06 TJ - Auto Transmission - Shifting Issue

MistyCherie

New member
Hi there,

This past Saturday I went out on a local poker run. While on the run, I went to engage 4WD and it made a (really) horrible racket. It did go into 4WD but seemed to slip out a couple times while navigating through (light went off), and 4WD lever was a bit sticky shifting. This was on a farm, mostly mud/dirt. I didn't do any rocks/trees or flexing. At the end of the day everything seemed fine, drove home (about 60-70 miles away). Until this year I had never needed 4WD as I hadn't done anything really offroad with my jeep yet. Just mentioning this in case it matters, 4WD lever and functionality got its first use in February.

Monday morning I get in to go to work, pull out of my parking space, and proceed forward and all of a sudden the jeep lurches forward like a really bad shifting.

Symptoms are... hard jolt/lurch like when it's shifting from 1st to 2nd pretty rough the first time, then it may do it again once or twice in the first 5-10 minutes (but not as rough, but still lurchy) after I start the jeep and get going. (Usually happens between 10-20MPH.) After that it doesn't happen, but the overall shifting between gears does still seem to be a bit more sluggish than it used to be. But no jolting after that initial bit. If I park and it sits for a while, it does it all over again.

I have felt like she hasn't been as powerful, get-up-and-go-ish, as she used to be but I figured that was just due to lift/tires and to be expected. I had a 97 TJ years and years ago but it was a manual transmission so this is my first experience with an automatic having issues.

I have been researching the symptoms of my jeep issue since Monday while I wait for shop appointment (upcoming Monday) and it seems like this has happened to other people for TJs. They have flashed their PCM to reset it to factory and I was wondering if there's any cons against trying that out myself? I have the instructions(pretty simple to do) and just wondered if there is a real downside to doing it. Seems like it has to re-learn after that but... I'm not sure exactly what all that means as far as how it will handle/drive, etc.

I went to a 4" lift and 33s in February. I had 30s on it before that, but no lift. I do not have an SYE/driveshaft upgrade. It is on my very near future to do, but so far I have had to do other repairs first and have a limited budget. (new ball joints about 6 weeks ago, replace inner seal on front axle, added locker) The inner seal was added about 2 weeks ago because it was leaking. It was caught before much leaked out. At that time the mechanic suggested some outer seals as extra protection, and due to low cost I said sure. Also, while yapping about jeep stuff lockers came up and I figured to save myself labor cost down the road and went ahead and had that added at same time. It's a lockright automatic locker on the front axle. I did have to replace the shifter cable a couple of years ago at about 40k, the plastic bushing on one end just gave up the ghost. Switching from P-N-D etc, it's not super tight. There is a little play but I have never figured it to be a concern?

I'm like 3 miles away from 50,000. I bought the jeep in July 2006 with 12k miles on it, and all the rest of the miles have been put on by me since then. This is my daily driver and only vehicle. It's a 4.0L with inline 6.

Canvas JK said to post in this part of the forum, since he also thought maybe my shift points needed to be updated. So I figured I'd ask and see what input you guys have as to what my issue may be. If the PCM reset would help me or not, if I need to update shift points, etc.

Thanks,
-M

Edited to add: I know I have the appointment on Monday, but I'm trying to learn more about my jeep and not be completely in the dark (and I'm impatient and this is really freaking me out potential $$ wise). I got totally ripped off on the ball joints installation (chain store) and it has made me extra leery. The seal/locker was put on by a good jeeper, the appt is with another jeep specialty shop - but I'd like to have a clue or at least some extra insight into what may be going on with my vehicle.
 
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Woody3

New member
Did u install the lift yourself? Did you or the shop that installed the lift adjust the transfer case shift linkage? If not then you will notice some shifting issues. I'm wondering if your stuck in 4high without knowing it. Possibly right on the verge of shifting into 2wd so the indicator light isn't coming on but the Tcase is still in 4high?

In a nut shell, check your shift linkage. It's a very easy fix if it is the problem.


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
Thanks Woody. Canvas JK peeked under the jeep at a get together Friday evening and said the tab on the 4WD linkage is a little bent. I had a shop install the lift, I couldn't say if they adjusted it or not, but this shop specializes in jeep stuff so I would assume so. I will make sure the shop (different one) tomorrow checks it to make sure.

Did u install the lift yourself? Did you or the shop that installed the lift adjust the transfer case shift linkage? If not then you will notice some shifting issues. I'm wondering if your stuck in 4high without knowing it. Possibly right on the verge of shifting into 2wd so the indicator light isn't coming on but the Tcase is still in 4high?

In a nut shell, check your shift linkage. It's a very easy fix if it is the problem.


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
Turned out to be the Transmission Temp Switch(Manual Valve Lever Switch) - apparently it thought it was at -4degrees with it not even running. So got that replaced, plus transmission and transfer case serviced at same time. Apparently the computer was trying to adjust for the temperature, which caused the lurching and weird shifting. Funny thing is I did end up trying out the resetting of the PCM on Friday night and it stopped the lurching right away, but it came back later on Saturday while out and about. Was worth a shot!

The 4WD lever issue will be fixed with a relocator/drop bracket as well as having some other minor stuff addressed(speedo gearing to adjust for bigger tires, and my front drive shaft is hitting the cross member so going to tweak that a bit), had to order parts for other items and will get it all addressed next week. Feeling much better now, and thankfully it was rather minor even if a bit scary.

BTW Woody - it was using 4Hi when I was in 4WD. Apparently a part (some bracket?) was left out of the original lift install and I never could have been in 4-low if I tried! Getting that fixed with the other stuff next week.
 
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Woody3

New member
By the sounds of it the shop didn't install your transfer case drop kit. If you need one I'll ship it to you just cover shipping charges.


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
Not sure? I do have the actual drop, that I can see for sure, but not sure what else comes with that kit. The new shop is getting the part needed and the price seemed very reasonable (minimal labor, etc). Thank you for the offer. If it comes up at the shop that I need that kit and it seems pricy I'll get back with you.

By the sounds of it the shop didn't install your transfer case drop kit. If you need one I'll ship it to you just cover shipping charges.


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
They replaced the temp switch but didn't have the other item(4wd bracket) in stock or nearby to get done in the same day. So, I have an appointment on Thursday for that and to fix the front driveshaft rubbing on the cross member. He wanted to fix the temp switch before he continued checking it out to see what other issues it may have.

However, I think it lurched again last night while out doing errands, but want to make sure with more test driving. (Going out later today to give her a bath, a real pain since I'm in an apartment and can't just do it in my front yard.) It was more a "uhh did it just lurch again when that is fixed?!?" sort of moment, so I want to make sure before I complain about it. Washing it real good underneath today as they said I could bring it in tomorrow(yes on the holiday) for the rest of my 50k "check everything out" diagnosis, etc. (I did some light trail riding with the club last weekend and it got all muddy on the undercarriage, I figure clean that up so they can see everything better.)

Did ya get fixed up?


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

Woody3

New member
Good. Hope they can get you fixed up right with little money spent and even less hiccups.


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
It would be nice. I've already spent over 4k on my jeep since Feb (including lift and tires), and while I am extremely happy to actually BE doing stuff with my jeep finally... this type of problem thing does hurt my limited budget. Especially on an 8 year old jeep with only 50k miles, I haven't abused it.

I know there's always going to be maintenance stuff, just hoping nothing major crops up. I want to try to buy a house this year so I have a garage of my own and can learn to do minor stuff myself, so I have been limiting what I buy as far as mods due to fixing mechanical issues and keeping my house down payment budget in mind. I notice a lot of people seem to want to do all the fancy bumpers, winches, other mods and all that other stuff and then work on the mechanical stuff(lift/SYE/etc) after they make it look good for viewing, whereas I feel the mechanical stuff should be 100% right before I do any bolt on stuff. This is my only vehicle, and I don't have anyone to be giving me rides so I have to make sure she's in good running condition. (Balancing that with wanting to play on trails too, haha.)

Good. Hope they can get you fixed up right with little money spent and even less hiccups.


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

Woody3

New member
I feel your pain. After I bought my jeep I put 500 miles on it and started to have transmission problems. Really long story short, $6,000 later my jeep was running tip top, had a nice lift and a Dana 44 in the rear.

Just
Empty
Every
Pocket


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
Yep! I wouldn't trade her for anything else though.

I feel your pain. After I bought my jeep I put 500 miles on it and started to have transmission problems. Really long story short, $6,000 later my jeep was running tip top, had a nice lift and a Dana 44 in the rear.

Just
Empty
Every
Pocket


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
Jeep has been lurching again(same exact symptoms), after the issue clearing up for a while when they replaced the switch, so bringing it back to the shop. Sigh.
 

Woody3

New member
Sorry to hear that.

Does it possibly feel like the throttle body may be sticking? May have them check your cable? Dunno, just throwing ideas out. :D


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

MistyCherie

New member
Mechanic said the temp sensing switch they put in is working/fine and computer is reading it and the temp is withing proper ranges, but something along the way is telling the computer that my tranny is running hot intermittently so it's trying to counter it. He is going to coordinate getting the computer flashed and see if that fixes it. It's throwing the temp-sensing-switch-intermittent error. Will have to see what happens after that. Nah, throttle body and cables are all fine. My shifter has a little bit of play when I shift into park, sometimes(more often than not) I have to jiggle it to get it to "click in" to be able to pull the key out of the ignition. I mentioned that and he said that wasn't the issue, his computer said it's seeing all the gear changes just fine. Apparently 05-06 models have uhm... "semi-cam" computer/something (I forgot) so they can be a little glitchy? Before 05 it was "PCM" and the JKs have "full-cam." Mine is an 06 so he's hoping flashing the computer will fix any glitches.

Just saying what I was told, if it's incorrect it's my fault for faulty memory/retelling.

Sorry to hear that.

Does it possibly feel like the throttle body may be sticking? May have them check your cable? Dunno, just throwing ideas out. :D


Keep your head low and your powder dry.
 

Armydog

New member
Did u install the lift yourself? Did you or the shop that installed the lift adjust the transfer case shift linkage? If not then you will notice some shifting issues. I'm wondering if your stuck in 4high without knowing it. Possibly right on the verge of shifting into 2wd so the indicator light isn't coming on but the Tcase is still in 4high?

In a nut shell, check your shift linkage. It's a very easy fix if it is the problem.


Keep your head low and your powder dry.

Any posted instruction on this adjustment procedure?


Sent from my iPad using WAYALIFE mobile app.......
 
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