I have heard about this happening in a number of threads. Is this something new to the JK or was this also a problem for the TJ?

 

I have seen it happen once on our last trip out to Death Valley and it happend while doing a long steady climb. On our previous trip out to DV, several auto had the 'ding' go off and none of us knew what it was for at the time but we later found out that the following DTC was recoreded on them:

BTW, this was not a problem on the TJ's but then, it transmission cooler and overall engine setup was quite different.

I'm not saying anything other than the fact that I have seen this happen before, on multiple JK's with autos and on multiple occasions. If this hasn't happend to you before, I'm glad to hear it.

 

I'm one of the people WoL is talking about. The trail we were on climbed over 5,000 feet in 7 miles, and every single automatic had a problem on that trail. Haven't had any problems on steeper, but shorter, climbs.

Since we spend quite a bit of time in that type of terrain, some of us are going to add a transmission cooler and see if that takes care of it.

I'm no mechanic by any means , but a couple people have told me and the research I've done so far seems to bear it out, that the pan in the jeep is very shallow, so when you're at that angle for that length of time, all of the fluid drains to the back of the pan and starves the transmission. Skyjacker and Currie make a performance transmission oil pan for that exact problem for the TJs. It is much deeper and has a higher capacity. Wondering if they'll come out with one for the JKs?

So now my question to the mechanically inclined is, will the cooler alone be enough if all of the transmission fluid is sitting in the back anyway?

 

Sorry you are having trouble with the auto trans.... It is actually one of the biggest reasons I waited and searched 30 days for a stick shift.

But it has its down sides also..... just not overheating and having to pump fluid for cooling

 

This is beginning to worry me a little. I just finished reading the post "Destroyed JK" in this same JK Talk section. That vehicle went up in flames, pictures are posted. It was terrible. You don't suppose there is a link here do you? Just wondering.

 

I've climbed over 10,000 ft and haven't had a problem. I've also been all over Panamint valley when the forum was in DV. I have heard the ding on 2 occasions but have never noticed any change in driveability. I do plan on adding a tranny cooler this spring.

 

I've never noticed any change in driveability after the "ding", either. But I'm almost certain it is the beginning phase of the tranny overheating. Have you pulled your codes yet? It would be interesting to know if you have 0218 stored in there.

 

Trailbud is going to put in a temp guage, hopefully he'll do a writeup (hint, hint).