Override Tow Mode?

[Gregors]

2MPG can be due to fuel changes, cold weather, and other factors.

You did not say HOW your "kit" connected to the Jeep - the trailer light connector is electrically isolated from the rest of the lighting on the truck. So if you tied into the normal lights, it has no impact on the trailer light connector.
There's a lot of reasons to not see 8th gear - heck, with my Mojave all it takes is a little breeze and I won't see 8th. Wind goes away or I go the opposite direction, 8th is back. Hills, inclines, high elevations, all matters.



There's a guy on a stamp collectors group who keeps preaching to new people to use AI - and when they do and come in with a common George Washington 3 cent stamp that was printed in numbers of over 11 billion and say "I found a rare one, and AI says it's worth $1200!!" - AI used eBay listings of scammers and money launderers for the value - it's worth 30 cents in MINT unused condition.
AI just is not there yet. It might get you close but you must look at the sources of information it is using and for Jeeps, well, since it uses forums and fakebook groups, it's mostly wrong.

The guy who preaches AI in the stamp group is an attorney and should know better. But if you say anything negative about it, he'll rip you to shreds. (he must have invested heavily in it!)

Chris on BWTB the other day challenged Chat GPT to "who played bass" on a song. It came back as George playing bass in that song because Paul was gone. Turns out Paul recorded the track at another time and it WAS his bass playing in that song.
Chris had even corrected Chat GPT days before - and challenged it with that fact, it apologized and said apparently the correction had not made it to all sources yet.
So there you go - it can be wrong even after training.


As far as the whys of things here - frankly, not really enough data to give a decent reasoning other than we KNOW what it can't be, so count those things out right away. We KNOW there's no specific tow mode, especially that locks out any gears. That's a fact - evidenced by my own JTs finding 7th when going down an incline (7th and 8th are both OD gears)
We know the trailer light connections are isolated from the truck lighting system - one is not connected to the other directly.

Spirited driving with automatics - in the simplest form, it's TP against GP - throttle pressure against governor pressure. Early automatics detected your foot on the pedal either via vacuum or direct linkage. that controlled the throttle valve and thus TP. The governor is what senses road speed and increased that pressure based on the speed of the vehicle. So if you drove with your foot into it, shifts were delayed and pressures were higher - so harsher, delayed shifts resulted.
It's similar to today except more goes into it - road speed, throttle position, engine torque output which is calculated, it's not magic and not unique to Jeep. It's all of them and always has been. You drive more easily, foot out of the throttle, and shifts happen earlier and are softer. Put your foot into it, throttle pressure increases until governor pressure over-rides throttle pressure - with pressures elevated you get harder shifts, delayed shifts.
It's pretty much that simple.
And if there's any wind or incline or both, then it takes more throttle to keep speed up, throttle pressure increases, shifts are delayed or don't happen, or if they do, are harsher shifts.

It may well be the way I drive and I just never noticed it before. In terms of the way the lights are connected it's a 4 way under the front bumper not connected to anything unless it's being towed. The wires go under the jeep to the tail lights and connect between the factory wire harness to get the tail/brake lights to work like a trailer. I may just be concerned about nothing, but appreciate all of the insight. Thanks, Greg

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[Gregors]

You can always flip to manual mode and pop in into 8th yourself. If it doesn't go, even then, then you may have an even deeper problem.

Thanks yes, I did that and it still works, so maybe just the way I'm driving.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You can always flip to manual mode and pop in into 8th yourself. If it doesn't go, even then, then you may have an even deeper problem.

I didn't see 8th today - COLD, wind and all.
When I got onto the 4 lane to head to Altoona from Pleasant Hill, it's a long long grade and I was moving up and behind a semi after he filled at the fuel depot up that hill. I was doing 4,500 RPM for about 1/4 mile getting up to 60-65, then it dropped down to about 3,300 for a while and as the grade leveled off and I stopped accelerating it made it to 7th. Didn't see 8th all the way to Altoona. but think - gear lube - COLD, transmission fluid - COLD (I don't think that ever hit even 150), tires - cold, more rolling resistance, a bit of a wind on a grade. It was fighting it's own cold parts and lubricants to gain speed.

 

[BearFootSam]

You get app updates OTA, not TCM, BCM and so on.
Knowing what isn't possible is part of troubleshooting, doesn't mean you have the answer yet, just can rule some things out. There are a lot of reasons to not see the higher gears, grade or slight incline, wind, and more. If you were at elevation it could matter.
Automatics don't adjust in the ways you think. And they have used similar logic since the 60s, just different methods of measuring today

Thank god we don’t have OTA updates, I really wouldn’t want those safety critical systems exposed in that way even though some OEMs do.

I use a pigtail to the trailer plug to run an aux reverse lamp for our dark foggy nights and I know that doesn’t trigger the towing regime.

OP should consult the service manual and see if the logic table for towing is listed.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Thank god we don’t have OTA updates, I really wouldn’t want those safety critical systems exposed in that way even though some OEMs do.

I use a pigtail to the trailer plug to run an aux reverse lamp for our dark foggy nights and I know that doesn’t trigger the towing regime.

OP should consult the service manual and see if the logic table for towing is listed.

Right, just having lights alone won't trigger anything, and connecting to the system outside of the trailer wiring certainly has no effect. Look at all of the people here and out there that flat tow the JT and JL/JLU.

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