Hey everyone! I am a new 2007 Dodge Nitro owner and I love my car. I have had it for about 3 months now and just started having some problems. Roughly 70k-80k miles.

Yesterday When I put my car into drive to leave work it was acting like it was in Neutral. The engine would rev up but I wouldn't go anywhere. I shifted back to park and then to drive again and after a second or two of the same issue drive engaged. As I was going up a hill the same issue occurred, the car seemed to shift back into neutral and I started going down the hill backwards. Again it went back into drive after I shifted to park and back. For the first half of the ride home the car seemed to struggle to switch gears often causing a jerking motion. I pulled over and turned the car off, I had a few similar problems when restarting but was able to make it home with little trouble.

Today I had a few similar issues when I first left work but the ride was for the most part normal. However when I was stopped at a traffic light it was almost as if the car had switched back to neutral and wouldn't move when I applied the gas. Finally when I was pulling into my parking garage the car completely stalled out on me. The engine shut off but the electronics were still working. I turned the car off and restarted it and was able to pull into a spot. This was the first time the check engine light came on.

I'm not much of a car person, so I don't really know what the problem might be. I thought it might be an issue with the transmission until it stalled out this morning. Now I'm not sure. Looking around the web it seems like other people have had this problem but there wasn't a clear answer as to what the problem was. Can anyone help provide any direction about what the issue may be before I go into a dealer??? Thanks!

 

Have you checked the fluid level?