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42RLE Tranny Problem

4K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  nicolas-eric 
#1 ·
Hello.

Yesterday I was wheeling. At steep slopes my 42RLE tranny had a problem. I could shift in P, R or D, but nothing happened. After a buddy pulled me out and I was on levelled ground it worked fina again until the next steep slope. Things up to 40-45 degrees worked fine, but above that the tranny didn´t work.

On the evening we found out, that the ATF level wasn´t ok (it was between Full (cold) and Full (hot) with a hot tranny. We had to fill in about 3/4-1 pints of ATF+4 until the level was at Full (hot).
Today we didn´t have the time to try that steep slopes again. So we can´t check if the tranny works fine with the correct ATF level.

Do you thing adding some ATF fixed the problem? Could there be another problem with the tranny?

Thanks in advance.
nicolas-eric :wavey:




Sorry, I don´t have my buddies pics with me and my jeeps on it. But it was in situations like this:

 
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#4 ·
Your tranny's ATF pickup in the pan was sucking air at those steep angles. There's something different between early and later 42RLE trannies where later 42RLEs have a slight re-design where it won't suck air as readily. I think it may be a deeper ATF pickup inside the pan but I'm not 100% sure, but it's something like that. I'd ask your dealer to research the differences and order you what changed. If it's the ATF pickup and/or a pan redesign, it's an easy thing to swap them.
 
#5 ·
It´s a 2006 TJ, that must be the latest 42RLE that was available in a TJ. A buddies 2004 TJs tranny oil pan looked a bit different. When he wanted to change his ATF he dealer told him that he has to buy a new oil pan because there´s only a new (deeper) filter available. Now he has the same oil pan I have.

Is there a trick with that the tranny works again in such a situation? I wantd to test my new synthetic winch line on some really steep angles, but that didn´t work because of the tranny.

I hope that filling in some ATF to the correct level fixed the problem.
 
#8 ·
Your issue isn't confined to the 42RLE, it's a problem for any automatic transmission if it doesn't have a deep enough pan or properly positioned ATF pickup. That issue is why I installed a deeper pan and deeper pickup on the 32RH 3-speed automatic I just converted to on my TJ. There is no deep pan option for the 42RLE, at least not yet. :)
 
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