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Ok, thought I'd poll here to see if anyone has a clue as to what could be up with our Jeep, since the last two mechanics we asked (while it was in for other service) had no clue what we were talking about and were thus unhelpful on this issue.
For background, we own an old Jeep. It's a '95 Grand Cherokee Limited, so a good 17 years old at this point. Hubby and I do what we can to treat it right, but neither of us are mechanics, nor do we have the money to take it in for much more than its regular maintenance, oil changes, etc. The Jeep's "default" drive setting is 2WD (front, I think), but it can be shifted to 4-wheel part time or full 4WD, as well as one or two low-gear settings. According to the manual, it's safe to switch from 2WD to 4W-part to 4WD all without having to slow down or stop (low-gear settings require the vehicle to be in neutral, though).
All that said, in the past two years, I've noticed the 4WD feeling...well, kind of "slushy," I guess, when I try to use it. The controls get loose, and even on a bone-dry road the vehicle handles like it's on ice. Sometimes it finally corrects itself, but other times I have to put it back into 2WD and leave it that way for a day or so before the loose feeling goes away. It almost feels like the drive system isn't fully engaging when I change settings, like it's stuck mid-change, but I don't have a clue how to check or anything. When we asked the mechanics about it, they'd never heard of such a thing and told us we had to be in neutral or stopped completely when changing from 2WD to 4WD and back, and that would fix the problem (note: didn't work).
So, does anyone know what might be wrong with it? Perhaps know what we could say to a mechanic to get them to understand just what's happening?
For background, we own an old Jeep. It's a '95 Grand Cherokee Limited, so a good 17 years old at this point. Hubby and I do what we can to treat it right, but neither of us are mechanics, nor do we have the money to take it in for much more than its regular maintenance, oil changes, etc. The Jeep's "default" drive setting is 2WD (front, I think), but it can be shifted to 4-wheel part time or full 4WD, as well as one or two low-gear settings. According to the manual, it's safe to switch from 2WD to 4W-part to 4WD all without having to slow down or stop (low-gear settings require the vehicle to be in neutral, though).
All that said, in the past two years, I've noticed the 4WD feeling...well, kind of "slushy," I guess, when I try to use it. The controls get loose, and even on a bone-dry road the vehicle handles like it's on ice. Sometimes it finally corrects itself, but other times I have to put it back into 2WD and leave it that way for a day or so before the loose feeling goes away. It almost feels like the drive system isn't fully engaging when I change settings, like it's stuck mid-change, but I don't have a clue how to check or anything. When we asked the mechanics about it, they'd never heard of such a thing and told us we had to be in neutral or stopped completely when changing from 2WD to 4WD and back, and that would fix the problem (note: didn't work).
So, does anyone know what might be wrong with it? Perhaps know what we could say to a mechanic to get them to understand just what's happening?
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