AW4 question

[omega_rugal]

as some of you know i own a 88 comanche with the kickass 4.0 + ax15 combo, i love my truck but due health problems i am thinking in getting an automatic, i have just being diagnosed with a spine problem and may need surgery in a few months if that happens i won`t be able to drive manual, so far i have only found automatic cherokees for sale, i would rather buy a comanche but they are nearly extinct so the cherokee is the second choice

 

i have read that only 3-speed torqueflites and AW4 are available, with the AW4 being the best (overdrive + torque converter lockup clutch) and now that i know for sure that is ridiculiusly easy to convert this tranny to a semi clutchless manual with the shifter hack and that is capable of handling the torque of the 4.0 if i ever feel the need to ditch the I4 2.5l, do anyone know why the AW4 tends to overheat? is the stock trans cooler too small? also, is it posible to put a better torque converter in it? i mean if the TC is not strong enough it becomes inefficient under heavy load and unefficiency leads to extra heat right?

 

for the record, i hate automatics, i`m getting it just because  have to...

[HOrnbrod]

inefficient..............

 

Don't believe everything you read on the Novak site. Under normal ops with the factory cooler and the 4.0 the AW4 is just fine. For heavy towing, a larger cooler is recommended, as it would be in any light-to-medium duty auto transmission.

[Minuit]

I disagree with the factory cooler being enough. The trans fluid I initially changed when I got the '91 was burnt, indicating the transmission severely overheated under regular driving conditions with the stock radiator. In its previous life it did not tow or haul heavy loads at all - it's been used as a car its entire life. Add an external cooler and the AW4 is great, though - there's many options out there and the process is quite easy. One of the best automatics I've ever driven with.

[HOrnbrod]

I meant the external factory cooler, not the radiator cooler, and should have been more specific, my bad. I've had many XJs with the AW4 and never had any problems with overheating. All had the external factory cooler. Do your recommended fluid and filter changes and it will be fine.

 

That being said, a larger external cooler is even better, and it was one of the first things I did after getting the stroker.

[Minuit]

I wasn't even thinking about the factory aux cooler when I wrote that - not that I've looked hard but I've never seen one. Was it part of one of the towing packages?

 

For what it's worth, the one I installed is the Hayden 678 (plumbed in after the radiator) and I'm quite happy with it so far.

 

 

 

[Strokermjcomanche]

Here's what the original cooler looks like ( dorman ) 918-251 . https://www.google.com/search?q=dorman+918-251&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

[HOrnbrod]

The Mopar cooler looks like this. All my XJs had one, but my MJ didn't. It's plumbed in the return line. Small, but it does the job. Your Hayden looks a lot better though..........

 

 

[FrankTheDog]

I've had AW4's go over 250k on the original fluid.

They were kept full though. It is a pretty tough transmission and it held up to me delivering pizza.

I don't mind if they come with sticks or autos they are both excellent transmissions.

[omega_rugal]

so the overheat issue may come from people who abuse it and/or don`t know what transmission oil is,,,

 

i think i`ll get the cherokee if i get a good price, after all it doesn`t hurt to have room for 5 or 6 people and the 2.5l sounds good too...far form the power and smoothness of the 4.0 but still a jeep...

[Minuit]

More likely than not, an AW4 without an external cooler of some sort will overheat no matter what kind of driving it's been through. The "cooler" in the radiator is simply not enough. Transmissions that overheated with just the radiator heat exchanger is most likely where the "AW4s generate too much heat" belief came from. And I've never experienced Novak's other complaints. Toss on an external cooler of some sort (and make sure the fluid isn't burnt when you get the XJ) and you'll probably have no problems at all out of your slushbox.

[Rockfrog]

My 2000 XJ had no cooler other than the radiator cooler from the factory. I never had it overheat, even pulling my old tent trailer or my quad trailer up steep island grades.

I only put a large external cooler on it when it became a trail rig.

I always kept it full. And the trans fluid was always bright red.

In my opinion an overheating AW4 in normal driving conditions indicates a problem overlooked, and not an AW4 is prone to overheating issue.

 

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

[Eagle]

i have read that only 3-speed torqueflites and AW4 are available, with the AW4 being the best (overdrive + torque converter lockup clutch) and now that i know for sure that is ridiculiusly easy to convert this tranny to a semi clutchless manual with the shifter hack and that is capable of handling the torque of the 4.0 if i ever feel the need to ditch the I4 2.5l, do anyone know why the AW4 tends to overheat? is the stock trans cooler too small? also, is it posible to put a better torque converter in it? i mean if the TC is not strong enough it becomes inefficient under heavy load and unefficiency leads to extra heat right?

 

for the record, i hate automatics, i`m getting it just because  have to...

 

I have owned Cherokees since I bought my first XJ new in 1988. A very good friend was the service manager at the dealership where I bought mine, and until he retired I hung around the shop a lot. I'm a charter member of NAXJA and an early member of this group. My '88 XJ is a 5-speed but my late wife's 2000 XJ is an automatic; it currently sits at 115,000 miles. Most of the guys in NAXJA-NAC ran AW4s in their built-up trail rigs.

 

With that as history, I'll just say that your post is the FIRST time I have ever heard anyone claim that the AW4 is prone to overheating.

[Eagle]

so the overheat issue may come from people who abuse it and/or don`t know what transmission oil is,,,

 

i think i`ll get the cherokee if i get a good price, after all it doesn`t hurt to have room for 5 or 6 people and the 2.5l sounds good too...far form the power and smoothness of the 4.0 but still a jeep...

 

The 2.5L never came with an AW4 in the Cherokee, only in the Comanche. In a Cherokee, a 2.5L auto will have the Chrysler 904 tranny.

 

You won't carry six people in an XJ -- unless you get a police model, the front seats are buckets, and the rear seat is realistically only big enough for two average-size adults.

[HOrnbrod]

With that as history, I'll just say that your post is the FIRST time I have ever heard anyone claim that the AW4 is prone to overheating.

 

Eagle, the OP is just repeating this gibberish from Novak....

[gogmorgo]

The AW4 currently in my MJ came out of a 140,000-mile plow truck with no more than the radiator cooler, and it still works a treat. The only reason I replaced the 300,000 mile AW4 (despite having cooked it pretty good a couple times because of a problematic quick-disconnect in the line) was because the plow truck's aw4 was already bolted up between the 4.0 and np242 I wanted to put in. The trans tunnel in my AX-15 XJ gets a hell of a lot warmer than the mj's, too.

[omega_rugal]

The 2.5L never came with an AW4 in the Cherokee, only in the Comanche. In a Cherokee, a 2.5L auto will have the Chrysler 904 tranny.

 

You won't carry six people in an XJ -- unless you get a police model, the front seats are buckets, and the rear seat is realistically only big enough for two average-size adults.

 

 

i have not seen the cherokee in question, only pics, the owner claims it`s a 4 cilinder, automatic

 

i haven`t seen a comanche, let alone an automatic, for sale around here, i was just saying that IF i get to see one, i would go for aw4

 

oh and the cherokee has a bench seat, the center arm rest folds that`s all, also i don`t know what you mean by average size but 6 people can fit here, not much comfortly of course

 

 

about the overheat issue, like i said that story may have come from abuse or poor service... or defective units, who knows, just because your tranny has not failed doesnt meany all work the same...

[Eagle]

 

The 2.5L never came with an AW4 in the Cherokee, only in the Comanche. In a Cherokee, a 2.5L auto will have the Chrysler 904 tranny.

 

You won't carry six people in an XJ -- unless you get a police model, the front seats are buckets, and the rear seat is realistically only big enough for two average-size adults.

 

 

i have not seen the cherokee in question, only pics, the owner claims it`s a 4 cilinder, automatic

 

i haven`t seen a comanche, let alone an automatic, for sale around here, i was just saying that IF i get to see one, i would go for aw4

 

oh and the cherokee has a bench seat, the center arm rest folds that`s all, also i don`t know what you mean by average size but 6 people can fit here, not much comfortly of course

 

 

I didn't say the 2.5L 4-banger wasn't available in the XJ with an automatic, I said it wasn't available with the AW4. The 4-banger XJs all had the Torqueflite 904.

 

If the Cherokee you're looking at has a bench seat in front, look it over VERY carefully because the bench was only sold in fleet vehicles. As for average size, remember I've been driving XJs for almost 30 years. My late wife was about 5'-3" tall and petite -- on a trip to the airport we had her, our then-17-year old daughter, and a 10-year old in the rear seat. It was TIGHT. The rear seat is only capable of seating three if at least two of them are children. My wife was in the back because her sister-in-law, who is maybe 5'-6" or 5'-7" and slender, couldn't sit in the back because there wasn't enough legroom.

 

Be realistic -- the Cherokee is realistically a 4-person vehicle unless the rear seat passengers are young children. Four is more than two or three, but it ain't six.

[omega_rugal]

i don`t mind which tranny is on that cherokee as long as it`s automatic, my first choice is a comanche with the 4.0+Aw4 but no luck so far

 

i have 2 kids, my wife and i...2 more can fit too (it`s a column shift) btw i don`t think that bench is factory, not the same color...

[87MJTIM]

You need an AW4?

 

I have one from a 93 XJ.  North, central MD.

[omega_rugal]

i need a comanche with the 4.0 + AW4 not just the tranny