My 2013 Jeep Wrangler with 14,000 miles failed to start yesterday. This is an interesting problem that I've never encountered before. Here's what happened:

I turned the key and there seemed to be a slight hesitation, but the car started and ran for about 4 seconds and then shut off. I did this three more times with the same results. On the fourth try, the engine wouldn't turn over at all. The one light that was on the dash required a look-up in my manual. This turned out to be the "Security" light. It also reminded me of a few years ago when another car I had did the exact same thing, but for a legitimate reason: I had the wrong key in the ignition. It had no electronic chip, and so the car would start, then run a few seconds and die. When I got the correct key, it started and ran fine. So just for the heck of it, I got my spare Jeep key off the wall and tried it. Same thing. Nothing.

I had my Jeep towed to the dealership and the Tech there said he'd come across this issue recently. He simply removed the "IOD" fuse for 15 seconds and then put it back. That solved
the problem. Two days earlier I was in the deep country in snow with no cell-phone service. Can you imagine what might have happened if this issue had popped-up then? Especially the fact that there was an easy fix that I wasn't aware of.

So my car was gone for 24 hours, the tow and "fix" together probably cost Chrysler three or four hundred dollars, and it should have never happened to start with.

What is the theory on why this happened? The Tech thinks that static electricity (It's winter now) somehow zapped the computer into not being able to read the key code, and so shut down the engine.

To me, this is a really serious issue, as these vehicles were MADE to go out where even cell phones fail. This could get someone killed!

Have any of you experienced this yet?

Thanks!

 

Maybe the Jeep was upset you repeatably kept calling it a car? karma and all

In all seriousness, that does suck though. Hope it doesn't happen again! Haven't had that on either of my Jeeps but every now and then one random thing happens and never happens again... so who knows. Its all computers and they occasionally just need a reboot.

 

Sorry for your inconvenience and thanks for sharing. I just bought a 2013 for my daughter so reading this doesn't make me happy. What is an "IOD" fuse and where is it located?

 

Yes. And if you look far enough back in JKF's archives you can find where I posted about it here on the forum as I was stuck at my church's parking lot. A friend the next day helped me get it running by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery. It happened to me two other times within a few days of that. And never since. Been years--at least three or four--since it did happen. One of a number of things on my Jeep that have happened three or four times in a week, to never be experienced again. I guess it fixes itself, LOL.

 

I also had this happen once. It was however summer time and after my jeep had been in my garage all night.

 

The WCM is sensitive to static discharge. A spark when you insert the key can make it so it will not recognize the key's transponder.

Pulling the IOD (Ignition Off Draw) fuse resets the WCM. Disconnecting the battery negative cable will do the same thing, but pulling the IOD fuse is easier to do.

There was a TSB about this back in 2008. It said to do the IOD fuse disconnect for 10 seconds. If it didn't work, or if it worked and the WCM had an early serial number, the technician was to replace the WCM.

 

I had an issue with it not starting, same as you did, but the Key was not good. The second Key would start it up. I changed the batter in the first key and nothing fixed it. The dealer replaced the key with a new one at no cost.

 

The transponder in the key doesn't require a battery to operate.

 

Yes both keys produced the same exact results. I did a quick search online and found the iod fuse needed to be pulled. That fixed it and as Ron said disconnecting the negative terminal from your battery will produce the same result.

 

I think I've seen a couple of people have small random electrical gremlins for a week, and then it's fine. There was one week a while ago where first the windows wouldn't go down, then the air stopped blowing for a couple seconds, then it sounded the horn when I locked it, but the doors didn't lock. It happened once in one week and hasn't happened again. The only thing I can think of is it's some sort of a software glitch in the canbus.