Hi, i'm new to the forum and i just bought a 98 grand cherokee. it runs great but the trans seems to be a tad slow in shifting. my mechanic told me that the trans has been worked on because the mfg. seal is different on the vehicle. should i opt for a new trans flush or is this a good idea. been told to do so in a car over 100,000 miles is not good. the car has 135,000 on it now. also what's up with the power steering. was also told it is normal that it is hard to turn the wheel from a non moving position, but when moving it works fine. One more issue. the check engine light comes on and i was told that it was an emissions code. any ideas on how to solve this. I have tightened my gas cap so that is not the problem. I really appreciate any suggestions on these issues. Thanks. FL

 

Changing the trans filter and fluid is as good start. As for the power steering, I have never had this problem, so check your steering fluid level. The check engine light,well.. could be numerous things, but your gas cap could still be bad even though it is tight, and is the cheapest route to take 1st. You will need to have code cleared to be sure, what is the code you are getting?

 

You can go to Autozone and they will scan the code for free befor you go dumping money in it. Even if you tighten the cap the code is still in there so you need to get it cleared to bo certain its the gas cap.IDK on the power steering. Good luck. Also , you can never go wrong changing the fluid and filter. Ive been told thats bs on high milage cars by many,many mecanics and tranny shops.

 

I had everything flushed. Make sure you have transmission fluid... mine was bone dry when I bought mine and that ended up being the issue. Mine still is notchy in 1st-3rd but it’s manageable.

 

Not changing tranny fluid is pure nonsense.

 

Okay, the old wives tale about not changing high mileage fluid is because years ago tranny fluid didn't have much detergents in it so particles would stick to the clutch plates and make them sticky. When you changed the fluid, it would wash the plates clean and cause clutches to slip because the sticky particles were hiding the fact that the clutch plates were worn. We're talking 50's now. Today transmission fluid has enough detergents in it to prevent the clutch plates from "packing up" with contaminates. Most transmissions have magnets and fine filters in them which also help in this respect.

Actually in the early days of automatic transmissions, Ford put fine abrasive particles in their fluid to stop this problem, if you can believe that!

 

In the past 11 years, this should have provided plenty of time for the monitors of the emissions system to fully complete their protocol.

If the gas cap were the reason, and it has since been corrected, it should take no more than two to three full tanks of gasoline at most in order to accomplish what is needing done for getting rid of the emissions code (maybe around 200 miles). Unless, you were never to have run out a fully topped-off gas tank to allow it to go down below having a 1/8th filled gas tank. If the code is still present eleven years later now, .. something like this could be the reason for why.

 

Well the first clue was he never came back on the first post. D'oh!