2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee: harsh or hard shifting

Filed Jan 6, 2015 · Electrical, Transmission · 129,000 miles · OH

June of 2014 and still to this day the gear shift can be moved from "p" to any gear, and that is when no keys are in the ignition/and no foot on the brake. I was working under the hood and my 4 year old son did just that and almost ran me over. I checked and the vehicle had no keys in it they were with me in my tool box because I didn't want him to do just that. I checked out the situation to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and to my surprise and still til this day, I can enter the vehicle with no keys and no foot on the brake just reach in and move the gear shift from "p" to any gear resulting in the clunk of the transmission and rolling of the vehicle. This is very unnerving and would like this to be fixed. I have read countless articles and blogs about this exact same problem.

Filed Jan 6, 2015 · Transmission · 128,000 miles · OH

When driving my jeep around say anywhere above 25 MPH, if I let off the gas pedal, the front end nose dives and a loud clunk is felt like the transmission fell out. Maintenance is up to date, gas has no water, it just does this every single day. So I have to drive my jeep a certain way in order to try to avoid this beating on the transmission. Another version of this is for example: I go to pass a car I step on the gas, the transmission kicks down like it should but when I'm ready to slow down after passing a loud clunk! And the vehicle nose dives again like someone had put it in 1st gear at 50mph. About 50% of the time after this happens my RPM's will stay very high like when it drops down for passing it wont shift down for the speed im doing it wants to stay in the passing gear. There has been even times when its really bad, and the RPM's wont regulate down I have to pull over put the vehicle in park and start over. Its very exhausting and hazardous with this transmission and this jeep. Nothing but problems.

Filed Jul 9, 2014 · Electrical, Transmission · 89,451 miles · MD

While driving for about 20mins the was a hard shift and my truck was stuck in 3rd gear and the check engine light came on. I took it to a mechanic and he said it could be the shift solenoid and it would cost 700 to take my transmission apart to check it. $700 later im still having the problem I bought the car at 82k im now at 92k I keep up regular service. What is weird is when I turn my turn my truck back on its no longer in 3rd and it stays that way for sometimes weeks but it comes back surely.

Filed Nov 2, 2010 · Brakes · 29,395 miles · CA

I have a 2005 jeep gche with 29,385 miles on it. Event occurred on oct. 28, 2010 around 2 pm. I was traveling on the harbor fwy. Getting close to the exit I was using (anaheim street). I put on my brakes just to slow down and the brakes grabbed harshly and then released. As I neared the place where I had to stop I put on the brakes and there was a clunk as if something fell off and the brake grabbed to one side, released and then finally after keeping my foot on the brakes, holding my foot down, I eventually stopped. This whole event took several feel for me to stop. This was not a normal brake failure!. I feel lucky to be alive. If this had happen while traveling still on the freeway, it would have been disastrous. My car was towed to the south bay chrysler jeep dealer on hawthorne blvd. In torrance, ca. They repaired it and said that the bolt that holds the brake unit on had fallen off!! The tow truck driver pointed out to me that on the right inner part of the wheel was metal scrap marks (this is where the brake had fallen loose and way dragging on the wheel.) I was fortunate, but this is very dangerous.

Filed Jan 11, 2008 · Electrical, Lights · OH

Safety recall 2005 jeep grand cherokee/transmission fluid leak. Vehicle shakes violently/shudders on highway &when speeding up/ slowing down. Jeep serviced on 5 separate occasions for recall over 36 months. Repaired incorrectly on 1st visit to dealer service. Brought in 4 subsequent times/approx. Every 10,000 mi- to fix same issue transmission/ failed torque converter/shudder. Dealer argued no recall of this item, despite having the federal safety agency recall info/my VIN was noted on recall. Dealer refused to waive $100 powertrain warranty fee each time jeep brought back. Dealer insisted mopar parts have 9,000 mi warranty/ I would pay for repair b/c I drove 10,000 mi since previous repair. Dealer refused to provide rental car despite 5-7 day s to repair. Recall states a loaner vehicle to be provided if scheduled repair would take >1+days. A local 5 star jeep/chrysler dealership refused to service jeep after their initial recall repair failed at 10,000 miles. I was told to take jeep back to dealership I leased it from. Dealership manager told me it was not his problem to fix & 5 star jeep name did not mean anything to him. Said he was not concerned about recall. I brought jeep to the leasing dealership- they refuted claims of a recall & told me to pay for all repairs & loaner car. It wasn't until 4th&5th time jeep was in for service that a loaner car was provided because I told dealer I was pursuing ohio lemon law. The last time I brought jeep in for service of this recall item, I was told to go on a drive with serviceman to verify problem. He told me it was torque converter & not to fix it b/c he didn't think there would be a fires from leak. I showed him the federal safety agency recall. He said I would pay for mopar parts b/c they were out of warranty @ 12,000 miles. I told him I had 10,000 miles since last service. He spoke to manager & they serviced jeep. Jeep is again shuddering/clunking.

Filed Nov 29, 2007 · Transmission · 40,000 miles · MA

I bought a brand new 2005 jeep grand cherokee laredo, within weeks I started to notice the upholstery was not treated, it would stain with the slightest bit of condensation or rain. After about 8-12 months I started to feel it getting sluggish when accelerated but the problem was intermittent. Brought it in to dealership and they said no problem was detected. The real problems started after I had the vehicle 2yrs..check engine light would come on, gears would stick, engine would roar up to 4.5 rpms and would not accelerate. This would happen in rush hour traffic, on ramps to the higway, green lights etc.. I almost got creamed by an 18 wheeler. The vehicle would buck and sputter. If I kept my foot on the gas it would eventually clunk into gear.it had been to the dealership 6 times. At one point they replaced they transmission module..that did not fix the problem. It started to get tiresome, dealership was condenscending claiming "they could not duplicate the problem." no luck with gm's ,serv mgrs, and the chrysler corp. Chysler does not honor their warranties or care about their customers. I feared for my life in the vehicle and just traded it in, upside down,yesterday. I had no fight left in me. This was the worst experience you could imagine buying a brand new SUV. Something needs to be done before someone is fatally injured.

Filed Feb 21, 2007 · Electrical, Transmission · 8,000 miles · GA

Vehicle transmission has always made strange clunking noises. Vehicle began to drop out of gear while driving and then finally (and currently) will completely shut off while driving. This has happened on numerous occasions and dealership says that they cannot duplicate the problem. A customer service manager did tell me that jeep is aware of the problem and this is a common problem among v8 models such as mine but that they just do not know how to fix it so they have not yet issued a recall. However, jeep is putting so many people at risk of an accident. Not only the vehicle drive but everyone else on the road around the vehicle. The vehicle now shuts off while in motion driving on a fairly regular basis but with no consistent pattern. $34,000 dollars worth of worry.

Filed Jan 6, 2006 · Transmission · 10,600 miles · NY · crash

The automatic transmission of my 2005 jeep grand cherokee ,began acting unusual in mid november 2005. The transmission would clunk when put into drive , the vehicle seemed to hesitate before moving, also on 2 occasions the vehicle would down shift to first gear and then back to drive on its own while in motion. On december 18, 2005 I told the jeep dealer service manger of the problem when I took the vehicle in , I had received from daimler-chrysler a recall notice concerning the transmission , as far as I know the dealership performed the recall repair. The vehicle seemed fine until december 30, 2005 when while traveling on the expressway at 55 miles per hour with the cruise control engaged the vehicle again downshifted to first gear momentarily , all the warning lights came on then shifted back to drive the engine revved up and speed up unexpectedly . I then lost control of the vehicle spinning out and hitting the concrete divider wall of the expressway. The vehicle sustained over $10,000 in damage, luckily there were no injuries to me or my passenger. I have notified chrysler and my insurance company of problem, at this point I have not authorized any collision repairs to this vehicle. Chrysler said they would inspect the vehicle, I await to see what they will do. I don't intend to repair or drive this vehicle again or any jeep cherokee ,for that matter as to its unsafe transmission .

Filed Sep 29, 2005 · Transmission · 8,500 miles · TN

The has a tendency to stall when shifting gear while backing up out of the drive after the car has been idle for a period of time. The transmission seems to "clunk" more than a new car should. Also noticed the tendency for the car to stall in stop and go traffic conditions. It seems the transmission is not disengaging properly pulling the RPM below idle. Shifting the car to neutral or giving gas prevents the engine from stalling.