I have a 1996 Jeep Cherokee auto tranny, 4x4 4.0L.  Last winter I had a problem that went away for about 6-8months, but has recently resurfaced again.  I was driving down the freeway with cruise on at about 65mph.  All of the sudden, it was like the jeep had shifted itself into neutral.  the rpm's spiked and I hit the brake to release the cc.  now I am slowing down and whenever I push the gas all it does is rev the engine.  I shift down to the 3 gear.  when the spedometer is at about 45mph, I give it some gas and at about 5k rpm I can feel it catch and go a bit.  I pull over and shut off the vehicle, wait about 30 sec and then start it up again.  Now I can shift into drive and it runs like normal.  This has happened a bunch of time on different occasions.  I cant figure out what would cause it or how to fix it.  I tried taking it to a dlr once to see if they could tell me what it was.  They wanted $1500 to "take a look at it" by ripping out the tranny.  I dont have that kind of money, nor do I want to give that kind of control over my jeep.  What do you think it would be?

I appreciate it, I do.

Have you checked your transmission fluid lately?

The torque convertor could be taking a shit on you too.

Sounds like you have junk in the transmission.  Maybe a flush and some new fluid will help it out.

If it's an Electronic Trans, it might be the Position Sensor, which tells the transmission which gear you had selected. I had mine go bad on my Ford Transmission, it would shift to neutral by it's self or downshift into 2nd gear by it's self. replaced it and it fixed the problem. Was a 40$ part

converter, pump, or seal in one of the drums, bet this one needs to come out, but you need the fluid changed first, it may be minor such as dirt in the fluid hanging up one of the valves in the vb

Quoted: Sounds like you have junk in the transmission.  Maybe a flush and some new fluid will help it out.

That gets my vote. Somethings in the fluid "pick up tube" or whatever is in a jeep. Change filter/fluid.

Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like you have junk in the transmission.  Maybe a flush and some new fluid will help it out. That gets my vote. Somethings in the fluid "pick up tube" or whatever is in a jeep. Change filter/fluid.

They did this at the Dealrship when I took it in the first time.  It was the only thing I could afford to let them do, didn't fix the problem.

If it's an Electronic Trans, it might be the Position Sensor, which tells the transmission which gear you had selected. I had mine go bad on my Ford Transmission, it would shift to neutral by it's self or downshift into 2nd gear by it's self. replaced it and it fixed the problem. Was a 40$ part

Where is this located? is it easily accessable?

I'd start with pulling your dipstick and looking at the color.  Take a sniff, if it smells like shit, that's a bad thing.  If it doesn't really smell all too bad, you should be fine.  The color should be red, close to a light maroon.  If it's closer to brown, that's not good.
I would have to go with some sort of shit sticking up a valve in the valve body.  If you don't take it to the dealer, it shouldn't cost you TOO much.  Maybe a couple hundred if it's as simple as a piece of crap in the VB.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like you have junk in the transmission.  Maybe a flush and some new fluid will help it out. That gets my vote. Somethings in the fluid "pick up tube" or whatever is in a jeep. Change filter/fluid. They did this at the Dealrship when I took it in the first time.  It was the only thing I could afford to let them do, didn't fix the problem. If it's an Electronic Trans, it might be the Position Sensor, which tells the transmission which gear you had selected. I had mine go bad on my Ford Transmission, it would shift to neutral by it's self or downshift into 2nd gear by it's self. replaced it and it fixed the problem. Was a 40$ part Where is this located? is it easily accessable?

On my trans, it was on the outside of the Transmission. Easily replaced. Not sure about the Jeep Trans or if they even have a part like that.

4X4Wire.com has an excellent technical discussion board for Jeep products – Plenty of experienced Jeep-wrenchers hang out there.