I was on a forest road this weekend and found a disturbing shortcoming of my 2012 Liberty. I was in 2WD at around 15-30 mph on a dirt road west of Colorado Springs (Old Stage & Gold Camp) headed to light off roading terrain. I had the ESC off and 2WD, not towing, lightly loaded with the family in the seats.

When I am needing power it seems like 2nd gear isnt being used and it skips between 3rd and 1st. I’ll be at 2-3,000 rpm, a shift, then ~1,000 with zero power. I am in the second gear selection on thr shifter and the only way to get power is shift it to first. I am not spinning the wheels, the trans temp light isn’t lit, and I am not driving hard by any means.

When we were in slower terrain I had zero issues as I was in 4WD and stating below 10mph. My sons sat on my lap and I put it in 4LO with no issues at all up to 15 mph.

The front case’s fluids were just swapped to see if that would help, no. The air filter, spark plugs, oil, coolant, and rear diff have been changed in the last 2-10,000 miles give or take whats being changed at its designated interval.

Any good advice? Who takes trans fluid if I change it? Torque converter needing changed?

OD on or off?
Should be off and in low 4x4 going slow
lugging down the engine going those speeds it will hunt around for the right gear

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MUDD'S MOTORSPORT'S We do IFS lift installs ,
03 OVERLAND EDITION /Kilby-Skidrow-Mopar-4XGuard skids/ 2.5 inch TOTAL CONTROL JBA coilovers -JBA Arms/MOABS-31 FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W / 4.10's etc, 04 Kilimanjaro Edition loaded, plus 05 KJ limited

You were climbing from about 7000' to 9000',why you had so many issues I know that road very well.

For those types of adventures and full tank(or near full tank) of premium gas and get aggressive with that little pedal on the right side while on those types of low maintained gravel roads,if you want to stay slow shift into low range.

Thanks for the info gents.

Letting the right foot lean on the accelerator does nothing. The rpms stay at around 1,000 and nothing happens until it shifts to 1st. It isn't a fuel grade or OD issue. I was in the 2nd gear selection on the gear shifter, 2WD, and maintaining around 25 MPH. This has happened twice before, same situations: 25-30 mph, forest roads, 2WD, no power, and no high trans temp

Your rpm's where way to low for that climb.When I make that drive in my KJ(to Eagle Rock trail) I'm spinning 2000-3000rpm's the whole way once you get on the dirt road.

Having it in "2nd" gear selection just means it will not shift past 2nd gear.

You could try and do a throttle relearn,may youtube vids explaining how to do it on your KK.

A throttle relearn? I may just try it. The low rpm is why I said I think it's skipping 2nd gear all together. 2nd should hold higher than 1,000 at 25 mph, 1st is around 2,700 rpms. When I hit the road I think 25 mph was ~1,700 rpms.

I have been looking into a throttle relearn and the symptoms presented do not match what I am experiencing. I have also done such a thing while changing a battery between times when I experienced the slack throttle. So I am not to assured it will help nor do I want the Jeep to relearn the idle or throttle while the wife is using it for the week.

I am still thinking about the torque converter. Is the Liberty's TC locking?