Mudderoy
06-28-2011, 10:55 AM
My gas mileage, as bad as it already is, seemed to be getting worse recently. I noticed that I wasn't getting 130 miles to half a tank. It was more like 115-120 miles. Overall the mpg is about the same, but something was different.
I was thinking it may be due to the A/C running non-stop, but something else funny has been going on. Occasionally I'd get home and when I walked around the back of the Jeep I would see the brake lights were on. I'd have to go mess with the brake petal and check, and mess, and check, before they would go out.
I thought maybe I had a stray wire between the brake petal and the switch, but reaching up there I could never find anything between the two. A couple of days ago I had the brake light problem at work, so something seemed be be getting worse.
Driving home yesterday I thought how nice it would be to have some kind of indicator on the dash anytime the brake lights were on. Then I remembered, the torque converter locks and unlocks with the brake being applied. Now it doesn't JUST use the brake to determine when it should lock or unlock, but if you are driving at a steady speed you can tap the brakes and you will see the RPM raise by 500 or 1000 rpm.
So using this method I was able to tell if the brake light was on, and it was on a lot yesterday! I put my foot under the brake petal and pulled it forward. I would see the rpm drop. Torque converter locked! Then it dawned on me. With the torque converter not locking that means things are slipping and I'm not getting as much engine power to the rest of the drive train. This isn't going to help my gas mileage.
So I decided to fix this problem. After getting home I had dinner, and before going out to remove the brake switch and look to see if there was a way to adjust it, I took my own advice that I give my family so often. "Did you look it up on Google?"
I looked it up on Google and apparently the switch is self adjusting!!!!! You push the brake petal down then you grab the little plunger on the brake switch and rotate it back and forth slightly pulling (pushing?) towards the firewall. It will pop a few times, like a ratchet. Then you release the brake petal and it pops a few times, adjusting itself to match the full forward position of the petal. EASY PEASY!
http://www.partstrain.com/images/product_images/thumbs/crown/56042023.jpg
I've been having this problem off and on for over a year and it was solved in 5 minutes!
I was thinking it may be due to the A/C running non-stop, but something else funny has been going on. Occasionally I'd get home and when I walked around the back of the Jeep I would see the brake lights were on. I'd have to go mess with the brake petal and check, and mess, and check, before they would go out.
I thought maybe I had a stray wire between the brake petal and the switch, but reaching up there I could never find anything between the two. A couple of days ago I had the brake light problem at work, so something seemed be be getting worse.
Driving home yesterday I thought how nice it would be to have some kind of indicator on the dash anytime the brake lights were on. Then I remembered, the torque converter locks and unlocks with the brake being applied. Now it doesn't JUST use the brake to determine when it should lock or unlock, but if you are driving at a steady speed you can tap the brakes and you will see the RPM raise by 500 or 1000 rpm.
So using this method I was able to tell if the brake light was on, and it was on a lot yesterday! I put my foot under the brake petal and pulled it forward. I would see the rpm drop. Torque converter locked! Then it dawned on me. With the torque converter not locking that means things are slipping and I'm not getting as much engine power to the rest of the drive train. This isn't going to help my gas mileage.
So I decided to fix this problem. After getting home I had dinner, and before going out to remove the brake switch and look to see if there was a way to adjust it, I took my own advice that I give my family so often. "Did you look it up on Google?"
I looked it up on Google and apparently the switch is self adjusting!!!!! You push the brake petal down then you grab the little plunger on the brake switch and rotate it back and forth slightly pulling (pushing?) towards the firewall. It will pop a few times, like a ratchet. Then you release the brake petal and it pops a few times, adjusting itself to match the full forward position of the petal. EASY PEASY!
http://www.partstrain.com/images/product_images/thumbs/crown/56042023.jpg
I've been having this problem off and on for over a year and it was solved in 5 minutes!