Skip Shift Eliminator
When shopping for a muscle car, mine just had to have a manual transmission. Something about shifting through the gears and feeling the vehicle respond to those inputs enhances the driving experience in cars like the Challenger. These aren't vanilla flavored econo boxes, these are spicy pepper muscle cars! In an attempt to increase fuel economy, there was a "feature" added to the Tremec 6060 manual transmission used in the Challenger, as well as many other vehicles, which forces the driver to shift directly from 1st gear to 4th gear under certain driving conditions. According to the 2009 Dodge Challenger Manual, these conditions are:
Engine coolant (antifreeze) is higher than 106°F (41°C), vehicle speed is greater than 19 mph (30 km/h) but less than 21 mph (34 km/h), and the transmission is in first gear, and the accelerator is at 1/4 throttle or less. The 1–4 Skip Shift indicator message will be displayed during these times. |
While this may be fine and dandy to keep the Challenger from having a "gas guzzler" tax applied, I found it a major nuisance as I'd be looking for 2nd gear only to be forced into 4th with the car bogging down a tad until RPMs picked up. This also typically occurred while leaving a stop light at a turn signal crossing traffic. Luckily this annoyance, I mean, "feature" is easily remedied.
This skip shift is achieved by use of a solenoid on the transmission which locks out the shift from 1st to 2nd much in the same way reverse is locked out when the car is moving in a forward direction. This solenoid relies on an electrical signal to activate, so adding a resistor of the proper value inline with the solenoid's connection will effectively prevent it from activating, thus eliminating the skip shit feature. Adaptive Performance has just such a device that is completely plug and play, easily installed, and easily removed should you ever need to do so. The price is right to boot!
For this modification you'll need:
Vehicle ramps or jack stands
Adaptive Performance Skip Shift Eliminator
Difficulty Rating: 
The skip shift eliminator for the 2009 Challenger needs to be the 250Ω version in order to work properly. I double checked mine with a digital multi meter to be sure and it was the correct part. If you want to check yours, just set your meter to Ohms and touch the probes to the two pins inside the connector.
To install the skip shift eliminator you'll need to support the vehicle on automotive ramps or jack stands to gain access to the solenoid located on top of the transmission. DO NOT use a jack to support the vehicle as the jack could fail with catastrophic results. Once the vehicle is securely supported look underneath the vehicle just above the transmission cross member. You'll see a blue and white connector that comes out of the side and perpendicular to the transmission. This is the skip shift solenoid. Simply unplug this blue and white connector, plug one end of the skip shift eliminator into the solenoid, and the other end into the plug that was originally attached. That's all there is to it.
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Skip Shift Solenoid
Connection |
Skip Shift Solenoid
Connection |
Expect some scratched up hands when performing this modification. It's a tight fit, and the transmission has some pretty sharp edges around this connector.