Questions and Answers

Jeep Cherokee Slips When Turning Left Q. Hey Vince, got a little issue with my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. It has a 5.2 liter V-8, automatic transmission and 144,000 miles on it. What happens is I'll be at a complete stop at a sign or an intersection or something, I go to accelerate on a semi sharp left turn and as the car is shifting on the turn into 2nd gear it's like the transmissions just slips into neutral or something and I lose all power.

Then a second later it pops back into gear pretty hard, and I can continues driving normally. So far this happens only on left turns and the sharper the turn the more likely this happens. I've also noticed that every time this happens I'm getting kind of low on gas, the gas light isn't on or anything but I'm down to that second to last notch or so.

I don't think it's happened when I've got a good deal of gas in the car to my knowledge, just something I noticed. I took it to the dealer about a month ago and had the transmission fluid and filter replaced but still got the problem. Got any ideas what might be causing this?

Thanks...

A. The only way to determine if this is a fuel pump problem or transmission problem is to note at what fuel level this happens.

Next time it happens, pull into a gas station and fill the tank and not how many gallons it takes. Then drive it until it happens again and do the same thing. Do it a few times to get a good idea of the amount of fuel it takes.

If it consistently takes about the same amount of fuel, I would have to suspect a problem with the fuel pump, fuel pump pick up or possibly something inside the tank.

If there is no discernable patter, then I would suspect a problem inside the transmission.