Tranny Slipping

Whenever it is cold outside (below 50F), the automatic tranny in my 88 Cherokee acts up. It does a few strange things that causes me to pull off the road a lot until it doesn't do it anymore. It won't shift out of first gear. It will slip out of gear. It will slip out then immediately go back in. Sometimes it will shift smoothly between gears. Sometimes it will shift with a slight jerk between gears. These things that it does happen randomly and in no particular order within the first 5 miles of driving. Seriously, after a little bit of acting up, the Jeep's tranny works wonderfully for the rest of the day.

The automatic tranny is original with 194,000 miles. The only tranny service that has ever been done was a professional tranny fluid flush with a new filter. There is no fluid leakage.

Any thoughts because this has been going on for a while and I am in search of a solution that doesn't require a tranny overhaul or anything major.

Thanks,
Elle

What kind of flush do you mean, did they just drop the pan, replace the filter and fluid or did they use one of those power flush machines?

These tranny's are bulletproof, but those "professional" power flush machines are the worst. All they do is jam up the valve body with years of build up and residue that they break free with the pressure. The best thing to do is just do regular fluid changes, if you want to flush it, either change your fluid every 1,000 miles a couple of times or pull the return line off of the radiator while filling from above to flush old fluid out.

Also, I'm not sure these tranny's actually have filters, I think it's just a metal mesh screen, and not an actual filter.

If I was having your problem, I would drop the fluid, re-fill and change it again in 1,000 miles. Then re-fill with a High Mileage ATF, which has friction enhancers in it and a beefed up additive pack for higher mileage tranny's.

I've done this flushing technique in my '87 with 170K on it, and the tranny is stronger than any other I've had, shifts nice and hard, no slippage at all.

It sounds like your low on fluid, THe dip stick has 2 sides, one for cold level, and one for hot level. I personnelly had similar problems , would hang in first when cold. I flushed (I did it myself, work at a ford dealer) the tranny, and added dex III. With a minor adjustment to the governor cable, it shifts allot better and hanging in first is gone. Another thing to check is line pressure, mine has 32-34 psi on the cooler line in neutral. (@150K)

Recommend you to search this forum for previous posts on this.

I changed my own. Pull the drain plug and drain. You can pull the pan and change or clean the filter (it is cleanable) if you want. I didn't... cause I was lazy and didn't think it needed it. That is just my opinion.

Then I pulled one of the cooler lines and pumped out the ATF about 3 quarts at a time by starting Jeep and running for 'bout 30-40 seconds. Add the 3 quarts between doing this. Used about 13 quarts or so to get it looking like new. Good time to add an external cooler if you don't have one...you can use one of these lines for draining.

Make sure you use DIII/Mercon.