ekelsay

This afternoon as I was heading to work I noticed that when I started going up a hill my jeep started slowing down. The jeep didn't seem to shift bad or anything. The RPM's remained the same (about 3000), but no matter how much I pushed the pedal down the Jeep would not speed up or shift. Once I topped the hill it was fine. It was also fine on flat ground as well as declines. But every time I would go up a moderately steep hill (above 45 degrees) the same thing would happen.

Again, The RPM's never changed and it never seemed to shift weird, and it never lurched or gave any indication there was a problem other than losing speed and not responding to me pushing the gas pedal. If anyone can give me any ideas as to what my problem might be I would be extremely grateful.

dave1123

Welcome to CF!

First of all, you're not going to drive up a 45* slope. That's a 100% grade and is beyond your tire's and engine's capabilities without special tires and low range. The steepest road in America is only a 30% or 17* angle BUT, I get what you're saying.

If in fact your jeep is slowing down but staying at 3000, the clutches are slipping! I suggest you manually downshift and have your transmission checked at a shop. My WJ only runs 3000 at 70 mph in 3rd gear and is about the only time it gets that high. It will pull up a steep grade at 2000 in second gear at 25 mph very nicely. That is also with 220K miles on the original transmission.

The 42re transmission in your jeep has a habit of not making up it's mind when to downshift when asked to accelerate quickly anyway. Sometimes when coming onto a highway, I'll give it the boot and it will not downshift, then I give it some more throttle and it goes down to 1st, then jumps up to 2nd! I handle that by manually shifting it down instead. I like coming down a steep grade in second gear and not riding the brakes. It drives other drivers nuts thinking my brake lights don't work!