bluedemon

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Hi everyone I am new to this forum but I have a question about my auto transmission on my 2000 Jeep Wrangler 4.0 sport with 185,000 miles on it. I have had all fluids drained and filled including the trans. I have just recently felt that when I take off from a stop it seems like it shifts really fast from 1st to second and I am barely moving. However once it warms up it seems to shift fine and normal. Is there something I can look at to remedy this? The transmission shifts fine and there is no "jerks" or anything when it does shift. One other thing, when it is cold and I am ready to take off some times it doesn't seem to want to go right away. I hit the gas a couple of times and then it will get going. Thank you for any help you can give me!
 
I really don't know anything about automatic transmissions, I leave that the experts at the shop. :)

But perhaps the bands need to be adjusted?
 
Mine does this as well. It's not violent by any means, but I definitely notice that when I just start it up in the morning it doesn't shift as nice and smoothly as it does once it's been running for a while. I chalk this up to being normal, and this is also why I let the Jeep warm up for a while before driving it as well.

I don't think there's anything you can do here short of rebuilding the transmission and refreshing all the internals.
 
Mine does this as well. It's not violent by any means, but I definitely notice that when I just start it up in the morning it doesn't shift as nice and smoothly as it does once it's been running for a while. I chalk this up to being normal, and this is also why I let the Jeep warm up for a while before driving it as well.

I don't think there's anything you can do here short of rebuilding the transmission and refreshing all the internals.
Good to know! I will just call it a "Jeep" thing. LOL!
 
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Hi everyone I am new to this forum but I have a question about my auto transmission on my 2000 Jeep Wrangler 4.0 sport with 185,000 miles on it. I have had all fluids drained and filled including the trans.
Did the shop know to fill your transmission with only ATF+4? It will not shift properly with other types of ATFs, not even Mobil-1 ATF is the right stuff. I had to argue with a local transmission shop to insure they only used ATF+4 in my wife's Grand Cherokee. They wanted to use their generic ATF which for our transmissions is incorrect.

And have you verified they filled it completely? The ATF level in the transmission must and can only be checked with the shifter in Neutral and the engine must be running during the level check.
 
Did the shop know to fill your transmission with only ATF+4? It will not shift properly with other types of ATFs, not even Mobil-1 ATF is the right stuff. I had to argue with a local transmission shop to insure they only used ATF+4 in my wife's Grand Cherokee. They wanted to use their generic ATF which for our transmissions is incorrect.

And have you verified they filled it completely? The ATF level in the transmission must and can only be checked with the shifter in Neutral and the engine must be running during the level check.
What is the right brand of ATF-4 that I should use? I could have it drained and filled sgain just to be sure. I checked it the way you said and it is full.
 
What is the right brand of ATF-4 that I should use? I could have it drained and filled sgain just to be sure. I checked it the way you said and it is full.
Any major brand of ATF+4 is fine, really. To meet the ATF+4 spec, it has to be produced according to the Mopar spec. All ATF+4's are synthetic.

Has anyone been around the throttle body lately? There's a cable leading from the throttle body linkage that connects to the transmission which controls its shift point. If someone monkeyed with the cables there, the transmission would shift incorrectly.
 
Any major brand of ATF+4 is fine, really. To meet the ATF+4 spec, it has to be produced according to the Mopar spec. All ATF+4's are synthetic.

Has anyone been around the throttle body lately? There's a cable leading from the throttle body linkage that connects to the transmission which controls its shift point. If someone monkeyed with the cables there, the transmission would shift incorrectly.
Thank you for your input Jerry. The dipstick on mine calls for Dexron 2. Is ATF-4 still okay to put in? Also I am not sure if anyone screwed with the Throttle body. If that is the case and some one did is there a write up that I can read to adjust it? Thank You again!!
 
Mine does this as well. It's not violent by any means, but I definitely notice that when I just start it up in the morning it doesn't shift as nice and smoothly as it does once it's been running for a while. I chalk this up to being normal, and this is also why I let the Jeep warm up for a while before driving it as well.

I don't think there's anything you can do here short of rebuilding the transmission and refreshing all the internals.

Yep, I've gotta warm mine up too or it hesitates when shifting. Talked to my more mechanically inclined pops about it and he said it sounds like the bearings that shift with the pressure of the transmission to bring it to the point where it shifts might be gunked up with old trans fluid/burnt fluid from before I did the flush.

Drives fine as long as its warmed up. Hesitates shifting up or down while cold.
 
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Yep, I've gotta warm mine up too or it hesitates when shifting. Talked to my more mechanically inclined pops about it and he said it sounds like the bearings that shift with the pressure of the transmission to bring it to the point where it shifts might be gunked up with old trans fluid/burnt fluid from before I did the flush.

Drives fine as long as its warmed up. Hesitates shifting up or down while cold.

Yep, the things that happen as our vehicles age!
 
Thank you for your input Jerry. The dipstick on mine calls for Dexron 2. Is ATF-4 still okay to put in? Also I am not sure if anyone screwed with the Throttle body. If that is the case and some one did is there a write up that I can read to adjust it? Thank You again!!
There is no automatic transmission in a Wrangler TJ or any Chrysler vehicle that uses any form of Dexron ATF.

If your TJ's automatic transmission dipstick says Mercon 2 on it, someone, and not anyone at the Jeep factory, installed an incorrect aftermarket dipstick. Your owners manual will confirm that your TJ requires ATF+4. Dexron is used in GMs and some Japanese cars but no Chrysler cars or Wranglers use it. Ford prefers Mercon. Dexron, Dexron II and Mercon all have a significantly heavier viscosity than ATF+4 so no telling what problems in addition to harder shifts its use could cause in an automatic transmission designed for the lower viscosity ATF+3 or ATF+4.

http://transmissionrepairguy.com/what-transmission-fluid-do-i-need/

The wrong ATF can cause an assortment of problems including shifting issues. Chrysler products including Jeeps have definitely required ATF+4 for many years. Chrysler used ATF+3 before ATF+4 came out in 1998.

P.S. For those of us ATF geeks, this article on the history of ATF is pretty interesting... http://www.lifeautomotive.com/pdfs/history_of_atf.pdf
 
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Does this make sense? When the tranny is cold and I put it in low and take off it feels like the trans is shifting from first to second even though it can't. Once it is warm it shifts fine. I don't get it?!?