I have just recently purchased a new rubicon the shifting is amazing smooth and seemless i have installed a lift kit 28 inch tires and a warn 424 shifter in it i have one thing that troubles my mind my main goal for the machine is to mud and trail ride hence the large tires and the lift but i was on the phone with my cousin the other day and he had brought something very unusual to my attention he told me about this limp home mode that my rubi will more than likely switch into under heavy load and high temperatures he said the machine will go into first gear and wont shift up and it will be governd he also said at this time he knew of no fix to the problem and being one who muds in the middle of nowhere i cant have this happening to me as there are no dealers near where i ride to reset it so i have searched the net high and low with little or no hits this web site seems to be the most informative so if anyone has heard of this problem any advice would be most helpful to calm my nerves and if there is a problem is there a field kit to fix it and if so where does one go to get it most graciously mn man

 

go to www.ansley.net then go to service tips then go down till you see rubicon reset procedure click on pg 1 for reseting the transmition and you can look around there for more info and you can click on the picture links to see some good mudding pics. The trany breaking or going into "limp mode" seems to be a fairly rare problem any more so I don't think you have much to worry about expecialy on the newer ones. just have fun and make sure to clean it up real good after you get done and the ruby should give you tons of fun.

 

There is no "limp mode" per se built into the rubicon tranny. There is a limp mode on the rincon tho, a totally different tran. On the rubicon, there is a fail safe built into the shift program so that if an error in it occurs, you can get home. I haven't heard that this is caused by high heat and load, more by a faulty component, such as a speed sensor. If you are mudding, and in water a lot, I suggest you go through and dielectric grease your connectors. Also you would want to be watching your engine, front and rear diff oils for water contamination. Also, with your lift kit, I know for a fact that you will be wearing out front driveshafts prematurely, and because of the angle the shafts go through the front diff, the seals don't work very well (read more likely to take on water in the front diff). Honda is not covering this type of driveshaft damage, and any tech worth their salt will be able to tell you had the lift kit installed even after you take it out. I'm not saying don't use the lift, just that if you do, be prepared to buy driveshafts, and your Honda dealer may not be able to warranty them.

 

i figured i would be hard on u joints but i think moose makes a bigger setup for the rubi if u need it as far as water its inevitable im going to get it in the machine where i play its everywhere nasty stuff too i think i can buy sealed bearings for the rubi now well while im here if there are any other problems i can look forward to any hint or tips would be much abliged i know the brakes are crap but if this machine is half as good as the old 300 then i wont be displeased at all thanks for all your input guys ps i did print out the stuff on limp mode good to have with incase anything unfortunate happens

 

Yup, those pages are right out of the factory shop manual. Unless you need to initialize the system after replacing ecm, angle sensor, or tps, all you need to do to reset the shift program is turn the ignition off and on. Of course any intermittent errors will be stored in memory until you erase them, and if the error is existing, your dash will continue to flash until the machine is fixed. If this is the case, you will almost always be able to "limp" it home. Tho the self diagnostics have saved me tons of time, they tell you nothing about the mechanical condition of the tran. or oil pump. You will need to do an oil psi test for that. There are no u-joints in the front end of that thing, it uses more expensive CV joints, like a front wheel drive car. Most of the chassis bearings are already sealed type, and are easily replaced. Over time, water damage is unavoidable, especially as the machine gets older. But you can minimize it by watching your diffs for water conamination, and keeping your brakes cleaned out.