Help - can I move this Jeep?

[Suz]

Warning - extreme ignorance to follow:

Short story - the Cherokee is parked on the street in front of my apartment - steep hill - probably ~20 % grade. She had been parked there 8 days, no problem - then suddenly there's a huge leak beneath her. Not engine oil - pinkish - so that would probably be transmission fluid, right? I've tried to identify where the leak is coming from, but I can't figure out exactly what I'm looking at under there. It's been suggested that the steepness of the hill combined with the very hot weather the weekend of the spill may have just caused the fluid to expand and overflow, but I'm scared to even drive her until I have some idea of what's going on.

The place the fluid is leaking from is underneath, in the center - directly in from the front doors of the vehicle.

Any help is TOTALLY appreciated! :confused:

[shadowfax101]

well that will be tranny fluid... It sounds like a gasket has gone out on you. It could be the main pan gasket, but that is usually easy to find. On mine, I was leaking from the shift linkage and neutral safety switch seals.

Do you have a level place near your house? If it is not to far, I would drive there and check your fluid. Look at the stick to see if you have any in there before you start, but at that incline it will be impossible to know for sure....

Good luck...

[Antelope]

It's definitely transmission fluid. I'm certainnly no transmission expert (or any kind of expert for that matter, I know how steep the hills are in the City, but it doesn't make sense thqat it would make your tranny leak, unless it is somehow leaking out of the base of your fluid filler tube. Can you move it? how big of a puddle are you talking about? Probably safe to drive but I would dump in a quart of Lucas Transmission fluid/stop leak, and make up the rest with tranny fluid (assuming you lost over a quart, fill it up then drive it to some level ground and go from there. Burlingame GW wishes you luck.

[Suz]

I can move it (strategically) about a block away. Do I need any special sort of transmission fluid? I haven't ever had to add any and thought I needed something special with the quadratrac & all...but I guess I'm mixed up.

Thanks for your help!

[shadowfax101]

I would not use Lucas Transmission fluid/stop leak. I know several pepole on this board including me that had to get rebuilds after using that stuff. On older tranmissions the lucas cleaning agent will eat way the lining of the clutch plates. I would go to the nearest parts house or wal mart and get 2-3 quarts of decron III and dump that in there. drive it to a flat place and watch it.

It could be your modulator valve. I would bet on it since of the angle you were parked. I have heard people talk about paring older jeeps on an incline and the fluid leaking out.

But do not use the lucas. Just add 2 quarts of fluid and drive it to a flat place, check it and add what you need. If you find you are a quart over do not worry that much, it will be fine until you can get it to a shop and check it out.
I am almost 99.9% sure that stop leak will not help you...

Just my thought....I have been wrong in the past.

[Suz]

Perfect - thanks again! Off to the auto parts store I go!

[Ralph]

If your Jeep is parked on an incline such that the front of the vehicle faces downhill, and you're experiencing such a leak, the source of the leak is most likely the front pump seal (if it's not the pan, that is). In the picture below, this seal is a gasket that sits behind the round front pump assembly. Unfortunately, the only fix is to have the tranny removed so that the seal can be replaced. Also be sure that you don't overfill with transmission fluid, as this can cause the seal to be completely blown.

http://www.nwbinders.net/Tech/TrannyRebuild/OilPumpPlate.jpg

[Ralph]

Whoa! Sorry about the size of the photo up there.

I wanted to ad that you should be okay driving the Jeep, at least for a short trip or two, so long as you maintain proper transmission fluid level.

[67Gladiator]

I'm the last person to be correcting anyone, especially here, but for clarity's sake the above reference was Dexron III ATF (x is next to c) which is a type of ATF rather than a brand name.
For my two cents, I'd only add about what you guess you've lost looking at the ground; as Ralph said, overfilling is a killer

Good luck

[Suz]

Well, she's parked with the front of the vehicle facing uphill....also, I'd estimate a little over a quart of fluid spilled....

We'll see what happens when I get her moved to a level spot.

I bought her (having never even HEARD of FSJ's) with a 'rebuilt' transmission with less than 100 miles on it. I've put about 2500 miles on her since then. But one thing we discovered is that the previous owner who did the rebuild of the engine as well, did a pretty good job rebuilding the engine, but for some reason didn't replace a single seal, gasket, etc! I'm guessing the same is true of the transmission....

I do think it looks like the seal is pushing out...hope it's not too expensive of a fix...her mechanic is 60 miles away, so if she still leaks when I get her on flat ground I think I'll tow her up there...

sigh...

[Ralph]

Actually, that's pretty good news. There are similar but smaller seals in the back of the transmission, espeically where there is a cover between the tranny and the transfer case. This may sound like Greek to you, but what it means is that it'll be much easier to get to such a seal if in fact one needs replaced.

[Tad]

Yep, you can do it, listen to Ralph, don't overfill, and get that thing home before something happend to it.

[Hump]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Suz:
But one thing we discovered is that the previous owner who did the rebuild of the engine as well, did a pretty good job rebuilding the engine, but for some reason didn't replace a single seal, gasket, etc! I'm guessing the same is true of the transmission....<hr></blockquote>

Well I hate to be a neigh-sayer, but if the PO didn't replace any gaskets or seals, then he didn't do a good job. How do you know he did this? You might be looking at spending a bunch of money in the near future, as I would guess things of the nature you just experienced will continue to happen...and probalby get worse.

[ironroad29]

do not put 2 or more quarts in until you get it moved to a level place you can start it and try to move it,it will be fine your not gonna mess anything up buy trying to move it first then if it won't move add a pint at a time (half a quart is a pint) and see if that gets anybetter you shouldn't need much as it takes a lot of fluid loss to keep a tranny from working.

[Suz]

Yeah, Saturday I'm gonna try to move her - it's actully only a little ways to where I can get her temporarily on flat ground, then we'll take a look and add fluid as needed. I've also finally got a knowledgable friend who's available to come look at her with me.

Yeah, the previous owner really irks me...but at least I got the Cherokee really cheap (and you get what you pay for ;) ) I say "he did a good job with the engine" only because every mechanic I've had look at her tells me the engine is in really good shape (aside from messed-up gaskets...) But obviously he did a crappy job - I can't believe someone would do such a half-assed job with such a cool vehicle! I could tell you stories of the cheap fixes we've found on the thing....

So in reality I have no way of knowing the true condition of the tranny. Now that I think of it, I've found several things the PO told me to be false...Oh well, I'm 5 months (and lots of $$) into it now. Even though I'm no mechanic and have no idea what I'm doing, I feel I've at least rescued her to a certain extent....

Poor Sasquatch....hopefully we'll get the tranny leak fixed soon.

Thanks again for your help folks-

[Suz]

Update - Thanks again everyone who responded - we moved her to a flat spot yesterday and checked her out. She took 2 quarts of transmission fluid, but wasn't leaking on the flat spot. My mechanic friend thought she was driveable, so he followed me and we ended up driving her the 60 miles to our Jeep mechanic. Ran fine and was still full of tranny fluid when we arrived. We'll see what the mechanic says when he gets her on the lift. Since she was leaking when parked with her nose uphill it must be the rear seal? Unfortunately the transfer case was also leaking....we'll see about that too.

On a related note - we were originally going to tow her the 60 miles to our mechanic, but saw in the owners manual that the Quadratrac models can't be towed very far (I forget how far it said...) Guess I'll have to find a mechanic closer to home.

[Rob]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Suz:

On a related note - we were originally going to tow her the 60 miles to our mechanic, but saw in the owners manual that the Quadratrac models can't be towed very far (I forget how far it said...) Guess I'll have to find a mechanic closer to home.<hr></blockquote>

To avoid damage to tranny and QT, you could disconnect the drive shafts.....or use a flatbed.

[MIKE HANI]

Suz, you can tow it, just pull the driveline of the axle that's on the ground. hope your tranny & t-case are OK. any questions on towing FSJ's I can help, I have FSJ's and towtrucks.

[Ralph]

Glad it worked out so far, Suz.

Hadn't thought of the transfer case as the culprit, but it too has front and rear seals. Also make sure to check the T-case for cracks.

I was forced to learn about transmissions as a result of a cracked transfer case in my 1988 Grand Wag (may she rest in peace). The T-case was cracked, which caused fluid to drain out, which in turn caused fluid to drain out of the transmission, which in turn drained the torque converter. All in all, it cost me $1800 to have AAMCO fix it.

Next time around, with my 1984 J10, I bought a rebuild kit for $90, a video for $35, a reman torque converter for $110, and in the course of the job also had to buy a reverse band and a used reverse drum for $16 and $20, respectively. It was a much nicer rebuild than the AAMCO job, and it took me all of a Saturday afternoon to do it, plus a Sunday to install it. (That's when the mechanic at the shop came up with the phrase I use in my sig).

If you're inclined to dig into a mechanical situation, the transmission and transfer case aren't too difficult but they are somewhat time consuming.

[Lindel]

The QT doesn't bleed ATF, it bleeds a much more expensive lube called Quadra-Trac Fluid, at about $7 to $8 dollars a quart.

If the rig was parked nose high, then I'd guess the leak was a bad rear seal, if it was nose low, then I'd be looking at the front pump, and the o-ring for the filler tube.

Good thing about the TH400 is that they are relatively inexpensive to have rebuilt, compared to the TF727.