ZF 9 Speed Transmission Issues

Our 2014 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk is nearly gone. Lemon Law money should be here any day. My local dealership has replaced a few of the 9spd transmissions. The tranny is the one thing that's been ok. Next vehicle will not have 9spd tranny, CVT or gas direct injection.

that's strange that they are having all these problems... lets see have sold appx 100 of these transmission I know of only 2 flash updates to the transmission computer. I have repaired only one , valve body replacement for a shift concern, I do 100% of all transmission repairs in the shop, along with any that Chrysler may send me to look at.

as far as updates to computers I will tell you that each and everyone of your tv more than likely need an update of some sort be it PCM, BCM,TCM, WCM, CCN, or what other module your TV has and you wont know it unless your dealer checks it with a scan tool ( no your local repair shop will not have acess to them) Even on my 2005 jeep a flash shows up once in awhile, I check mine when I service them.

At least Fiat had a pretty good super bowl ad :B

10 and 12 speed autos are in the works. They are going to be forced to use every last trick in the book to meet CAFE numbers.

Expect vehicles to get even more complex and more expensive before it's all over. They didn't want to build electrics; but I can see them being forced into it. Just so much easier. No emission systems, no MPG's. Will Ford be first with an electric F150 or will Tesla beat them too it?

500 mile range is easy enough(now). Recharging that big battery pack quickly is where it gets interesting. A 480v connection is like a trickle charger. One option is to use a battery bank and dump charge from it.

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2011-2025 CAFE standards for each model year in miles per gallon.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy


If anyone has some free time on their hands and is feeling inventive and entrepreneurial; everything you need to convert an existing gas vehicle over to electric:

http://evtv.me/

Motor/controller, charger, and battery pack. Your nearly done.

Check out the price on a used Leaf or iMiev.

Trouble is that the vehicles this transmission goes on have many different motors and a number of different drive systems.
It takes complicated and squares it. Every engine and every different vehicle requires a separate, complicated transmission program. Chrysler simply never got all the programming right--and the vehicles just hunt and hunt for gears.
It got so bad that they held back thousands of the new model Cherokees at the factory.
They finally closed the Jeep factory, and took many employees and put them on the road to test the programs--to get feedback.
The tranny put Chrysler far behind on sales due to the holdbacks.

ZF is not nearly the premier automatic transmission maker in the world. Their trannys' caused serious problems to Jaguars and BMW's large sedans all throughout the 2000's. I wouldn't want a 9 speed auto anyway--no need for more than 6 speeds.

The Cherokee has a 4500 lb tow rating (subject to wind resistance). It has similar HP to my Highlander, with which I've towed extensively. It's a potential tow vehicle for smaller trailers and popups (no 30 footers, obviously).

OK so what does this have to do with tow vehicles???

Jeep Cherokee, and Chrysler 200. Maybe a toad, but not a TV....