I just bought an automatic 96 cherokee with the inline 4.0. On the way home with it it acted like it dropped a gear and was continuing to hit around 3000-3500 RPMs to Jeep it at 55mph. I stopped it and put it in park and took off again and it acted fine... Any idea whats wrong?

 

Could be the overdrive solenoid.

 

Easy to check for it?

 

Intermittent issue sounds 'electrical'.
With trans issues , I'd make sure the ATF level and quality are both good for starters. Can cause weird issues if not. You also might want to re-adjust your kickdown cable (search for a thread called somthing like " free quick fix"). Just to have the simple things checked first.

When you shift manually, do you have any issues (taking into account the intermittent issue, this might be difficult to narrow down)?
Torque converter doing its work?

Getting to the solenoid will require dropping the trans pan...

 

Subscribed. I came here today because of this EXACT problem. Some days its fine, then it drops out of OD until I give it a little bit of gas, then it doesn't kick down, it kick UP into OD until I cruise again.

If pull over and turn off the jeep then restart 15 seconds later, its fine again.

 

Well, the OP hasn't come back after his second post two weeks ago, so guess he doesn't need any more input on this, apparently...

 

thats exactly what mine does...

 

I adjusted the cable, it didn't help any, I've read in a few other places about the TPS and the Speedo cable... havent tried to replace anything yet.

 

My issue was a bad ground contact. It was loose so I tightened it up and all was fixed again. Check your ground at the front of your motor, passenger side on the block beneath the spark plug wires. That's what was causing my issue.

Worth a shot.

 

No speedo cable, you have a vehicle speed sensor. But a bad connection at the speed sensor could cause you to drop out of overdrive.

 

Heck yeah... that would be an easy fix.

 

how do I get to it?

 

It's on the left side of the tail housing, simple to get to. Unfortunately the connector has a clip that is prone to breaking and causing a loose connection.

 

thanks, i'll give it a look