The 1988 Cherokee that I recently acquired is equipped with an automatic transmission. The former owner cautioned that in order to put the vehicle in any gear, or to change gears, it would be necessary to bring the handle all the way rearward and then move it to the desired position. For instance, if the vehicle is in Park, in order to put it in Reverse you must bring the handle all the way back to "1" and then move it forward into Reverse. Or, if you are in Drive, you would have to move the handle to "1" and then forward again to Reverse or Park. I hope I explained this correctly.

The transmission shifts smoothly - it's just that you have to go through the extra step of moving the handle all the way back to "1" in order to change the selection. There is a rumor that this is a commonplace problem having to do with the linkage cable.

What to do, if anything?

 

Wire brush the shift linkage then WD-40 the hell outof it. Do this once a day for a few days. It will get better each day. Ive had a few Chrysler products do this and it has worked everytime for me.Good luck.