I was going to check the trans fluid level on my Wife’s '02 4.7L V8 Grand Cherokee, when I thought I’d take a quick peak at the owners manual first. Times have been changing….
From the manual –
Heh.
Anybody know what’s up with this? What the special procedure is? Is it an :eek: :mad: or an :smack: :rolleyes:
It’s quite possible that it uses a stand tube like several European cars and some Asian cars do.
Basically there is a drain plug in the middle of the drain plug.
(OK, I know damn well you are thinking that I have finally lost it, but let me explain)
There is a large drain plug on the bottom of the trans. On the inside of this plug is a tube welded to the plug that extends upwards, and is open at the top. In the center of the drain plug is a smaller drain plug that is at the bottom of the tube.
The fill procedure is to add slightly more fluid that the trans holds. Then the car is started and warmed up until the trans fluid reaches a particular temp (as measured with a scan tool). while the engine is running, the trans is cycled though the gears.
At the correct temp, with the engine running, the small plug is removed, any excess fluid (any fluid above the end of the pipe) drains out.
This method allows for very exact setting of the transmission fluid level.
So unless you have a scan tool to measure fluid temp, and a rack to raise your car on, you are pretty much screwed.
But you should still be able to check it in the normal matter, right? I assume the warning is because they assume if you check it and it’s low, that you’ll fill it (even if there is a similar warning against filling). Kind of a nip it in the bud type thing.
I follow ya Rick. I suppose it’s pretty much impossible to completely drain the tranny. So you don’t just want to dump in the capacity. Could over fill.
But. It does have a dipstick. And it’s a little different. It’s spring loaded. In the cap near the handle there is some sort of spring mechanism that allows you to push it in about another ¾ of an inch. It then springs back out.
It’s there so you can check if your fluid is getting low. No?
I assume you check it with the spring depressed, with the engine at op temp in neutral after running through the gears.
I ask because I saw a few drips of fluid under the car yesterday. I did a cursory check a minute ago, and there is definitely fluid in it. So I don’t see impending doom at this moment, though the car had leaks before.
Just checked…… 97,000 miles on the car. 100,000 power train guarantee. I think I saw about 10 drops of tranny fluid under the car yesterday. It’s kind of hard since we park in the snow (might get another big storm tonight).
I’m going to have to get on this.