Is this Jeep worth it?

Oh, hell! Just pull out anything with a handle on that doesn't need a wrench to get off. If drips red, replace and keep looking. If it drips black, check the reading. Now all you have to do is find the fill hole...

And they w> $50 says I can find it in less than 30 seconds.

Will Honea did pass the time by typing:

erm. You should have seen my old chevy. Both tranny and oil looked the same. :O

Hint. Usually the oil dipstick has a yellow handle and transmission has red.

There are a few auto trannies out there now that don't have a dipstick at all. They are sealed for 100,000 miles and have a refill bolt hole sorta like transfer case.

It is the parent's fault.

Honda has one that you pull the speedo drive out of the refill it. weird

I didn't ask where the dip stick(s) were, only where the tranny one is in the event that it was not obvious, so I could save the 30 seconds in looking (principle of laziness), like on my Honda. As I explained before, I found it immediately. Incidentally, the one on my Honda is not red, has a tiny loop not a handle, is way below and to the left of the distribiutor, practically hidden right beneath a large hose. In fact, you cant see it unless you move the hose over an inch.

Doug,

If I understand what you wrote, the cable you refer to as the transmission kickdown cable is referred to as the "throttle valve" cable in Haynes (According to book, only 1994 onward have kickdown. This is a 93). Your description on adjusting that cable (by pushing the button...) assumes the end of it is physically connected, or hooked onto the throttle body lever, correct?

You see as I said, in my case it is not connected to anything, it is just "hanging" /"dangling" there-- sort of loose, as is the cruise control linkage cable.

If I follow, the throttle valve cable gets connected on the outside of, and the cruise control linkage cable to the inside of, the throttle body lever.

Can the slack on each cable be taken up and the ends of each re-connected to the throttle body lever, which is where I assume they are supposed to be connected (if each connector which I referref to as "a pen cap" is not in some way physically broken which I suppose would require replacement in that case)?

Jim

DougW wrote:

The ends do. The tranny cable (kickdown cable) is important as it clues your transmission into shifting down when you open the throttle all the way.

The transmission kickdown cable has an adjuster. You push the little button in and take up the slack. It then ratchets back to where it is supposed to be.

Thanks for all the advice, pro and con. I've bought it and now I'll ask for candid advice from any of you regarding my next move.

I plan to:

I stated ealrier that when "flooring" it, say from 60 to go to 75 or 80, there is engine "pinging" as the gear drops down and it accelerates quickly. I attribute that to engine carbon build-up and that the truck has been fed only 87.

What's the best way to remedy that build-up? Has anyone every tried something like the Excite 3 step fuel injector tune-up, where in one of the steps, you allow the vehicle to suck some cleaner into the intake manifold via one of the vaccuum hoses, like the one on the pcv valve.

Regarding the tranny-leak issue around the transfer case. Based on my description thus far, it seems that some of you think that it's not the transfer case itself that needs to be replaced, but one of the seals (transfer case seal, speedometer O-ring) that is the source of the leak.

Is that correct?

Earle and Mike, I'm probably missing the obvious here, but could you guys detail a little more on what parts you are referring to you when you speak of possible leak sources from the tailshaft, and the seals by the torque converter. If you're not referring to the two seals I mentioned above, I can't find reference to them in Haynes.

Thanks.

Imagine that you have removed the transfer case and the transmission from the vehicle, and that the transmission is sitting on your work bench. Go to the front of the transmission, grasp the torque converter, and slide it out. It should come out with no effort at all, but be careful as it is fairly heavy. Behind the torque converter there is a seal pressed into the transmission, that is a possible source of oil leaking between the engine and the transmission. This seal mates to a round stub that sticks out the back of the torque converter. If there is a conspicuous groove in that stub, then it is time to think about a new torque converter. ¡Cuidado! Other possible sources of a leak in this area, are the engine rear main seal and the valve cover gasket.

Now go to the back end of the transmission. There is a shaft sticking out, that mates with the input of the transfer case. The seal around that shaft, is a likely source of too much oil in the transfer case. There is also a seal on the transfer case side, I think. I am in Spain on vacation, and I haven't handled a wrench in months, so bear with me. Anyway, the transfer case seal is less frequently a problem, as the pressure and temperature in the transmission are normally higher.

What you want to do, is remove the fill/level plug from the transfer case, and see what comes out. If a considerable amount of fluid comes out, then you need to replace transmission output seal.

As for the speedometer seal, find the speedometer unit where it bolts or clamps to the side of the transfer case. If there is oil in that area, then the speedometer seal needs to be replaced. Normally a large amount of oil does not leak from this area, but any leak is cause for concern and can be messy if not repaired.

Earle

--snippy--

The transmission is a one piece sealed unit.

The transfer case is also a one piece sealed unit.

They normally take different types of fluid even.

If the transmission is low on fluid, it has a leak. This leak has nothing at all to do with the transfer case, the speedometer or the tailshaft.

You must go under and remove a bolt on the top side of the transfer case to check the fluid level in the transfer case.

Transmissions leak either up front between the tranny and engine, or the pan gasket leaks (by far the most common leak) or the rear seal leaks and drips out 'between' the transmission and transfer case.

Non of the above means you need to replace anything except 'maybe' a seal or maybe just tighten a few bolts on the pan gasket or give it a new pan gasket.

I would look at the pan gasket closely. If it has silicone sealer on it, someone changed the oil and likely the bolts just came loose like they normally do after a sloppy pan gasket change or they used the old gasket.

If you try turning the transmission pan bolts by hand, I'll bet you find some finger loose.

Then if it is only down a pint or so when you check the level hot, (the dipstick says whether to check it in neutral or park and running) I would recommend you ignore the leak for a couple months to see how much it does indeed leak. If it took 100,000 miles to go down a pint, well.....

Mike

Somewhere along the line they "new and improved" the rotor button and cap. When you replace them be certain they are a matching set.

The local mechanic on the Do-it-yourself radio show says the only injector cleaner that really works well is Chevron's Techron. Chevron makes 2 products with similar names, one is the Techron cleaner and the other is a cleaner with Techron. The real stuff is about $5 for the small bottle.

The New Process aluminum body transfer cases have a fill/level plug on the back. It takes a pretty big wrench, a little over an inch. On the ones I have seen, the wrench flats aren't very deep, so a socket is recommended. Yeah, they are sealed units, but if you take out the fill plug, and a quart or more of fluid gushes out, that fluid came from a leaky transmission output seal.

Earle

On the pinging, i would just tune it up and take it for a good highway run. This will clean up most of the junk inside. If it still pings, then I would think about a top end clean job. The type that gets sucked in works best in my opinion.

Mike

If that is how the new ones work, then the OP is likely lucky and it's only the back of the tranny pan gasket leaking and blowing back over the t-case. He says he has obvious external leaks to the rear according to the mechanic and drips on the ground.

Mike

Earle Hort>

I don't see that any of that is relevent.

You asked if the vehicle was worth it. I said no. I wouldn't buy it, and I can fix most of this stuff without asking where the dip stick is. If you gotta ask if it's a good deal, it probably isn't.

"Top end cleaner" as in ATF or water? Everytime this comes up I still have images of Mike running a pint of ATF through the intake and smoking out the neighbors. We could probably help New Orleans' mosquito problem, though, if enough of us just drove down and de-carboned our engines with a pint of ATF all at once.

Seriously, blasting the cylinders clean will help a lot, but I've seen a lot of reports from people saying that the V-8 took something above regular to stop it pinging from day one. Thing is, if it has been fed

LOL!

Ohh the smoke outs I have seen and done....

Mike

Will H>

Earle Horton did pass the time by typing:

Yea.. a socket.. The only place I could get a 1/4" drive that could fit without going through a whole set of adapters was from strap-on. Oh well, I got a 25$ shiny toy.. my precious..