Jeep Liberty 2011, bought used 1.5 yrs ago, engine light on, code P0740, was told the transmission fluid is very dirty w a burnt smell. Mechanic had 3 options 1. New/rebuilt transmission $3500+ 2. Drive it until it fails 3. Change TF (not flush) but this could cause earlier failure. I'm starting to feel some hesitation shifting gears (automatic) but it drives fine otherwise. I'm leaning toward using a transmission "fix" fluid to see if that will help. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'd like to hold on to it as long as possible. Def don't want to sink $3k into it. Thanks
OK, proceed with caution but if it were me I would take my chances and do a full flush with OEM fluid to see if that fixes it, if not add some shift fix or shift stop (whatever). If that fails call a junkyard, they will have a replacement tranny for you for a low cost. Tell your mechanic you'll get the tranny and he can do the work and avoid a rebuild cost.
@subawoo
Will say if its over 200k miles and has never been changed i think the chances of failure after change go up. But its not every vehicle this happens in. Depends on the valve body of the transmission.
This is true, risk of failure is high. OP, if you are already looking at a total replacement it may be worth it because if it works you are potentially good for another 70xxx miles or so....if you just change out some fluid who knows how long it could last. If you'd like, i can send some links to good how to videos on flushes
@subawoo, @Cjbman thanks. I forgot to mention it has 99k miles on it.
@subawoo I'm willing to try the flush. I saw a couple of videos though that suggest if a car with very dark, burnt tf is flushed it can send metal shards into other parts of the transmission, killing the whole thing. If you have video suggestions that would be great. Thanks again