As the title says, 2003 Wrangler, 2.4L 4cyl. Completely stock, never been modified.
I believe after some reading this is one of the NV1500 (or NVG1500 or NV2550 are used interchangeably) transmissions which were only used in 03 and 04 behind the 2.4L motors. They are different than the more prevalent NV3550 (more on this below).
My problem: Not huge yet but worrisome. It's shifting kind of hard from a total stop when in neutral to first or into reverse. Like backing out of the garage in the morning from start up to putting into reverse. Doesn't seem to matter if it's cold or warm necessarily, it will do this at an intersection when I stop for a light and put in neutral and let the clutch out for a minute to wait on the light then when I clutch it and try to shift into 1st it goes in hard. No grinding or anything, just feels like I really have to push it in hard, much harder than what I call normal. Shifts fine through the all the gears and doesn't even do it all the time, just now and then. When I am rolling slow and put it into 1st, it falls right in, no problem. Anyone have an explanation for this?
Next question: After some reading on the web, it says the fluid is basically lifetime for these transmissions. That seems crazy but I'm not an engineer. Any reason not to change it?
3rd part: I want to change the tranny oil so was reading on specs. There is ALOT of mis-information out there on this NV1500 transmission. People use it interchangably with the NV3550 and apparently the NV1500 uses a friction modified fluid and the NV3550 does not. Apparently, Chrysler doesn't even know this or at least many of their dealers don't know. The base fluid is the same and that's where they screw up, the NV1500 requires a friction modifier to be added to the oil and Mopar never put their name on a quart of oil that was pre-mixed with the friction modifier so they sell the unmodified oil and neglect to sell or tell folks about the other component. Idiots!
Much like a LSD you need to add a 100 mL of a friction modifier to the 2.3 qts of the base oil for the NV1500 if you use mopar oil. Alot of folks are using the pennzoil synchromesh or RP synchromax too. Not sure if those are OK or not. However, I read that GM part 12377916 is the right oil, already containing the friction modifier (the S-10 of some vintage uses the same New Venture transmission). Can anyone verify that I have this cluster fuck of a story correct? Also, back to the original question, is there any reason to not change my tranny oil? I don't trust anything in my manual, it doesn't even have the right engine oil capacity for my motor (says 4qts and the motor requires 5) so I am not going to rely on my owners manual for any of this kind of info.
Kinda hoping Lee comes along and reads this
I believe after some reading this is one of the NV1500 (or NVG1500 or NV2550 are used interchangeably) transmissions which were only used in 03 and 04 behind the 2.4L motors. They are different than the more prevalent NV3550 (more on this below).
My problem: Not huge yet but worrisome. It's shifting kind of hard from a total stop when in neutral to first or into reverse. Like backing out of the garage in the morning from start up to putting into reverse. Doesn't seem to matter if it's cold or warm necessarily, it will do this at an intersection when I stop for a light and put in neutral and let the clutch out for a minute to wait on the light then when I clutch it and try to shift into 1st it goes in hard. No grinding or anything, just feels like I really have to push it in hard, much harder than what I call normal. Shifts fine through the all the gears and doesn't even do it all the time, just now and then. When I am rolling slow and put it into 1st, it falls right in, no problem. Anyone have an explanation for this?
Next question: After some reading on the web, it says the fluid is basically lifetime for these transmissions. That seems crazy but I'm not an engineer. Any reason not to change it?
3rd part: I want to change the tranny oil so was reading on specs. There is ALOT of mis-information out there on this NV1500 transmission. People use it interchangably with the NV3550 and apparently the NV1500 uses a friction modified fluid and the NV3550 does not. Apparently, Chrysler doesn't even know this or at least many of their dealers don't know. The base fluid is the same and that's where they screw up, the NV1500 requires a friction modifier to be added to the oil and Mopar never put their name on a quart of oil that was pre-mixed with the friction modifier so they sell the unmodified oil and neglect to sell or tell folks about the other component. Idiots!
Much like a LSD you need to add a 100 mL of a friction modifier to the 2.3 qts of the base oil for the NV1500 if you use mopar oil. Alot of folks are using the pennzoil synchromesh or RP synchromax too. Not sure if those are OK or not. However, I read that GM part 12377916 is the right oil, already containing the friction modifier (the S-10 of some vintage uses the same New Venture transmission). Can anyone verify that I have this cluster fuck of a story correct? Also, back to the original question, is there any reason to not change my tranny oil? I don't trust anything in my manual, it doesn't even have the right engine oil capacity for my motor (says 4qts and the motor requires 5) so I am not going to rely on my owners manual for any of this kind of info.
Kinda hoping Lee comes along and reads this
I figure worst case I go drag it home with the tow bar or trailer so not a biggie but sure enough it will be at RDU or the middle of the durham fwy when it goes with my luck. I hope it's clutch related as I can't find any info on the tranny (NV1500/NV2550). Seems they are POS tranny's in the 03/04 4cyl wranglers from what I read and I can't find any write-ups on rebuilds so not sure if I can tear into that if synchros or something internal to the trans is the problem. If the clutch goes, you'll be getting and invitation for a weekend of wrenching when i pull the driveline to replace it. That should be a circus huh?