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ZF Transmission Problems & Outside temperature sensor problems
cdnwesterner
Member Posts: 2
Bought my V6 2015 Trailhawk in October 2014. Ran well and took a 90 mile trip and everything seemed great. Got a transmission recall notice, so I went and had the recall done on it even though it was not acting up. Gas mileage went down 6 mpg immediately! Took it back and have had two flashes since, but gas mileage has never return to original!
Had a problem with transmission not shifting into any gear above 7th, but after 3rd flash it will now shift into 8th gear on occasion. I have never seen 9th gear and I have driven it at 100+mph still no 9th gear. Cannot manually shift into 9th gear.
In Sport Mode, the manual up and down shifting doesn't work at all!!! This sucks!!!!!
In Auto Mode, the manual up shifting works, but the manual down shifting actually accelerates the vehicle!!! This sucks!!!
In Auto Mode & Cruise control, when going down a long steep hill, the cruise and transmission doesn't slow the vehicle to keep it at the set cruise speed. Recently went down a long steep hill up north of Whitefish, Montana, cruise was set a 70 and the vehicle sped up going down until at 110 mph when I put on the brakes to slow down!!! This sucks!!!!
Outside temperature sensor defects. I was recently down to a Lake by Libby, Montana. The temperature was 97-98 F, however the outside temperature sensor showed it was 69 F. The problem is when you have your inside temperature is set at 75 F and the outside sensor says it is 69 F, what do you think happens when you turn on the A/C? The bloody heater comes on!!!!! This happens in this vehicle over and over again. It can be parked in a sun so hot that you can fry eggs on the hood, but what does the outside temperature sensor read? It will read 60-70 degrees and instead of the A/C coming on, the heater comes on!!!! What can one do? Push the temperature setting control until it is set at a lower temperature than what the stupid outside temperature sensor reads!! Then the A/C comes on and freezes your ***** off and you have to screw around with the temperature setting for the next hour. This sucks!!!!!
Headlight and Fog Light Placement. Was driving through the NW USA last fall. Hit a big snow storm with 5-6 inches of snow on the Interstate. Driving along, after awhile I noticed that my headlights kept getting dimmer and dimmer and my fog light were none existent. I pulled into service station to get fuel and check the lights. Guess what, the fog light placement in that little recessed hole was completely iced over solid. I had to chip off the ice for 20 minutes to see the fog lights! The headlight placement is so low that every time a vehicle would pass me and spray up ice and snow my headlights would also ice almost over!!!! If they are not cleaned off then eventually one ends up with about a 1" hole in front of the headlight for any light to come through and shine on the road. These new lights, HID or whatever they are don't put out enough heat to melt off the ice and snow!!! This sucks!!!
Also, the headlights when on high beam seem to shine on the moon and the low beam on the ground about 50 ' ahead. This may be correctable???
Transmission in Auto Mode. The torque balance between the front and back axles seems very well balanced, lots better than any of my 3 previous jeeps. Big improvement, especially in the winter.
Transmission in Snow Mode. This setting can be dangerous!!! Used this setting instead of the Auto Mode setting last winter while driving on ice and snow going south on I-15 to Las Vegas. This setting seems to transfer a significantly greater portion of the torque to the rear axle. That is ok if it is expected and you have recently be only driving rear wheel drive vehicles. However, if you have been driving fwd, awd, true 4 wd vehicles, etc., where the torque is equal or more to the front axle then this can catch you totally off guard. This happened to me as I had been driving in Auto Mode and decided to shift into Snow Mode when it started snowing. The Snow Mode change was almost a total disaster. Very suddenly the vehicle veered completely sideways and was heading for the cement barrier on the inside of the fast lane. I had purchased my first jeep CJ (1950 War Surplus) when I was 14 (1959) and could legally drive in Idaho. I soon learned that on icy, snowy roads that the best way to get a wayward 4x4 under control was to shift the transmission into neutral so that there was no torque on the wheels and then just to steer it out of the skid. That is what I did to the Trailhawk. Got it out of gear ASAP. Now I know that these new vehicles are supposed to have all these smart anti-skid programs and braking systems, but they had got me into this skid and I wasn't going to take a chance on them getting me out. Once in neutral I was able to get the Trailhawk back under control and pointed correctly down the highway. Therefore, I warn any and all who drive a Trailhawk on snow or ice that you are probably better off leaving the vehicle transmission in Auto Mode!!!!
These are all my mostly negative comments on the Trailhawk as of today. Maybe I can tell all the positive things some other time.
cdnwesterner
Had a problem with transmission not shifting into any gear above 7th, but after 3rd flash it will now shift into 8th gear on occasion. I have never seen 9th gear and I have driven it at 100+mph still no 9th gear. Cannot manually shift into 9th gear.
In Sport Mode, the manual up and down shifting doesn't work at all!!! This sucks!!!!!
In Auto Mode, the manual up shifting works, but the manual down shifting actually accelerates the vehicle!!! This sucks!!!
In Auto Mode & Cruise control, when going down a long steep hill, the cruise and transmission doesn't slow the vehicle to keep it at the set cruise speed. Recently went down a long steep hill up north of Whitefish, Montana, cruise was set a 70 and the vehicle sped up going down until at 110 mph when I put on the brakes to slow down!!! This sucks!!!!
Outside temperature sensor defects. I was recently down to a Lake by Libby, Montana. The temperature was 97-98 F, however the outside temperature sensor showed it was 69 F. The problem is when you have your inside temperature is set at 75 F and the outside sensor says it is 69 F, what do you think happens when you turn on the A/C? The bloody heater comes on!!!!! This happens in this vehicle over and over again. It can be parked in a sun so hot that you can fry eggs on the hood, but what does the outside temperature sensor read? It will read 60-70 degrees and instead of the A/C coming on, the heater comes on!!!! What can one do? Push the temperature setting control until it is set at a lower temperature than what the stupid outside temperature sensor reads!! Then the A/C comes on and freezes your ***** off and you have to screw around with the temperature setting for the next hour. This sucks!!!!!
Headlight and Fog Light Placement. Was driving through the NW USA last fall. Hit a big snow storm with 5-6 inches of snow on the Interstate. Driving along, after awhile I noticed that my headlights kept getting dimmer and dimmer and my fog light were none existent. I pulled into service station to get fuel and check the lights. Guess what, the fog light placement in that little recessed hole was completely iced over solid. I had to chip off the ice for 20 minutes to see the fog lights! The headlight placement is so low that every time a vehicle would pass me and spray up ice and snow my headlights would also ice almost over!!!! If they are not cleaned off then eventually one ends up with about a 1" hole in front of the headlight for any light to come through and shine on the road. These new lights, HID or whatever they are don't put out enough heat to melt off the ice and snow!!! This sucks!!!
Also, the headlights when on high beam seem to shine on the moon and the low beam on the ground about 50 ' ahead. This may be correctable???
Transmission in Auto Mode. The torque balance between the front and back axles seems very well balanced, lots better than any of my 3 previous jeeps. Big improvement, especially in the winter.
Transmission in Snow Mode. This setting can be dangerous!!! Used this setting instead of the Auto Mode setting last winter while driving on ice and snow going south on I-15 to Las Vegas. This setting seems to transfer a significantly greater portion of the torque to the rear axle. That is ok if it is expected and you have recently be only driving rear wheel drive vehicles. However, if you have been driving fwd, awd, true 4 wd vehicles, etc., where the torque is equal or more to the front axle then this can catch you totally off guard. This happened to me as I had been driving in Auto Mode and decided to shift into Snow Mode when it started snowing. The Snow Mode change was almost a total disaster. Very suddenly the vehicle veered completely sideways and was heading for the cement barrier on the inside of the fast lane. I had purchased my first jeep CJ (1950 War Surplus) when I was 14 (1959) and could legally drive in Idaho. I soon learned that on icy, snowy roads that the best way to get a wayward 4x4 under control was to shift the transmission into neutral so that there was no torque on the wheels and then just to steer it out of the skid. That is what I did to the Trailhawk. Got it out of gear ASAP. Now I know that these new vehicles are supposed to have all these smart anti-skid programs and braking systems, but they had got me into this skid and I wasn't going to take a chance on them getting me out. Once in neutral I was able to get the Trailhawk back under control and pointed correctly down the highway. Therefore, I warn any and all who drive a Trailhawk on snow or ice that you are probably better off leaving the vehicle transmission in Auto Mode!!!!
These are all my mostly negative comments on the Trailhawk as of today. Maybe I can tell all the positive things some other time.
cdnwesterner
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