an aluminum transmission bolted to a cast iron block with steel bolts electrolysis corrosion accompanied by electrical current may occur where those dissimilar metals contact. many cars and trucks start to exhibit erratic shifting around 80000 miles. you might want to connect a good ground wire from the transmission try one of the pan bolts to the frame. that would be a lot less labor intensive than fixing the root problem - if it is the problem. i dont know why the major manufactures havent addressed this ongoing issue with a ground wire to the transmission controller. .