akassouf

Hello, so I’ve been having some strange issues with my Jeep and haven’t had a chance to diagnose the issue yet. Yesterday, it started making a whining noise when I started it and whenever I accelerated. Then kept driving and all my lights flashed on and off (ABS, traction control, e brake, battery light). Then I started to smell something burning, almost smelt electrical so I pulled off the side of the road to check it out. I turned it off and checked the fuses, battery terminal, and any wires going to my light bar. Everything checked out there then it wouldn’t start. So I had a buddy come jump me off but it still wouldn’t start. I kept hearing a clicking sound like it was trying to turn over but couldn’t. Note: he was revving his truck while trying to start but still would not work. All my lights were working, the battery isn’t even a year old yet. To me I thought maybe it’s the alternator or possibly the starter? It still baffles me that it wouldn’t even start off a jump. As of this morning, none of the lights came on; couldn’t even see the mileage to come on. I’ve been at work and haven’t back home to check it out. Please lemme know what you guys think!

EHarris

Well hopefully someone else who has experienced this can comment further but I can at least get the ball rolling. My experience with it not starting and nothing appearing on the dash always traces back to a bad battery no matter how new it is. What that has to do with a whining noise I'm not sure but I would be absolutely positive the battery is good before trying to troubleshoot this. I speak from experience. With that being said and you are positive, I would look at the starter wires and alternator wires first especially the clip on starter wire that falls off and can spark against the heat shield. Mine was an 08. I take it into the middle of nowhere. I was trying to track down an electrical draw. I replaced the starter but it didn't help. Starter was still good. Went with AC Delco Professional Starter. Then I moved to Alternator. It was still good but once again replaced it anyway with 160k on it. Went with the Denso exact factory model. Way overpriced but I didn't want that to be the variable so I got it from Quadratec as they had best price (price match plus free shipping). All of my electrical problems were gone from there. Seemed maybe the alternator was the reverse power draw on it but I ended up with a new battery, starter, alternator because of all of it.

Now this also could be something with the TIPM module or even PCM or instrument cluster even. I'd try to get correct power to it for sure and see if it starts. Disconnect all of the wires and clean them and re connect., test battery and see where you are at. It may be multiple problems or just one but if you can get a trouble code that code from that dash that could help greatly.

akassouf

Thanks for replying! Still not sure why at first it would not even jump off. I tested the battery and starter and both were fine so I figured I’d try to jump it again. It started up no problem and died off in a few seconds, so I knew it had to be the alternator. I ordered an alternator and installed it this morning. I jumped it off and now it works great! She’s running like a charm