I was parked on the street and a person backing out of a driveway hit my Grand jeep Cherokee near the left rear tire (right at the gas cap). Shortly thereafter (day or two) we noticed some slipping in the transmission. I suspect she was going 15-25 MPH based on the amount of damage she caused. I never noticed the transmission problem before so am convinced it was caused by the accident but I don’t know enough about cars mechanically to explain how a hit in the left rear would cause a tranny problem… anyone have any good insights? Many thanks!
I think that you’re looking at pure coincidence (or just hypersensitivity after the accident). The left rear is just too far from anything transmission to have done anything. And slipping is internal to a transmission.
People do have different ideas in mind about what “slipping” means. So rather than saying slipping, it might be best to describe what is actually happening.
Have you checked the transmission fluid? Note level, color, and smell. Is there any check engine light?
Does this Jeep have 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive?
I doubt very highly the accident caused any transmission problems like the slipping you are describing. Warm up your Jeep real good, get it on a level surface and check the fluid level with the gear selector in “N”. If its low, top it off with ATF+4.
What year and engine size is this Cherokee??
transman
I somewhat agree with transman. I would go one step further tho. Check to see if the rear end is tracking properly. If its not then it might of been knocked out by the impact causeing the driveshaft to be out of angle enough that you may have a leak in your rear seal. Just a thought.
Thanks for the awesome replies-- really appreciate people taking the time to help. So… to answer some questions:
– It is a 4WD.
– And I checked the fluid levels a few days ago and they were fine.
– on what i mean by “slipping”… it does not happen all the time but every now and then it will seem to be struggling to catch into gear and then will “clunk” in. In one case while stopped at a red light it was idling very rough.
I have it at the auto body shop today to get an estimate so I’m going to look and see if the alignment, axle etc were impacted by the accident; that might give me more insight.
Thank you again. Helpful information.