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Sluggish acceleration
http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=88&t=82567		 Page 1 of 3
Author:  gigabot [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:26 am ]
Post subject:  Sluggish acceleration
Hey Everyone!

Got a question but first I know very little about Jeep / vehicles in general so I'm here to learn :)

I have a '08 KK and when I drive it now, it feels like it's working way harder to accelerate and maintain its speed without giving it more gas.

I have noticed that it seems to be hotter when it get parked in the garage after driving for a while, but the temp gauge us mid way which seems normal.

Not sure what I should be getting someone to look at and fear taking it to the dealership.

Got it second hand so not sure of its maintenance history. It's at 160K or so right now and I've had it for about 2.5 years.

Any suggestions?
Author:  PALiftedKK [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Welcome to the Forum!


Our KKs aren't power beasts by any means!

Few things to give a try:

Pull the battery over night.
Check the oil level.
Clean off the radiators with degreaser and or special cleaner.
Run injector AND fuel conditioner for a total of 40 gallons of fuel.
Inspect the air filter "s".

If all get an ok from your inspection and still feels sluggish to yourself, ponder the idea of a 4.7l throttle body and or a hypertech. There are numerous topics on here about all that is listed above.
Author:  gigabot [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 12:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Hey thanks for the quick reply!

Ok this list looks good but i have a few more questions now :)

What will pulling the battery overnight do?

Oil should be good, just had that done but will double check.

When cleaning the radiators, do I just spray degrease on them?

Injector and fuel cleaner, I assume those are fairly easy to find, suggestions on brand/kind?

What do u mean by "for a total of 40 gallons of fuel"?

What is the air filter S? Just the air filter under the hood?

Sorry for all the noob questions!!



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Author:  John3:17 [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
gigabot wrote:
Hey thanks for the quick reply!

Ok this list looks good but i have a few more questions now :)

What will pulling the battery overnight do?

Oil should be good, just had that done but will double check.

When cleaning the radiators, do I just spray degrease on them?

Injector and fuel cleaner, I assume those are fairly easy to find, suggestions on brand/kind?

What do u mean by "for a total of 40 gallons of fuel"?

What is the air filter S? Just the air filter under the hood?

Sorry for all the noob questions!!



Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk



How about we look at some simple stuff first? How long has it been since the spark plugs and air filter were changed?
Author:  gigabot [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Good question, not since I've had it.

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Author:  John3:17 [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
gigabot wrote:
Good question, not since I've had it.

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Get yourself some copper core plugs , I'd reccomend champion or NGK and change the air filter ( regular old paper filter) and see what that does. Plugs are cheap and typically should be changed about every 30,000 miles.
Author:  gigabot [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
How hard is it to change plugs? I have no experience working on vehicles :/

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Author:  Bmxer524 [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 3:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Get some copper plugs and a new air filter. Change both and see how it runs. When was the last oil change? Ever change diff, tranny and transfer case fluids? Simple maintainence that gets neglected could have negative impacts on drive-ability.
Author:  toy4everyseason [ Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
gigabot wrote:
How hard is it to change plugs? I have no experience working on vehicles :/

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Super easy, they are all accessible from the top of the engine. It's a simple coil on plug design so doing one at a time makes it pretty hard to mess it up.
Author:  PALiftedKK [ Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
gigabot wrote:
Hey thanks for the quick reply!

Ok this list looks good but i have a few more questions now :)

What will pulling the battery overnight do?

Oil should be good, just had that done but will double check.

When cleaning the radiators, do I just spray degrease on them?

Injector and fuel cleaner, I assume those are fairly easy to find, suggestions on brand/kind?

What do u mean by "for a total of 40 gallons of fuel"?

What is the air filter S? Just the air filter under the hood?

Sorry for all the noob questions!!



Sent from my SM-N910W8 using Tapatalk



Didn't think about it but John mentioned changing the spark plugs. Good idea to change them close to 30k miles. The copper core doesn't last long but are the best and cheapest for our kk's.

Pulling the battery over night will reset whatever data is stored in the ecu. So disconecting it possibly can help with mileage and or errors.

Make sure your using 5w20 in the kk.

For the radiators, visually inspect them. If they look clean maybe rinse them with water. If there's bugs and carp in the fins take degreaser (i use simple green) and drench the fins. More is better. Though this process has nothing to do with performance, strictly with thermal radiation.

For injector and fuel stabilizer, I use Lucas. I get their gallon bottle but I'm a bit over kill with maintenance. For your purpose, Find a bottle with as close to 24 ounces. 12 ounces treat 20 gallons. 2 treatments should clean up the injectors.

The black box behind the passenger side head light is the air filter. Inspect it and if it looks like it is nasty with mud, leaves, and or dirt, replace it. They're only 13 bucks for a new one at advanced auto.

Change the differential fluid this year! 160K miles on that fluid.......

Though the spark plugs are a big one! Get those replaced and say hello to your mileage again.

I apologise for I did not see how many miles were on your KK. If I did spark plugs spark plugs would have been on the top of the list I made.
Author:  gigabot [ Sun Jul 12, 2015 5:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Thanks for the update.

I will be trying all of these things and reporting back as I do them.

Also just to clarify, the engine is at 160k KMs not miles (I'm in canada)

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Author:  Bmxer524 [ Mon Jul 13, 2015 2:38 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
gigabot wrote:
Thanks for the update.

I will be trying all of these things and reporting back as I do them.

Also just to clarify, the engine is at 160k KMs not miles (I'm in canada)

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That's about 80k miles right?
Author:  gigabot [ Mon Jul 13, 2015 7:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Closer to 100k miles

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Author:  NAMoulton1 [ Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
How come no one has mentioned regearing yet?

It's expensive but it's one mod I'm so glad I did. With my 32s and 4.56s I can actually MOVE!
Author:  PALiftedKK [ Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Assuming he's stock, but well over due for new spark plugs and if not done already, the air filter. The spark plugs alone should awaken his power and mileage improvement. But who buys a jeep for speed? If you want speed and don't care about your transmission, throw it in first gear till it red lines.

@gigabot, what are the specs on your rig? You stock or modified?
Author:  Bmxer524 [ Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
PALiftedKK wrote:
Assuming he's stock, but well over due for new spark plugs and if not done already, the air filter. The spark plugs alone should awaken his power and mileage improvement. But who buys a jeep for speed? If you want speed and don't care about your transmission, throw it in first gear till it red lines.

@gigabot, what are the specs on your rig? You stock or modified?


She peaks around 4500, might be a bit closer to 5k. When I'm loaded down(like for the next few days) I manually shift. I'll hold 1st to 3-4k even if I'm not heavy on the gas. Just need to get moving...
Author:  PALiftedKK [ Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Bmxer524 wrote:
PALiftedKK wrote:
Assuming he's stock, but well over due for new spark plugs and if not done already, the air filter. The spark plugs alone should awaken his power and mileage improvement. But who buys a jeep for speed? If you want speed and don't care about your transmission, throw it in first gear till it red lines.

@gigabot, what are the specs on your rig? You stock or modified?


She peaks around 4500, might be a bit closer to 5k. When I'm loaded down(like for the next few days) I manually shift. I'll hold 1st to 3-4k even if I'm not heavy on the gas. Just need to get moving...



I mentioned that because the one day I forgot I didn't up shift to drive. I was wondering why I was speeding up so quickley. Then I looked down and forgot it was in first. I red lined for no more then a second. I was going around 40 mph if I recall correctly.

I down shift frequently when I'm out of the city.

Besides flooring it in fully automatic, I try to keep the rpms below 3k. Down shifting no more then 4k for 2 seconds. The new spark plugs really helped 2nd gear hold the kk back.
Author:  Bmxer524 [ Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:17 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
PALiftedKK wrote:
Bmxer524 wrote:
PALiftedKK wrote:
Assuming he's stock, but well over due for new spark plugs and if not done already, the air filter. The spark plugs alone should awaken his power and mileage improvement. But who buys a jeep for speed? If you want speed and don't care about your transmission, throw it in first gear till it red lines.

@gigabot, what are the specs on your rig? You stock or modified?


She peaks around 4500, might be a bit closer to 5k. When I'm loaded down(like for the next few days) I manually shift. I'll hold 1st to 3-4k even if I'm not heavy on the gas. Just need to get moving...



I mentioned that because the one day I forgot I didn't up shift to drive. I was wondering why I was speeding up so quickley. Then I looked down and forgot it was in first. I red lined for no more then a second. I was going around 40 mph if I recall correctly.

I down shift frequently when I'm out of the city.

Besides flooring it in fully automatic, I try to keep the rpms below 3k. Down shifting no more then 4k for 2 seconds. The new spark plugs really helped 2nd gear hold the kk back.


I have no fear of kicking her down. She did it all week when I was camping. The mountains really hit it hard. I also don't think twice to drop her in 2nd to engine brake down steep roads.
Author:  PALiftedKK [ Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
A lot of people think down shifting an automatic is very harmful to the trans and engine. There's a reason for the 3 2 and 1 numbers on the shift column. I abuse the tow hual mode. We all know the issue with that bast@*d.
Author:  gigabot [ Sun Jul 26, 2015 11:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sluggish acceleration
Small update... So far I've done the fuel injector cleaner and its running smoother but still no power.

For the transfer case, the place that I got my oil changed at said I needed to get that fluid looked at by the dealership. Is that true?



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