OK, I have had the JK at the stealership for a total of around two weeks...

The problem...Sometimes...the jeep won't start, no cranking, nothing, but every thing else works fine.

The wife drives it....it won't start, battery's ok, etc...they tow it in..."Fix it"...we get it back...it strands her at work, they tow it AGAIN....they "FIX" it again...we get it back, it won't start in our driveway...they tow it.....again....they fix it, again....we go to pick it up, it won't start...in the stealership's service parking lot...they DO NOT have to tow it this time...we just keep the loaner. That was LAST WEEK.



They spent "Days" in contact with Chrysler...and, the verdict...its not always fixable...its just a built-in problem....and a few JK's have it...and "Chrysler is working on a solution ASAP" (Selling Jeep?)

The solution if this happens to YOU, and you DO NOT feel like going through this agonizing process?

Pull the firiggin fuse for 30 seconds....then push it back in...and its cured, at least so you can start it, THIS TIME.





Here's my crappy write up:

1. Open the hood, find the fuse box next to the battery, open it.

2. There's a large white fuse case with two little 60 amp blade fuses in it....pull up the white part, leave it up for 30 seconds.

3. Push the white part back down, close the box and hood, start the jeep.



The fuse box next to the battery




Push the two little tabs in to open the top of the fuse box





The location of that white fuse you pull, next to a large yellow fuse you don't.





Close up (Blurry) of white fuse next to yellow fuse....I wrote on the fuse so my wife could tell which one if she had to.

______________________________

I hope this saves some poor soul a few tows when it would have been a bad time, etc.

If anything's still unclear...feel free to ask.

 

Is this happening with just the autos? Again...it would really really help if people would put what type of tranny they have, in their sig. I learned this about 10yrs ago on an old school Camaro site. Cleared up a lot of confusion.

 

Thanks for the tip..Wouldnt want to get stranded like that..Hope DC gets a permanent fix for it....Thanks...

 

I also wonder if it is related to the sentry system?

 

thanks for the tip.

 

Thanks for the heads up! What did the dealer indicate they had done to "fix" it? Is that how you figured out which fuse to pull?

 

Back when I was a kid everyone knew if you had a sticking bendix gear on your starter shaft rocking the vehicle back and forth would unstick it. Your starter is NOT connected to the engine at all times. When you turn your key to start the initial spin of the starter shaft causes the spring- loaded bendix gear to move outward on the starter shaft. This bendix gear has tapered teeth that engage the ring-gear teeth on the flywheel.The energized starter motor then spins the engine until it starts. Once you release the key the starter deenergizes and the spring loaded bendix gear retracts on the starter shaft and disconnects from the flywheel. when the bendix sticks on the shaft you get no connection to the motor from the starter. This usually sounds like a spinning electric motor, however a bad starter solenoid will act up intermittenly and make no noise. It sure sounds like your problem is software related. Take it to a different dealer, your current dealer wants no hassle jobs.

 

This is one of those posts I hope I don't need. I sure would be glad you wrote this and that I read it if it happens to me. Thanks

 

Isnt there a TSB for this???

Thanks for the write up TEEJ.

 

There's a few (3?) TSB's on starter problems, from cam position sensors to the sentry key static electricity, to the starter solenoid melting, etc....

My dealer allegedly looked at all possibilities....and came up with maybe all three, which they already corrected...but it still would not start every time, so they kept the reticent wrangler a while, and then gave up....I figured out which fuse, as that's the one that the starter runs on...so it resets what ever is confusing the poor thing.

My starter solenoid WAS melted, so obviously, the fuse thing would not fix that particular problem by itself...but you can see that, as when you remove the heat shield, the starter is visible, and the hole in the solenoid where it melted is the size of a quarter (on mine at least...)....

WHAT made the solenoid melt in the first place would either be a loose connection (Defective assembly, etc...) allowing arcs, or, a bad cam position sensor which would leave the starter gear extended against the flywheel for too long, etc....and burn it out....or maybe some other programming glitch that has not yet been identified.

So, for now, I consider this a band-aide, needed until Damn Slur Cry Swear comes up with a definitive diagnoses and permanent cure.