Limp Mode - Advice please
 

Hi All.

2014 WK2 Laredo Diesel, 74,000km

Driving on the freeway this morning, 110kph on cruise control. Touched the accelerator to glide by a slow moving car up a slight incline and then I lose any acceleration (sounded like a slipping clutch in a manual car) and get the following message on the dash:

' Service electronic throttle control'

I managed to get to the emergency lane. After stopping realised that the Jeep is in a limp mode. Car will accelerate slowly to about 60kph but is sitting in third gear according to the dash. If I put it on cruise just after 43kph i can then accelerate, using the cruise control buttons to 110kph but wont go higher than sixth gear.

Was about 40km from home so have taken easy to get home. Now when the car is in Neutral I am getting the following message:

'Service Trans Press Brake When Stopped Key off Enging to Engage Park'

There is some clunking between moving between reverse and drive.

This is a pain, about to leave for holidays in the morning and off course the nearest dealer can't loook at the car whilst I am away. Dealer is already saying it might not be covered under waranty. I asked him how he looked on TV lol

What do you guys think? Anyone had anything similar.

Regards,

Andrew

This is normally related to a DPF issue, as in its blocked and needing a regen or reburn cycle. Unfortunately once its in limp mode you cant get the rpm up enough to bring exhaust temps to where the regen can happen.

I get this on a fairly regular basis, some so bad they have turned upto me on the back of a tilt tray. Any decent diagnostic tool can implement a regen cycle (I use a Snap-on tool).

For some oddness all the WK2 models I've repaired have all dropped into limp mode, most without a DPF full warning. Apart from the short stop start, it can also be a sign that incorrect oil is being used.

Regards
Daz

Thanks Daz for the feedback. If it needs a DPF regent it might be a sign of another problem. I just did a Melbourne - Sydney return trip over the weekend.

I am preparing for fun and games with Jeep. Hope I am wrong.

Yeah, that isn't a dpf regen issue, sounds like something is broken in the trans or perhaps the PCM? If you had an obd reader you could check the codes and that would give us a clue. The dealer is being pretty stupid to try to claim it isn't a warranty issue. The ACCC are all over them at the moment, and obviously the car is less than 3 years old.

I wouldnt be too concerned at the moment of it being a transmission issue, when the vehicle goes into limp mode, the german ZF trans becomes very abrupt in its shift, this happens in Land Rover Discovery 4 models that use the same auto. Both vehicles also throw up transmission faults when in limp mode.

I'm just throwing out there the most common issue (and the simplest), of which the WK2 Grand has very little compared to other vehicles (I work on....).

Regards
Daz

With the regen issue you will normally get a message 'exhaust regen in process keep driving', then it drops into limp. Besides the dec 2014 update has fixed this one generally.

The service trans error is the one I haven't heard of before, but I would expect it only gets thrown if there is a transmission issue.

obd error codes would help.

I did find a couple of references for that service trans error, but really need to know the error code. One was caused by a bad neutral safety switch, the error code for that is p0580, see if you can get the dealer to tell you what error code they found.