Lazy shift 2000 Jeep XJ 4x4 transmission

My 94 XJ does same thing for the first few minutes, you have to feather the throttle, it shifts normal through the upper ratios. After 5 minutes it is warm and works very well. It has 303k miles on drive train. I had flushed with new fluid (bucket to drain trans cooler line when running. Stop and pour in more clean fluid and run again , repeat until color looks fresh, included a quart of some miracle transmission rebuild in a can. It was 11 quarts before it went from dark brown to acceptable red. Helps a little bit still has hitch as noted above. The solenoids, O rings and seal rings are probably just hard and not doing a good. Time for an LS conversion, got my money’s worth out of that one.

Sounds like you have tried all the possibilities. A transmission shop I spoke with said it was time to rebuild. Seals and o rings when old causes all sort of issues but a lazy shift is a good clue. I will keep running mine until I do the LS conversion. I only drive the XJ maybe 2000 miles a year.

I am right there with you on the lists. Mine was worth it as there was no rust at all. Good luck