I was out on a mild trail last week in four wheel drive going up a hill not to steep or really long maybe 1/2 mile and near the top my hot oil light came on I pulled over stopped let it cool for 5 min and re started it no problems it wasn't hot that day maybe 65 or 70. any idea what this is? I think it actually said hot motor oil. I am running valvoline synthetic .

 

if your rig has an automatic transmission the "hot oil " light came on because the transmission fluid was at a overheating point

 

...and you were in 4hi going up the hill?

 

Here is a thread I started regarding the Hot Oil Warning... hope this helps!

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...g-at-the-beach

 

As PainKiller mentioned, the 'hotoil' message pertains to the transmission fluid getting too hot. When you get this message, the owner's manual advises to pull over but keep the engine running and place the transmission into Park or Neutral for a several minutes to cool it down. This keeps the transmission oil circulating through the transmission cooler.

As a suggestion, whenever you go off-roading, put your transfer case into 4-LOW and also turn off your overdrive (leave the gear selector in 'Drive' though). This is your best setup for trouble-free off-roading with the automatic transmission. Do this, and you should never see that 'hotoil' message again.

Since you got the 'hotoil' message already, you might want to check the condition of the tranny fluid and replace it.

 

When you change that fluid consider adding an auxillary transmission fluid cooler. JK's are equipped with a tranny fluid boiling system in the form of crossover pipe about a 1/4" inch from your tranny pan. Paratus13 has a great write-up.https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...mission+cooler