Transmission Woes

[jtimberger]

Hello. I recently Purchased a 94 Grand Cherokee Limited, Auto Trans, 6cyl. Seemed awesome at the time but a month later the trans started acting up. No it Grinds when I try to put it in reverse with OD on but goes with it off. In drive it "loops" and jumps through gears like its slipping. The 1st and second gear bands were tightened and it stopped for a day then seemed to get worse. Also my flex plate is missing... any ideas?

 

[SteelHeadz]

How many miles is on the GC?, maybe its time for a rebuild. Grinding in reverse when the OD is switched to the on position is an indication of a solenoid or a valve that is not supposed to engage when the transmission is in the low/ reverse mode. "Jumping" or erratic shifts is usually a mis-adjusted TV cable , low fluid level or again, an issue with the shift solenoids on the valve body. What do you mean by it's "missing a flex plate" ?, that engine wouldn't run if there's no refference between the cam and crank position, so with that, how is that possible?. Take a pic of the area which you are reffering to on where this component is missing from so we could figure out what it is your missing.

 

[jtimberger]

It has 109,000 miles on it. The first thing I checked was the fluid level yet it was not low or old. I had a line pop off so its new fluid and I checked it while idling in neutral and hot. Supposedly when the "professional" adjusted my 1st and second gear bands he did a linkage cable as well. Something about the cable being too many clicks backwards... But he also was the one that called it a flex plate which didn't sound correct based on information I gathered from this website about transmissions. The picture is kind of close up because i crawled under, but its the plate right on the front of the trans behind the oil pan. Thanks for your help.

 

[SteelHeadz]

That looks like a flex plate to me. In technical terms, flexplate is what links your engine to the transmissionon an auto trans. as a flywheel on a manual transmission. In some cases, the flywheel also acts as an external balancer for the crankshaft. On an auto trans, the torque converter becomes a buffer between the engine and the trans.. If that trans. had a hard 109,000 miles on it, a rebuild would be my best advice rather than dumping a little cash here and there.

 

[jtimberger]

Right on. Thank you for your help. I'm heading to automotive tech school in a few weeks so I suppose I will do it there. Now to tow it up