Okay I just went to the same trail I experience a HOT OIL light indicator. I had this happen about 2 months ago. Had the Trans flushed filter changed and wheeled pretty hard at least three times and two light trails since. I went back to the same trail this last weekend. The light came on again at exactly the same spot as the first (and only) time. The altitude is about 4400 feet. I wheel it in 2 wheel drive for the most part as it is fire roads with some minor obstacles on the off shoots. It takes me a little over an hour to get there and I am running 35’s with stock gears in a Sahara. With stock gears the trans never wants to shift into 4th. When it does I lose all power and it downshifts back to 3rd shortly after. Yes 4.88’s are in the near future.

I am trying to find out if anyone else has had this happen? And why it is happening at the same spot.

Twice I have driven 3 hours to Calico and wheeled Doran and some other stuff there and drove home all in the same day and did not have this problem.?

Thanks in advance,

Danny

 

Thanks, That trans mod was also in the future. Of course I smelt the trans fluid and it smells burnt just had it done too... Nice instead of fixing the issue they install a sensor to tell you to stop driving before it catches fire... Only in America. Gotta love that Jeep product... Just weird it only has happened on this one trail.

 

Yes, an aux transmission cooler will lower the temps a lot.

To address why you overheated...

An unlocked torque converter generates a lot of heat. So, you need to manage your transmission in a way that will allow the torque converter to lock.

Put it in 4lo, "D", O/D off, as much as possible.
This will allow it to shift to 3rd, where the torque converter can lock. It will also keep it out of 4th, which will eliminate a lot of up/down shifting. All the time you are not in 3rd, ( and when the lever is in 1st or 2nd), you will be generating heat in the transmission.

 

Thanks good info I was under the impression you could not go very fast in 4lo so i try to stay out of it. However i never really go faster than 25 on the trails.

Thanks again

 

After many days of desert running this winter, 4-lo has worked great for me. Miles of sandy washes and trails, uphill or down. Long as I stay out of hi range there has been no transmission heat problem.

Ronjenx and I discussed this last year. At that time we agreed 4-lo and OD off should be best. Since then I've found that I can't get a torque converter lock-up with OD-off in my 2011, but OD-on has worked fine so no problem. I don't notice a lot of shifting between 3rd and 4th, and with OD-on I can run 20-25 in lo-range with the engine in a good RPM range.

 

The one time I forgot and kept it in 2wd, I got the "HOT OIL" light. Whenever I run a pretty easy trail with some climbing I always make sure I'm in 4lo or 4hi and I haven't had any issues. I haven't tried the OD thing yet......YOU LEARN SOMETHING EVERYDAY ON THIS FORUM.

 

Thanks for the info. Now that i think about it when i wheeled Calico i was in 4Lo the whole trip so that is probably why it did not happen on that trip.


So what I am hearing is that Jeep made a 4WD That kinda works... real nice.

 

Did we discuss why your 2011 torque would not lock in 3rd with O/D off? If not, I'd like to.

 

Just get the oil cooler and all your worries will be gone and you can wheel without worries.