Any ventures why a white arrow facing forward randomly appears on the control panel when driving my 5-spd 4-cyl 1992 Jeep Wrangler?

Answer 1

Yup, you've got it. I now realize it is the shift indicator. Apparently this is a feature on other vehicles in addition to Wrangler. Thanks to Redbeard, I did some further research and found this on rec.autos.com that confirms his explanation:

In article wes...@dsg145.nad.Ford.com (Stephen H. Westin) replies to c...@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu (John M. Russo): >> I noticed that the shift indicator light on the dash seemed to come on >> at way too low rpm's. >> If I go ahead and buy the Wrangler, should I ignore the shift indicator >> light and go with my instincts about shifting....? >The purpose of the shift indicator light is to optimize fuel >economy on the EPA dyno test. It has nothing at all to do with >powertrain durability. When we got our first car with one, I >said to my wife, "You see that yellow light?" "Yes." "Ignore it."

My sentiments exactly. I own a '92 Wrangler and have ignored this indicator light from day one with no apparent reprecussions. Jeep certainly did us a favour by minimizing the annoyance of this light. Specifically, they made it a small outline of an arrow, less than 1" in size, illuminated with white light. This is a vast improvement from the annoying red bar that my '83 Mustang had (suffice it to say that that was disconnected ASAP). Jeep also desiged the indicator such that it will turn off as soon as your speed plateaus, even if you did not upshift. Kudos to Jeep.

BTW, I highly recommend the Wrangler.

Rob

AnswerIs that the shift indicator? Many manual transmission vehicles have an indicator that tells you when to shift. The up arrow may be indicating that it's time to shift up one gear.