Transmission Gear Question

[Grump Fish]

More times than not, the owners manual answers a lot of these types of questions. You can get PDF copies that are searchable through the jeep.com owners area.

Point taken. Where did you find this info in the owners manual? Before I asked the question I looked and could not find anything in the index that led me to an answer. A the time, I did not know if there was an indicator or if people were going by RPM, as I mentioned in my initial post.

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[Grump Fish]

My suggestion would be to do your brain a favor, and leave it off. I found myself watching it constantly, and it wasn’t enjoyable. As long as the Jeep drives good, you don’t need to waste your time monitoring what gear it’s in. Just my opinion though.

Im not sure if I will leave it on permanently. I think it is a good indicator to see what is going on as you are changing things up like tire sizes, etc. I know I like having it on my F250 when Im towing. It's really hard to tell between 9th and 10th by looking at the tachometer. Let off the accelerator a bit and let it hit 10th and it will generally stay there.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

if you press < or > on the steering wheel buttons, it will add/remove the range and avg

I'm very aware of that - however, some of us have seen that disappear. What happens is you have it set and the next thing you know is that the current disappears. I've not seen it until recently while others have experienced this anomaly in the past.
The left/right arrows only took me from one screen to other that also had no current mpg.
The average is always there, it was the instant that disappeared and instead, range moved to the bottom. Then like magic, it came back

 

[Grump Fish]

Really? I only watch while towing and seeing it hunt or other times I might be gathering info or troubleshooting or curious. First mod I made was gear display.
If something feels off, I look, otherwise I frankly forget it's there. I sometimes look to see when it does a downshift when I hit the brakes just right going down a hill to see if it dropped 1 gear, or two, when I feel the engine braking kick in on a hill.
I can ignore it if I don't care or want the info. But I can look if I want it.
I wish the cluster in these gave a lot more info than they do. I prefer info at a glance, otherwise ignore the dash.

Your description sounds like me. I use the data when I need it but ignore it if not. I have a friend who was obsessed with his "Current MPG" display. Drove me nuts to ride with him for a while until he got over it!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That could be the left/right input from the left side buttons of your steering wheel. Some of those dash displays ( up/down ) have variations ( left/right ).

Nope, I'm aware of the screens and settings. this is like what others have seen - the screen that usually shows what you see in my picture literally changes with no input and the current or instant mpg disappears. The average stays but the current disappears. The it appears again later.

This is my second JT - years into these and this is a situation others have seen where that instant/current part at the lower right of the average part of the screen disappears. Then later, it comes back - with no driver input.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have the manual and have a NEED to be in 6th gear all the time. But the Jeep is geared like a corvette. Mild grades need to be downshifted, medium grades are 4th (1:1). I’ve decided that I’ll not worry about it and try to just stay in the gear that is the most comfortable. The mpg doesn’t really change till you really start winding it up in lower gears anyway.

When the FCA 8 speeds first came out they would never shift into 7 or 8. They’ve programmed them a lot over the decade or so.

They've only been in Jeeps since about 14 (as I recall, Grand Cherokee and I was amazed how how smooth and slick they operated) so barely 10 years tops.
Our Grand Cherokees used all 8 gears. That's what I compared my JT to when I first got it - how our Grand Cherokees always worked. Granted, the Grand Cherokee didn't get the mpg back then - only high teens then the 2nd gen 3.6 came along and mpg shot up in the Grand Cherokee by several mpg.
Maybe it's RAM trucks you think of not hitting high gear with the 8 speed - Jeeps it's been no problem.

 

[JTRDistraction]

Nope, I'm aware of the screens and settings. this is like what others have seen - the screen that usually shows what you see in my picture literally changes with no input and the current or instant mpg disappears. The average stays but the current disappears. The it appears again later.

This is my second JT - years into these and this is a situation others have seen where that instant/current part at the lower right of the average part of the screen disappears. Then later, it comes back - with no driver input.

When i first got my JT, the "current mpg" wasn't there at all, same as you. And when i looked at some pictures in the forum, it made me think there was an update that i missed or was needed. Then one day after it came back from the shop for other electrical issues, it was there and hasn't disappeared again......yet.

 

[Max-t]

They've only been in Jeeps since about 14 (as I recall, Grand Cherokee and I was amazed how how smooth and slick they operated) so barely 10 years tops.
Our Grand Cherokees used all 8 gears. That's what I compared my JT to when I first got it - how our Grand Cherokees always worked. Granted, the Grand Cherokee didn't get the mpg back then - only high teens then the 2nd gen 3.6 came along and mpg shot up in the Grand Cherokee by several mpg.
Maybe it's RAM trucks you think of not hitting high gear with the 8 speed - Jeeps it's been no problem.

Cherokee and … well it was hardly even just FCA. Pretty much everyone. They drove “fine” but people complained they never hit 8th.

 

[Volt0]

Nope, I'm aware of the screens and settings. this is like what others have seen - the screen that usually shows what you see in my picture literally changes with no input and the current or instant mpg disappears. The average stays but the current disappears. The it appears again later.

This is my second JT - years into these and this is a situation others have seen where that instant/current part at the lower right of the average part of the screen disappears. Then later, it comes back - with no driver input.

Got it. Didn't realize it was you when I posted ( I was probably skimming ). You think it's an issue with the PROM / computer?

 

[NachoRuby]

I have the manual and have a NEED to be in 6th gear all the time. But the Jeep is geared like a corvette. Mild grades need to be downshifted, medium grades are 4th (1:1). I’ve decided that I’ll not worry about it and try to just stay in the gear that is the most comfortable. The mpg doesn’t really change till you really start winding it up in lower gears anyway.

When the FCA 8 speeds first came out they would never shift into 7 or 8. They’ve programmed them a lot over the decade or so.

Don't worry about it is key. 6th is pretty near useless on these. I see it only on long stretches of flat empty freeway (constant speed). Otherwise, 4th or 5th on the highway, sometimes 3rd up a mountain or if I need a burst of "jeep speed". I stopped worrying about having to be in 6th a couple of years back, and it's much easier to drive. It's a 5 speed with an extra gear for a very rare occasion. Even the owner's manual says 6th is for 65 and up, and I think they were being generous. You'll drive yourself crazy thinking you need to be in 6th, and mpgs aren't any worse in 4th and 5th, when you're not lugging the engine.

My wife's Jl doesn't see 6th much either, and she's lighter with smaller tires.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Got it. Didn't realize it was you when I posted ( I was probably skimming ). You think it's an issue with the PROM / computer?

It was one of those things where I'd seen a couple of others mention it disappearing and I didn't know what to think about it -then one day I got in mine and I thought my son had moved things around (he likes the big digital speedometer - I don't since the analog/dial speedometer is always right there). I figured he must have hit the left or right button.
Then I realized that the other option for that screen was the mpg gauge showing the current average but no instant/current and no range remaining was the other screen and the one that used to show instant/current mpg was instead showing range across the bottom of the mpg "dial" instead of it being on the left and instant on the right. It was like the range remaining was moved.
I wish I had a pic of that one. So in my case instead of the instant just disappearing and the range staying put - the instant disappeared and the range spread across under the mpg "dial".

It changed to look more like this - (I tried to duplicate how it looked before it changed back using my expertise with Paint - did a bad job on purpose of course HAHAHA)

Then next thing I know, without doing anything but driving along it changed back.
I haven't tried to see if I can even duplicate the above with the settings.

NORMALLY, if all is working correctly,
If I push the left or right buttons, I either get this normal screen -

Or I see this one -

It was like it replaced one of the two choices with the other. Then - it's back again.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Don't worry about it is key. 6th is pretty near useless on these. I see it only on long stretches of flat empty freeway (constant speed). Otherwise, 4th or 5th on the highway, sometimes 3rd up a mountain or if I need a burst of "jeep speed". I stopped worrying about having to be in 6th a couple of years back, and it's much easier to drive. It's a 5 speed with an extra gear for a very rare occasion. Even the owner's manual says 6th is for 65 and up, and I think they were being generous. You'll drive yourself crazy thinking you need to be in 6th, and mpgs aren't any worse in 4th and 5th, when you're not lugging the engine.

My wife's Jl doesn't see 6th much either, and she's lighter with smaller tires.

I used to love the 80s Jeeps and Eagles back when the national speed limit was 55 and they said 5th gear in the T5 was for "speeds over 55 mph".
LOL - what were they suggesting there?
And frankly, I don't use 5th unless it's at least 60 mph as otherwise it's way too high a gear. It's an OD and a high one at that.
The OD gears are for flat cruising, little load, no wind and to show what could be done - not what should be done.
5th will last forever in my car. It's a 4 speed with overdrive, IMO.
I suspect the manuals in the JT are a lot like that, a 5 speed with an OD gear that you only use under ideal conditions.

the ZF speed shifted into 8th pretty regular in the Grand Cherokee but then the GC also got better mpg because it's not a brick, the windshield is laid back and a strong wind is hardly noticeable in them compared to Wrangler or Gladiator. It's a given the JT isn't going to see 8th as often. I don't see it often but then the wind around here is almost aways, and 3.73 gearing doesn't help.
It's a damn brick on wheels with a sail sticking up in the wind.

 

[Hootbro]

Point taken. Where did you find this info in the owners manual? Before I asked the question I looked and could not find anything in the index that led me to an answer. A the time, I did not know if there was an indicator or if people were going by RPM, as I mentioned in my initial post.

It is in the cluster screen setup menu under "Current Gear".

 

[Grump Fish]

It is in the cluster screen setup menu under "Current Gear".

Thanks! I downloaded the searchable owner's manual. Much easier than digging around aimlessly in the paper copy when I can't find things in the index.
I might still ask some dumb questions though!

 

[BearFootSam]

Im on my 3rd fillup and my mileage is improving. So far the dash is showing 18.4 on this tank. Mostly highway driving.

It’s a terrible thing to say in this age, but, that’s pretty good!

Im sitting 1mpg lower currently in a rubicon.

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