Ugh. Photobucket is the scourge of internet knowledge. Their boardroom decision killed all the pics in the thread but here's the 46RE megathread by baxy on JeepForum.
Ugh. Photobucket is the scourge of internet knowledge. Their boardroom decision killed all the pics in the thread but here's the 46RE megathread by baxy on JeepForum.
I'm probably going to try swapping in the check-valve delete adapter in the next few days and see how/if that helps- with having gotten the Rampage and the Riv being gone I currently have no vehicles capable of more than short-distance trips and nothing capable of highway driving- which means I can't go and get things from out of town/junkyards until I have something running (either the Rampage or the Jeep).
If I get sick of looking at wiring on the Rampage I'll probably toss the old transmission up on my workbench (after pulling the overdrive unit so I can actually lift it to put it on the bench...) so I can pull the valve body and look it over.
Took a few minutes this afternoon and installed the check valve delete- will probably take the Jeep out tomorrow on a short run to see if it helped any.
Playing catch up with all my reading. These Jeeps seem to be ground sensitive. Had an XJ that got all wonky, turned out to be the braided ground wire from the firewall to the engine. Cleaned and installed new wire and life was good again. Good luck with your multitudinous projects. Hope you can get one rollin before long.
I'm beginning to think that I wronged a Jeep in a past life and now they're all out to get me...
So, a bit more detail since the last post was rather lacking in it.
Last week I replaced the check valve in the transmission cooler lines with a fitting without the check valve, and had been wanting to test out to see how if at all it had helped and got the chance to do so yesterday since I couldn't take SWMBO's SUV to church (as she needed it) and didn't particularly want to take the scooter. So I headed out for the 3-mile or so through town drive nervously- and to my surprise, with the exception of the first downshift (where it didn't quite make the transition and rubbed the gears slightly for a split second) it behaved perfectly (or at least as it should with the TCM unplugged- i.e. no OD and no TC lockup). I drove it the 3 miles to church, it sat for an hour and a half there, drove it 2 miles to Harbor Freight for a few things and was just there 10 minutes or so, and then the remaining mile and change home- all without any issues at all.
So, after this I was thinking, "Yay, that was at least the major problem!" and instead of trying to meet up with SWMBO after work so we could take her SUV to her non-profit's board meeting on the opposite side of town I just said that I'd be fine taking the Jeep.
OF COURSE, I hop in the Jeep and go to head out to the meeting- and very quickly realize that it's once again NOT shifting up and out of 1st gear. I tried everything I could- putting it into '1' and then manually shifting it into '2', stopping, putting it into reverse for a bit and then back into drive- absolutely nothing.
Honestly, I don't really mind when things don't work right- it only really pisses me off when they won't do so consistently so I can accurately diagnose and fix them!
So, once again, the Jeep is grounded until I can crack the transmission open and figure out what the heck is the problem. I'm probably going to pick up the previously mentioned shift kit to replace the springs and likely the regulator & sensor to replace those too (I've considered just using the ones out of the old transmission, but given it's likely far older I figure it's smarter to just put in new ones given how much effort it takes to drain and drop the pan and get to everything...).
Yeah, maybe Jeeps are not your thing. Much as I'm averse to recommending someone go in debt, these deals may cost you less on a monthly basis than that Jeep 
: September lease deals
*sigh*
So apparently sometime (either immediately or progressively over the last day or so) after the failed attempt at taking the Jeep out Sunday night it leaked a good bit (less than a quart I'd say, but still- a lot) of transmission fluid onto our driveway. This time from the OTHER side from where it had done it before. I don't know what to think about it at this point... and unfortunately if I want to get the Rampage running and to the Challenge, I don't have the time at the moment to really try and figure it out. Really wish I could have gotten this going and drivable more easily- having a drivable car would be really nice right about now...
Maybe it's been covered, but how much would a good used tranny run? Can't be so much as to justify the pain you've endured for the past months :)
In reply to jfryjfry :
This is actually the second transmission if you count the one that was on it originally where the bell housing was almost cracked in half. I won't deny that if I had a way to get to one of the salvage yards and carry one back (i.e., the Rampage were roadworthy) I'd be sorely tempted to just to and pull one and try it in place of this one, but I don't need to be collecting 42RE transmissions in my garage.
Perhaps ironically, I could have gotten a 'warranty' from the seller on this transmission... but honestly I don't have a lot of confidence in it being remotely worth anything being an individual seller who had parted out a few Jeeps, and wasn't about to pay and extra $100 on the transmission for the 'warranty'.
I badly need to drop the pan and pull the valve body and try and figure out what is wrong and how to fix it- but with the Challenge a month away and my presumptive Challenge car still non-running, for now the Jeep will have to sit and wait its turn...
So, for the moment the Rampage is kind of stalled waiting for parts necessary to get the engine going- so I had some time yesterday to pull the OD unit off the old transmission and drop the main unit onto my bench and start taking it apart.
So far, I have the governor pressure solenoid and the governor pressure transducer/temp sender out. Both look to be in decent shape- and since I don't recall ever seeing the warning light come on when I was running the old transmission I may just try swapping those into the 'new' transmission because they're relatively easy to get to (relative to things in the valve body).
Am reading up on/watching how to remove the valve body to inspect from the old one and see what I should be looking for on the new one (and so I'll have an easier time installing the new springs on the 'new' transmission when the shift kit gets here) so I can do that this evening.
YES! The shift kit for the Jeep was delivered early and is waiting at home. Now I have something to do this evening/tomorrow morning...
Got the shift kit installed on the valve body from the old transmission- surprisingly didn't find any broken springs, though the PR adjust seemed to be way off from what the kit said to set it to. Unfortunately don't know when I'll get the chance to pull the valve body from the current trans and swap this one in...
Since I'm still not expecting the Rampage's parts to show up for a few days, I'm hoping to at least get the valve body out of the current transmission this evening- I've got the front end up on ramps so I can get to the transmission easier (all of my jack stands are currently in use on the Rampage... 
) as well as the ramps having lips that combined with wheel chocks will mean I don't have to have the transmission in Park (important when pulling/replacing the VB). Ideally I'll have time to swap in the one with the new springs that I went over (and that hopefully has good electronics too). Would be really nice to have the Jeep usable...
Somewhat to my surprise (Mondays aren't a day I typically get a whole lot done due to SWMBO getting back from work earlier than most evenings), I actually managed to get the pan dropped, swap the valve bodies, and everything back together and buttoned up last night. It probably helped that I really needed to have something I could just focus on and plow through and actually get done, and the transmission definitely fit the bill.
All that's left is to re-fill it with trans fluid (I really wish that ATF+4 wasn't so expensive...), make sure it's not leaking, hook the TCM back up, and take it out for a drive with my fingers crossed.
Will be REALLY, REALLY happy if this resolves things and I once again have a drivable vehicle... if not.... I'm guessing that I'm not going to have much choice but to at a minimum pull the transmission back out and either find another to replace it with or take the time to tear it completely down and figure out what the problem is... neither of which sound like much fun to me.
Just throwing this out there. Is the shift cable stretched or not secured properly? Is there a kick down cable ala 700r4? I had an International Scout with shifter problems. Turned out to be the shift cable was sliding in the mount causing it. Just needs a little to not fully engage.
From what I read, these transmissions are prone to pressure problems. You may be on the right track. Good luck.
The shift cable should be properly secured- there's a pretty secure mount for it on the transmission, and I've worked with it enough to be confident it's good. There is an adjustment to be made for the P/R transition on the trans that I'll be checking before I fill the pan back up.
There is also a kickdown cable, and an adjustment for that- I adjusted it before, but will check it again with the new VB in place (and having pulled and re-attached the bracket for it on the trans).
One thing that I'm curious about whether I can check easily is if perhaps there's an obstruction somewhere in the oil cooler system- I replaced the check valve with a free-flowing fitting, but if there's something clogging up either one of the lines or the oil cooler in the rad it might also cause problems. I may have an idea of how to test to see... will have to see if I'm luck enough for the new fitting to not be on the line that has an easy-disconnect fitting at the trans- if so I can unscrew the fitting and unhook the line and see if I can get air through it.
So, yesterday evening I checked that the trans cooler in the radiator wasn't clogged (was able to blow into the hose on one side and fluid came out the hose at the trans on the other side), so that's one potential problem checked off.
Got it filled back up, hooked the TCM back up, and took it out for a spin. The 'Check Gages' light beeped and flashed on every so often as it had before, but as far as I could tell the transmission was behaving properly- it shifted both up and down without incident, and I didn't get any of the grinding the it's done in the past. It feels like it accelerates faster when I first get it going (and everything it cold), but that may just be my imagination. It also through the driving and even checking under it this morning did not have any fluid that leaked out, which is a first for it.
The bad: after my short drive around the neighborhood (a bit more than around the block so I could get it up high enough to shift), the car smelled strongly of hot clutch/friction material, which I wouldn't think is a good thing.
I checked the codes and it was still showing the same ones as before (trans temp sensor out of range/high volt, governor problem)- but I don't think I'd cleared them out from before and don't know if they were from this last drive, so cleared the codes and will see if they pop back up on the next drive. Since it passed this first check, this evening I'll try taking it a bit further to the parts shop- and if it behaves on that drive, a bit further yet to get some things from Harbor Freight.
So, the Jeep continues to be a complete and total crap shoot as to what it's going to do and how it's going to behave.
Took it out Saturday morning to get some parts and things, and through several stops (one more than planned, since for some inexplicable reason the Advance nearest me had no 5/16" FI hose) it behaved pretty much perfectly other than the 'Check Gauges' light coming on and beeping incessently (I still don't know whether that's because of the trans or it thinking the coolant level sensor is bad- apparently the Vehicle Information Monitor itself has a history of solder joints failing and reporting sensors bad that aren't...).
Until I got home that is, and went to back it up the driveway (since I had things in the back, and have been using the back of the Jeep as additional storage for stuff)- I put it into Reverse and started to back up and heard (and felt) a really loud THUNK from the rear end and the trans started to grind. Took me a few tries before getting it to go forward and then putting it back into R and backing it up the driveway.
Have you inspected the rear diff yet? I have a sneaking suspision theres issues in there.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
I haven't done anything with the rear diff yet... for the time being I'm not really needing to use the Jeep and my primary focus has been on getting the Rampage mobile and drivable to/for the Challenge. I'll need the Rampage (or something else capable of hauling...) running anyway if I need to get either a replacement transmission or rear end... so the Jeep is likely to get largely ignored for the next 2 weeks or so.
It's entirely possible there's something up with the rear end though- there's a LOT of noise from it when first backing up that I've thought was the brakes (since I can't pull the driver's rear wheel off to do anything with them because of the stripped lug nut) but could instead be the diff. I was curious and felt the rear pumpkin after one of the legs of the last time I drove it and it wasn't particularly warm.
Reason for asking is that I've never felt or heard an automatic transmission grind. Manual, yes. Automatic whine? Yes. Slip? Yes. But never a grind.
Is it possible to get a video of the sound? I really want to help, but internet text diagnostics are very difficult without a properly functioning magic 8 ball.
I've never heard one do it either. I'd try and get a video of it, but it's difficult to ever get it to DO it reliably.
I have considered that it could be something with the transfer case as well- I can't really see the diff being the cause of (all of) this because when it 'grinds' it's just like it's spinning the gears, the diff doesn't (to my knowledge) have a way to not drive at least one of the wheels- the transfer case however can be put into 'neutral'.
So, I've had occasion to drive the Jeep a few more times over the last week- and I'm starting to formulate a theory as to the grinding. I'm about 95% certain that it IS coming from the transmission itself- it sounds like it's coming from pretty much right under/in front of the floor shifter, so it's not the rear end. Doesn't mean it couldn't be the transfer case (or the OD unit of the transmission), but combined with how it seems to be behaving I think part of the culprit is something else: the torque converter.
The grinding seems most likely to occur (at least in forward gear) when slowing down/coasting and coming to a stop. The drive in this morning it occurred to me that it really does seem to be behaving like what happens if you miss-time your clutch with a manual (speaking of which, anyone know how hard it is to swap in a stick for the auto so I don't have to deal with this crap?)- it seems like the TC is still transmitting engine torque/spin to the transmission when it should have disengaged.
I'll try and test this theory on the drive home- if I understand how the system works correctly, unplugging the TCM should eliminate any TC lockup (unless it's getting a bogus signal from somewhere- honestly I don't totally understand what/how the lockup is activated...).
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