Weird Power Loss on Sand Hills
 

I have a question about power. I went wheelin last weekend. It was the first "real" wheelin trip for my JKU. Everything worked great when I was climbing on a sandstone hill. In the deep, soft, sand hills you cant crawl up them though, you need to get after it a little bit. Once the tires start spinning a bit or lose traction here and there the Jeep just puked its power and didnt want to go anymore. If I disable the ESP for those sandy hill climbs would that prevent the power loss and "limp mode" effect? I didnt mind the ESP during times on rock, it actually helped a bit and didnt cause any problems, but I was crawling nice n slow too. It just sucked trying to get up the sand hills. There were a couple that I had to find another way around. My friends built up Land Cruiser made it easy (of course) and my other friend made it fine in a stock Toyota Tacoma. Not my JK though :( I havent found a thread to answer my question. Thanks for any help guys!

Yes. Or, just put it in 4WD low and the Jeep will automatically disable it for you (you should see the light come on).

Yes this is your traction control kicking in. It's sensing wheel spin and possible steering angle changes and chopping the throttle to maintain control. There are threads on disabling this feature her on the forum.

Here is one I found

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modi...ut-off-267851/

Thats the thing, it was still doing the power loss crap. Thats why this is so weird to me! At one point I the skinny peddle floored with nothing changing immediately, I had to let off the gas and get on it again, but the power on lasted a few moments and puked out again. I dont want to have to drive it like I did last time just to get up sandy hills. Im definitely askin for trouble, like blowin a motor or doing other serious damage. Its really hard to explain it, but it's a repeatable effect so it wasn't just a fluke on that one hill... Its driving me nuts that I cant figure it out. I have checked every Jeep forum I can think of to search for an answer, but here I am still scratchin my head. In my mind its obviously a computer issue, everything is mechanically sound and Im pretty good about maintenance. Im no mechanic, but I know how to do general check ups on stuff. I dont know man.. This one has me stummped...

Thank You very much V8!! I will see if I can get that switch in this weekend. Hopefully it works like that post says. I only need it off for the deep sandy stuff, so if a switch works that would be great!! Thanks again, I really appreciate your help!!!

Yep, that traction control is a pain in the sand and our electronic pedal doesn't help either when you put it all the way to the floor.


Curious- what tire pressure were you running? Usually dropping the pressure will help the jeep 'float' for lack of better words.

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Your Jk is a drive by wire vehicle, there is no direct link from the gas pedal to the throttle body. This all done by your computer based on inputs it receives it may modify what you are telling it to do. This system is what allows it to cut the throttle and apply brakes when it senses you are out of normal driving parameters to regain control of the vehicle. It is a huge safety step forward on the road and prevents a lot of rollovers. This is not always the case in certain off road manuvers and hence the need to disable it in your case.

Street pressure. I know that lowering PSI provides a wider footprint and better traction. Im running Treadwright tires and they say not to lower the PSI because it stresses the sidewalls and will void my warranty. Here is the video I posted of when I was on the sandstone "rock crawl." I know how to drive off-road and know about tire PSI and small stuff like that. (Thats sounds like Im snappy at you, but I dont know how to reword it..lol.. Not trying to sound like a dick to you so please dont read it like that). I just couldnt figure out the damn power loss thing so I hope that switch is the ticket. Thanks again everyone for your help and suggestions. This issue has been driving my crazy.. No pun intended..lol.. Now, here is that video!
http://youtu.be/-3Sr0Tyy_T0 ^^^^^Hope this link works^^^^^

Right V8. Like I said before too, I like it on road and it did help a little as you can see from the video. Its a PITA for sand though..lol.. I found about the DBW "feature" and wasnt too happy about it. Mainly because of all the crashes it may/may not have caused in other vehicles. There is a kit you can get to help improve the sensitivity of the DBW, but I just cant see paying that kind of money for it.

Thanks again everyone for your help. Im excited to get that switch in.