As you may already know from my previous post the tranny in my girlfriend's 04 sport w 52k started to act up...like didn't want to put all of the power to the ground and such, and be sluggish in terms of accelerating onto the highway, etc. No problem, changed the tranny fluid, do the filter while I'm at it since there is no drainplug.

Girlfriend went and picked up the parts at NAPA a few days prior. Guy sold her a traditional tranny filter kit (filter plus gasket) but he also sold her a cylinder filter, screw on kinda like a regular oil filter, saying that sometimes people say that there are two?? NAPA guys are usually more knowledgeable than any of the other discount autoparts places that sell all of that plastic bling crap, so I wasn't too alarmed.

So I drop the pan, then look at the filter and it's totally wrong. The filter on this 3.7L 4x4 KJ sport with a 3/04 build date is pretty square looking. Now her manual said that she has a 42RE tranny. I've done work recently on my friends 95ZJ with a 42re and I would concur that it's probalby teh same tranny. Pan is about the same size...maybe different sized bolts, potentially differnet filter, but basically same shape/size.

This is sunday mind you. So we went to two autoparts places. One didn't have anything for the KJ in stock. Second one, autozone had one. Same one we had...only it came with the cylinder thing in it! I told him that it was a 42re, but that does no good for him in terms of looking stuff up. So we found a kit with two gaskets in it, and a filter that was roughly the same shape, and went with it. It was for an 03WJ with 4.0L. The shape and size was very close, much closer than the other one. But we got back to find out that it was wrong again!!! The kit that we got this time had two gaskets, one with 14 bolts, and another with 15 bolts. The original one that we got had many more than 15...probalby more than 20.

So we didn't change the filter, just cleaned out the pan and magnet, used RTV (like they did from the factory) to put the pan back on and called it a day. So after my long explanation of what went down, my question is this, WTF?????!!!!!

Has anyone had issues with this before?? 13 bolt pan, AFAIK 42re. What can I get the filter kit from?? Tranny works much better now with some fresh +4 ATF in there....but it would have been nice to change the filter while I was down there!!

_________________
Civilisation exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice. -Durant

I have yet to find an auto parts store that has figured out that the liberty only had the 45rfe transmission for the first year or so. That cylinder type filter is the fluid cooler return line filter that is not in a 42rle. Go to your dealership, give them your VIN and you will get a filter. It should cost you about $18. The filter will not come with a gasket, use grey RTV.

_________________
04 Rocky Mountain Edition
Detroit Truetrac in the front, Rusty's 2.5" Coil Lift, Revos
Custom Roof Rack w/ 4 Hella 500s, Optima Red Top, Mopar Rock Rails, All Mopar skids

libby, thanx for the info. Yeah, the computer was saying 45re but I was like "I'm pretty sure this thing has a freakin 42re (or rle)." darn computers!

Dealership was my next guess. I originally told my girl to go get the filter at a regular place and the fluid at the dealer, but she found the fluid at a regular place...and now we have to get the proper filter at the dealer!!! ohwell. 18 is about right for a tranny filter. It's not big deal using the RTV...actually almost easier. It's easier to clean off the pan usually than a cooked gasket. I used RED RTV, cause that's what I had in my toolbox. It's hi-temp, won't be a problem, correct? What's the difference with grey?? I used to use grey for everything when I had dirtbikes and quads because I'd get it from the honda dealership. They always had grey.

_________________
Civilisation exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice. -Durant