Transmission woes

[TheSauce05]

Hate to post something that's already been answered, but I couldn't find another thread. If there is one, please feel free to point me in that direction. Anyway, I've got a 2002 Jeep Liberty Sport 3.7L and it's having shifting problems. It started a while back when, after driving on the highway, it wouldn't downshift out of 3rd. Today I noticed that after I got home from work, only driving about 4 miles, and then went back out in it, it was stuck in 3rd. I can manually downshift into 2nd, but not 1st and it won't go into overdrive. I could be mistaken and it's stuck in overdrive, but pretty sure it's 3rd. Either way, pressing the O/D-off button does nothing. Last I checked, the fluid was still good, but it's too dark outside now to look. It's also slow to shift into reverse. You put it in gear, and it takes a few seconds before it's ready to go. Any tips on where I can start? I really hope it's not going to take a rebuild or a swap because my truck is broke down right now and this is all I got.

 

[tommudd]

Start by checking the fluid level
look underneath for any leaks
report back

 

[MICHIGAN_LIBERTY]

When this happened to mine, I needed a rebuild.
Mine happened while two-tracking north of Traverse City Michigan. I live in the Ann Arbor area. The girlfriend and I were able to limp it home via 90% dirt roads in just 12 hours.

 

[TheSauce05]

Drove the Jeep again today. Blame my laziness and the rain for not checking the fluid yet, but it drove and shifted perfectly, and I drove a lot further and a lot longer today than yesterday. Absolutely no problems. I did stop by one of the bigger garages today and ask what a filter change would be. No flush, just pan drop, filter replacement, and fluid top off was $125. Does that sound right? I think it seems a little high.

 

[trent.brown]

That seems expensive to me but I'm a cheap bastard. It should be a rather simple job if you did it yourself. About the same intensity as an oil change with a few more bolts.

 

[TheSauce05]

That seems expensive to me but I'm a cheap bastard. It should be a rather simple job if you did it yourself. About the same intensity as an oil change with a few more bolts.

I could definitely do it myself. I'm actually a half-way decent wrench-turner. Problem is, I live in a townhouse with a sh*tty gravel driveway that has a pretty decent slope to it. I can't even change my own oil because I can't get my vehicles leveled out. Before I moved away from home I used my uncles garage for everything. Now I don't have squat to work with. I'm going to ask around and see if anyone else can do a little better. Maybe if I buy the filter and fluid myself I can just get charged the labor.

 

[Dave]

Be sure to use ATF+4 ONLY. You said yours is an 02 so the jeep is 10 years old and I am guessing the ****** was serviced previously? How many miles on it? If anything else was put in it the last time it was serviced it will mess it up.

Dave

 

[tommudd]

Drove the Jeep again today. Blame my laziness and the rain for not checking the fluid yet, but it drove and shifted perfectly, and I drove a lot further and a lot longer today than yesterday. Absolutely no problems. I did stop by one of the bigger garages today and ask what a filter change would be. No flush, just pan drop, filter replacement, and fluid top off was $125. Does that sound right? I think it seems a little high.

Be careful at any of the local even bigger garages
Most do not use the correct fluid even though they'll tell you they do

 

[TheSauce05]

I'm not sure that the transmission or even the engine has ever been serviced other than oil changes. The Jeep is actually belongs to my fiance, and I've done the oil changes on it since we've been together. I know it has new coolant because she hit a deer a while back and had to have a new radiator put in. It also has a new A/C compressor which I put in. Although, she did buy it used so it's possible that the lot she got it from serviced it before they sold it. It does run like a champ other than a few leaky evap hoses and a cold start noise. I've changed a few of the evap hoses, but haven't been able to find the leaking one yet.

 

[TheSauce05]

Forgot to mention. Drove it around some more today. Transmission is still working fine. Definitely an intermittent problem. Downshifts and take-offs were flawless. Just an example of what it was doing yesterday: I came to a complete stop on a steep inclined road going to my apartment. Completely floored the gas and she barely would go. Now today downshifted just fine and climbed it like it wasn't there.

 

[TheSauce05]

Had it out again today. No problems. I did decide to check the DTCs this evening just for kicks. Along with the evap leak codes I get with my scanner, I also got a P0700 on the dashboard. Didn't show up on my scanner though, although I had an evap code on my scanner that didn't show up on the dash. Haven't had a chance to do anything this weekend with the rain and trying to get my truck fixed before I go to work Monday. So the tranmission computer has a code or codes stored in it, most likely related to the symptoms I described. Do I have to take it to a trans shop or dealer to have those codes read, or can these auto parts places read them? My code reader doesn't show anything for the ******.