New to owning a jeep. Transmission problems! 2003 Libby w/45rfe

[ZBell]

Just acquired an 03 liberty, really clean, starts great, and drives fine for about 10 minutes. After that it looses all gears, and makes angry/expensive sounds. I can put it into 4lo, and it drives perfectly (but slowly) drive if like that for about 60 seconds, and then you can shift back into 2hi, and if will drive normally for about another five minutes, and the process repeats.
The fluids in the trans, and t-case seem to be at the right level, t-case oil seems a bit burnt (maybe?). Any suggestions or test to give me a better idea of what is broken?

 

[Country2003KJ]

Can you provide any more info about mileage or? Does it run in O/D? Maybe start by replacing the fluid using the recommended synthetic and both trans filters. Just replace all fluids first as well. Any leaks you can see? More info might be helpful.

 

[Black6D]

Take an oil sample out of all of the transmission, transfer case, front and rear diffs and put it on a clean white paper towel. Look for water, dirt, color, silver shine or any other unusual things in the oils. Do this before changing anything. Don't poor boy your way through finding out what the problem(s) are. Fluids in a vehicle are like blood, they can tell a story if you look at it first.

 

[ZBell]

Can you provide any more info about mileage or? Does it run in O/D? Maybe start by replacing the fluid using the recommended synthetic and both trans filters. Just replace all fluids first as well. Any leaks you can see? More info might be helpful.

It has 225k miles on the transmission. I hadn’t thought of running it in o/d, as I didn’t realize that would/could make a difference. Thanks for the suggestion. It hasn’t got any leaks as far as I can tell. Family is in ton today, but I will post again when I have had a chance for further inspection.

 

[ZBell]

Take an oil sample out of all of the transmission, transfer case, front and rear diffs and put it on a clean white paper towel. Look for water, dirt, color, silver shine or any other unusual things in the oils. Do this before changing anything. Don't poor boy your way through finding out what the problem(s) are. Fluids in a vehicle are like blood, they can tell a story if you look at it first.

Thanks for the tip, I will check these as soon as I get a chance.

 

[ZBell]

I got a brief chance to check the t-case fluid, it is a very dark black brown, you cannot tell that it used to be red anymore. The transmission does not have a drain plug. Can you loosen the pan bolt to get a sample? Or do you have to replace the gasket after doing that? I dont mind replacing the gasket, I just don’t have a new gasket or filters ordered yet. I tried driving in in O/D, but that didn’t make a difference. It drove today in 2hi for about 30 seconds, and then would only drive in 4low after that. 4 low drives and shifts perfectly tho. No issues there. Could that still indicate trans issues, kr is it more likely to be something in the t-case?