In another thread I saw jeepgirl0385 mentioned that her KJ was relunctant to downshift on the freeway.

My '03 does this and I'm just curious if everyone's jeep does it or not. Around town it's fine. But there is this dead spot from about 60 - 75 MPH where it seems like the trans does not want to downshift. If I start going up a hill my foot goes deeper and deeper into the gas pedal and the truck actually starts slowing down. Finally when my foot just about hits the floor it will finally shift down, but I think it then goes down 2 gears. And because my foot is so far into the throttle the truck takes off.

It's gotten to the point when I start going up a hill I click the overdrive off and the click it back on at the top.

I did recently reset my computer and it seems to have gotten better, but I haven't done a ton of freeway driving since then to be sure. I know a lot of cars reset their throttle position zero point on the first start after a computer reset. I wonder when my computer was originally reset reset the mechanic (or factory worker) had their foot on the gas causing my throttle position sensor to be miscalibrated.

I forgot to mention that I drove an '02 with a 45RFE and it behaves much better. As soon as you are ~25% into the throttle it very uneventfully unlocks the torque converter and picks up a few hundred RPM. At about 40% throttle it, very uneventfully drops out of overdrive.

[EDIT: fixed a mistype]

The 02's have the 45rfe. Mid-way 03 and up have the 42rle. Mine will unlock the torque then downsift into 3rd if needed. Getting up to speed is the problem. It goes into 4th and locks the torque around 40mph and the rpms drop like crazy..

What size tires are you running. I couldnt stand the 255/70/16 b/c it would go up hills. I changed to the 245/70/16's and its almost the same as stock..

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LOST KJ'S
Where are you going???
Current Jeep: 2004 Jeep Liberty
-Atlantic Blue
-Air Ride Rear Suspension ; OME/Rustys Lift ; Powertrax Locker ; Moog Lower Ball-Joints ; 245/70/16 Yokohama Geolander A/T-S's on MOABS ; Flowmaster 50 SUV
Lost #007082
http://www.cardomain.com/id/jeepjeepster

Oops, yeah I meant an '02 with a 45RFE (mistyped it 42RFE).

I'm on the stock tires (235/70/16s)

my 04 does the same thing,I've learned to live with it & mash the gas if I need it

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PETE
ADMINISTRATOR
L.O.S.T. 4 LIFE
04 COLUMBIA ED. & 04 SPORT

With the 45RFE, you can actually make it shift like a sport truck. You can get a Transgo performance shift kit, an APS torque converter, and a B&G flash. You won't believe that you're driving the same vehicle.

If you want to take care of the problem the cheap way, I've heard you can cut the torque management request sensor wire to make the PCM not kick in the torque management since it is reading zero torque. I would personally recommend just doing the shift kit if you don't want to spend too much. It makes the biggest difference of the 3.

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June 2001 Liberty Limited 4X4
Frankenlift II Premium, Al's Upper Arms, 245/75R16 C Silent Armors on Moabs, RL Skink Super Sliders, Rear DTT, Riddler Diff Cover, Fastman Throttle Body, Profinish-Proglass Hood, Borla Dual Outlet Exhaust, TransGo Reprogramming Kit, APS Stall Converter, 4.10 Gears, B&G Chrysler PCM, Lots of Line-X, etc...

Wonder if that would work with the 42rle? Can you give me some more info on this?

_________________
LOST KJ'S
Where are you going???
Current Jeep: 2004 Jeep Liberty
-Atlantic Blue
-Air Ride Rear Suspension ; OME/Rustys Lift ; Powertrax Locker ; Moog Lower Ball-Joints ; 245/70/16 Yokohama Geolander A/T-S's on MOABS ; Flowmaster 50 SUV
Lost #007082
http://www.cardomain.com/id/jeepjeepster

As far as I know, no one makes a shift kit or performance torque converter for the 42RLE. B&G makes a flash that deletes the torque management though. It will downshift better, and it will shift harder and quicker than stock since it won't back it off whenever you shift or take off from a start. It's also tuned much more aggressively and will give you a nice performance increase.

_________________
June 2001 Liberty Limited 4X4
Frankenlift II Premium, Al's Upper Arms, 245/75R16 C Silent Armors on Moabs, RL Skink Super Sliders, Rear DTT, Riddler Diff Cover, Fastman Throttle Body, Profinish-Proglass Hood, Borla Dual Outlet Exhaust, TransGo Reprogramming Kit, APS Stall Converter, 4.10 Gears, B&G Chrysler PCM, Lots of Line-X, etc...

I was talking about the wire to the PCM. Guess I should of said that..

If I had the money, I would get B&G to reprogram mine. I may come and take yours since you so close.

You need to bring that thing down to Livingston and take it offroad this weekend! Weve got a trip planned!

_________________
LOST KJ'S
Where are you going???
Current Jeep: 2004 Jeep Liberty
-Atlantic Blue
-Air Ride Rear Suspension ; OME/Rustys Lift ; Powertrax Locker ; Moog Lower Ball-Joints ; 245/70/16 Yokohama Geolander A/T-S's on MOABS ; Flowmaster 50 SUV
Lost #007082
http://www.cardomain.com/id/jeepjeepster

Sorry, you can't do the wire cut if you have the PCM with 4 wiring harnesses. Only with the 3 harness and seperate TCM. I don't know if anything bad will happen from that mod though.

I doubt you'd get past my security system to get my B&G.



Just kidding.

It wouldn't do you any good anyways. It would only run for 2 seconds at a time. The VIN and Sentry keys wouldn't match.

I really don't have this setup for trail use. It has a 2500 rpm stall converter, and is still on the stock springs. It's setup to handle the roads very well, no matter what the conditions. Maybe once I get the OME springs and go to the 255/65R17's. Still won't be setup very well for the trails though.

_________________
June 2001 Liberty Limited 4X4
Frankenlift II Premium, Al's Upper Arms, 245/75R16 C Silent Armors on Moabs, RL Skink Super Sliders, Rear DTT, Riddler Diff Cover, Fastman Throttle Body, Profinish-Proglass Hood, Borla Dual Outlet Exhaust, TransGo Reprogramming Kit, APS Stall Converter, 4.10 Gears, B&G Chrysler PCM, Lots of Line-X, etc...