While wheeling out in Moab during the recent Easter Jeep Safari, we discovered a rather odd if not troubling issue with the 8-speed automatic transmission and that would only occur while in 4LO. Specifically, if you in 4LO and have your transmission shifted to “D” or drive, it may want to shift gears on you especially on an obstacle that may require a bit of throttle. Unfortunately, when this occurs, you WILL experience a momentary loss of power and that can cause you to loose the momentum you were needing and falling back down and off your line. The first time I saw this happen was on my friend’s JL and on this obstacle.

I soon experienced this problem for myself while attempting a similar obstacle and I won’t lie, it kind of spooked me. For a brief moment, it felt like my engine just cut out and for no good reason. Of course, the answer to this problem is to make sure you have your transmission shifted into the manual shift mode or what is also known as ‘M-Gate’. Granted, it can be hard to remember at times especially when you’re shifting into reverse and then back into drive again but so long as you’re in M-Gate, this problem will not occur. Anyway, I know all this may seem obvious to some of you out there but it wasn’t for me. Hopefully this information will be helpful to others.