Waterlogged transmission

P

plext0r

New member
My son took our 2008 JKU through some water yesterday. It was high enough to come through the bottom of the doors and into the cab. :doh:

After his wheeling adventure with friends, he was driving down the highway and noticed it took higher revs (2K+) just to get rolling. A friend told him over the CB that something was smoking under the Jeep. He pulled over and called me. The CEL did come on.

When I got to the Jeep, I noticed lots of fluid near the transmission, but it was very watery. I tried checking the CEL codes with a ELM237 bluetooth OBD, but I couldn't get Torque (Android) to work properly. I called a tow truck and when he looked under the vehicle and swiped his finger, it was clearly red-tainted water. He suggested towing it to the local transmission shop Apex Transmissions.

Any thoughts on how bad this is? I'm waiting to hear back on initial diagnosis this morning since the shop was closed last night. Anything I should watch out for, etc.? Thanks.

This is never a good thing:
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If it's an auto transmission your probably gunna need a rebuild. If it's Manuel you might get away with a fluid change. It all đepends how much you got into the transmission if you got more then a ounce of water in it and it's auto. It's probably gunna need some work.
 
I assume best way to check the diff is to open the fill plug, dip my finger in there and see if it's watery? Any other method I should try?

I need to research the breather tubes in general since I was thinking the Jeep was "ready" for these adventures.
 
Just got word from the shop. Transmission is completely shot, lots of gear ratio codes, will not move at all. Also got a catalytic converter code, not sure if it's damaged or crushed. Says they won't know if the transfer case is also damaged until they drop the transmission, but they'll roll labor into the whole project.

Initial cost for just transmission is $2,500 to $2,800. How reasonable is that?
 
Hey I had the same thing happen to me once. I hope you know the shop and trust them. The first thing I would do is pump all the water/fluid out of the transmission and converter. Mine was so full it was running out the dipstick tube. The transmission didn't have a breather line just a breather hole in the top of the tranny so if you got deep enough it would fill. I'm wondering if yours is the same. All I did after being broke down on the highway was flush everything and put fresh fluid in. It was good to go. I have a feeling everything else should be fine your transfer case and differentials have breather tubes that run up pretty high I would still check to see if there's water in the fluid but don't let the shop take you to the cleaners.
 
Price seems right for a reman trans, but you could probably find a used or junkyard trans a lot cheaper. As far as transfer case and diffs, hopefully just a drain and refill will work. After you get your breather tubes extended, I like to spray flex seal around the area where the breather tube meets the gear box. Just extra peace of mind to keep water out.
 
WJCO said:
Price seems right for a reman trans,
Click to expand...

This quote was for rebuilding my existing transmission with OEM parts updated over the years since the 2008 was released. This is not for a remanufactured transmission.

I've not tried the pump clean, flush, refill yet. It's sitting at the shop. The shop was going to start working on it tomorrow but I'm not very mechanically inclined so it's not like I'm going to rebuild it or replace it myself.
 
that price is not out of line for a complete rebuild. I was quoted that on my 2010 when it was having shifting issues - no water just wouldn't shift.

mine turned out to be an ECU reset so I lucked out.
 
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