97 ZJ Transmission

Phoenix_69 said:

SO basically it started with park of course being park but everything else was drive I was able to make it out of the trail and into town cause it would still shift through all the gears including overdrive so I got to town and when I pulled into a local grocery store with my buddy the jeep stalled so started it then it stalled again so i had to start it give it throttle and throw it into gear to get to a parking spot. so i let it cool down and i went a checked to make sure that the shift linkage was correct and not out of place and it was going into the different gears correctly but the transmission wasnt shiting into those gears. So then like i said it was still going through all the gears including overdrive so I went to my buddies house then once we left there to go about 20 miles to my other buddies house where there is plenty of room to work on my jeep and so I had one of my buddies follow behind me then all of the sudden I pull away from a stop sign and I only have first gear so I ride it slowly not to high of rpms to a pull off spot right of the highway and yeah I had him hook up to the front and tow me the rest of the way. But yeah it only has first gear so I dropped the pan it smelled really burnt up. And i've dropped the pan before to change out my torque converter solenoid and it was fine. So yeah long story short it only has first gear.

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It is in some sort of limp mode. It also sounds like the trans oil pump was or is dying and something with your torque converter(could also be that TCC solenoid). Take this with a huge grain of salt, for I am not a true transmission guy. I rarely mess with them, and when I do it is simple stuff. I just remember what I looked into when I wound up rebuilding mine about ten years ago. I went through a fasir amount of research, most of which I have forgotten by now.

Phoenix_69 said:

And also when u say about swapping the internals u are talking about the plugs on the transmission and stuff going to the computer or the computer itself?

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The harness connector, the internal shift solenoids, and the pressure and governor switches would need to be the same as the ones you have. You can upgrade the pressure switch and pressure governor but everything else electrical need be the same(i.e. 96-98) The PCM controls some of the transmission and the other half is controlled by the TCM that resides under your center console next to the mercury velocity switch (location depends on year). Pre 96 was all done by a separate TCM, in 96-98 they changed it up, and 99+ they had it all in the PCM. So when I say your best off just getting it rebuilt, or getting the same year in a ZJ or a Dakota Sport truck, it's because it really is that specific. Thank a chrysler engineer...

Good news is that it can be rebuilt. It doesn't sound like you cooked it too much. You likely have little internal warping, but should be rebuildable. I suppose you should look to see if there's a direct swap to be found in your local area, but I would advise you to have it rebuilt.