Ok, so here is the deal, was in CA last weekend, of course has to happen when out of town and on a Sunday, gotta love the Gremlin Car God's!

Go to start the jeep and it won't turn over, try about six times before giving up and figuring it is the battery. Jump in the car with a buddy and go buy a new battery. Get done switching it all out and go to start, still won't turn over... SH*T! Try a few more times and give up, take out the new battery and go return it. So it is Sunday, call up as it is under warranty to get it towed in first thing Monday am... One of the neighbors comes over who is a wrench turner, not that I'm not, he thinks its the battery... so check that, the lights, etc.. so turn on the lights and turn it over, starts right up. does this 3 more times and starts up right away. turn off the lights, won't start next two times (with lights turned off), then turns over with lights off, third time. Now we are both really confused. Decide to take it into the dealer Monday AM rather than risk the long desert drive back to AZ on a Sunday.

Starts right up Monday morning and every time at the dealer. The dealer Frahm supposedley started it every 10 minutes and would start every time so "we can't recreate the problem" is the answer... go figure... computer , grounds, everthing checks out. Drove home back to AZ and has started every single time since. No aftermarket alarm or stereo so don't start thinking anti-theft, etc....

Anyone experience this one or have any ideas!!!!????? Going to take it to the dealer here but am expecting the same answers....

 

Ok, so here is the deal, was in CA last weekend...

Sounds like a ground.

- Were you wheelin' in CA?
- Mud?
- Did you wash it?

 

Yea, my thought as well, I checked the grounds as well as the dealer, all looked fine. Did not wash it and no wheelin, no mud.

 

There's a fuse that blows when the static electricity from the keys with the chips sometimes internally sparks the anti-theft 'puter, and it poops.

The dealers are on to this, they do not know how to actually FIX the problem, but, they DO know that resetting the fuse buys time. (You go away and leave them alone...)

BTW - YOU can re-set it yourself the next time.

PS - the starters themselves can go blewy too, and fry out due to ANOTHER bad QA/QC issue...mine melted due to a bad connection from the factory...at about 6K on the odo. (Hard to see, its under a factory "skid plate")







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.

 

Thanks TEEJ. I don't think it is a fuse, I checked those as well. Also, if that was it, why would it have started back up without replacing it? The starter was one of my thoughts as well, perhaps a dead spot on it? I mentioned that to the dealer as well but of course "that could not be the problem..."

Did you starter go out completely or just sporadic problems with it?

Thanks

 

See additional edit...the fuse is not one you can SEE is blown.

 

Thanks TEEJ!! Nice Edit/write up! I'll try this next time, hopefully there is NO next time!!

Edit: Interesting, just went to look at this on mine and it is more tan than white, looks slightly different. Looks like this might have changed on the 08, I have an 07. Will still give it a shot if this happens again

 

Bad news and good news. Bad news is it will happen again. My JK does it about 3 days a month. Dealer cant fix or explain. Good news is that pulling the white fuse up for a few secs does make it go away. I have also had success with locking and unlocking the doors with the key fob, then starts right up. TOAD had this problem though and she has manual locks so IDK. Pain in the ass just make sure your dealer keeps it documented that they cant fix yet so when they do find a solution, if your out of warrant, it can be a "preexisting issue".

 

THAT IS JUST FU---IN BULLSH_T!!!
(excuse my french, ...sorry to all the french guys out there)

They need to fix that ASAP! If That starts happening to me
I will sleep at the dealership until its fixed.

 

Toad's been dealing with that problem for months and several visits to the dealership (I think like four visits already). I'm sure she'll chime in when gets she gets back from the Sierras trip, but I know that she has to rock her jeep back and forth a few times to get it to start. Guess that means something just must be loose and they can't figure out what it is yet.

That's just wrong. Bad enough a guy having to do that, but when the dealer tells a woman to just rock her monster jeep a few times... Poor Toad.