Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

Life is Good?

2K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  DryCreek 
#1 ·
Arrrgh. Can it get any more annoying? Friday, on my way to work I get to claim the daily Big Buck Award - with the Geo Tracker. Quite a mess, but it was still drivable, albeit covered in gore. Last night after getting home I start disassembling the front to get a better idea of what needs to be replaced. After several aggravating hours snapping off and rounding out panhead screws, all I had off was the grille. I decided to call it a night then (about 10:30 pm). I put the Tracker out in its usual resting place under the carport, and then jumped in the Jeep to put it in the third bay of the garage. I was greeted by a loud click, flashing lights, and then - nothing. Everything went black except for one lone blinking red light. I thought, hmmm. the SKIM must not like my key tonight. I go in and grab the wife's key. No joy. So, next I unhook the battery for three minutes and try again. Nothing but the same grief. The only difference is that this time I noticed that the park lamps were on very, very dimly. I checked the light switch and made sure it was off. The EVIC and odometer screens were glowing a faint gold too. While it was in this state, there are no headlights, no dome lights and now EVIC/Odo readings. It is like the battery is dead, but it had a good 12.49 volts (resting). I unhooked the battery again to kill the dimly glowing parking lamps. About this time (11:30) the wife comes out to check on me and see what's up. Well, I had to show her what the Jeep was doing, and she was not impressed. It is sitting in front of the garage bay door where her car is - immobilized. I tried to start it again, and got the same flashing of dash lights, rapid cycling of every relay imaginable to mankind, and then total darkness. The wife starts waving her hands as I get out (with both sets of keys in my hand) pointing to the hood area. It was still busily clicking away under there. Hmmm, time to disconnect the battery and leave it that way until it gets towed to the dealer. No worries - it is still under the Certified Pre-Owned Chrysler MaxCare plus warranty (3 months/3,000 miles). I guess we will see just how good this protection plan is. If it covers this problem with no hassles, I may just upgrade the Jeep's Added Care Plus plan to this one (and possibly the wife's lifetime one on her 300)

Off to the shower and bed. Lights out at 12:30 am.

Anyway, 4:15 this morning rolled around wayyyy toooo early. I'm at work now, and dog tired. Ok, done with my pity party.

Anyone have any ideas/guesses about what failed? At first I thought the SKIM might have issues, but now I am thinking more along the lines of the TIPM failure. Wouldn't it be funny if it was related to the Heated Power Mirror recall just announced?

Should we start making predictions about how much aggravation we will have using the Chrysler CPO/MaxCare Plus plan - and with towing to Waco? I am wondering if they might not tow it to Cleburne instead (about 15 miles closer).

On the bright side - both the wife and I will get to spend some quality time driving our trucks to work today... I do love the smell of diesel exhaust in the morning!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Battery voltage seems a little low. What does battery voltage do when you try to crank it? How old is the battery and is it OE? If not the battery, you could be right about the TIPM. But, I haven't seen TIPM symptoms quite like you describe. If it's the battery, the CPO warranty probably wont cover it.
 
#3 ·
That reading was taken with the engine off. A surface charge of about 12.6 is to be expected (2.1 VDC/cell). Now this was with a little draw too - the side, front and rear marker lights were faintly glowing. I didn't get a chance to check cranking voltage as the starter would not engage. If it was a bad battery, the starter solenoid would engage and voltage lowers to the point where the solenoid drops out or chatters. I have been doing some reading and it appears that there have been quite a few issues with the TIPM across several models. And, there was a recall for '07 and '08 models due to issues that they thought could be fixed with reprogramming. As it turns out, that wasn't so and there is now a class-action lawsuit being brought against Chrysler for this issue. I am not a litigator, I just want to be able to depend on my Wrangler at any time. Although I was at home where I had a stable of four other vehicles to choose from (OK, three, the Tracker needs lights and it was dark this morning) I don't want to be caught at work with a vehicle that won't start. It is a mess trying to get a tow truck through the security checkpoint.
 
#5 ·
Yup


This is a Chrysler Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle that I picked up just 37 days ago. Everything is still nice and shiny under the hood. The battery terminals were tight and clean. When I got home from work last night I reconnected the negative terminal to make sure the problem would repeat itself. I hate it when a dealer "cannot reproduce customer issue". Well, it did the same thing. As soon as the key makes up the connection in the START position. everything goes haywire, and then dark. No lights, no accessory power, nothing. There are still several relays chattering and I think that I heard the fuel pump running. Rather than leave it in this state and possibly catching fire, I removed the negative battery terminal again. I really do suspect that it is a failure of the TIPM or the body side controller module. It doesn't react as expected for a SKREEM/SKIM fault.

Anyway, it is on a rollback right now and heading up to Mike Brown CDJR in Granbury. I know absolutely nothing about this dealership. I hope that they have a competent service crew there....
 
#6 ·
Hmmph, battery

Initial prognosis is that the battery needs to be replaced. Price for battery is $125 (about what Auto Zone or O'Reilly wants) and $25 to install.

If that doesn't cure the problem I will be all frowny-faced with them. I have never had a battery fail all at once. They've always slowly started showing signs of failure such as slow starting or voltage dips.
 
#8 ·
Update?
 
#9 ·
Update - Battery it Was...



Yup, it looks like it may have been the battery. I must admit though, I would have never in a million years guessed that was the issue. First off, the battery was only three years old*, the surface voltage measured right before it was towed in was 12.7 VDC, and the lights were bright after resetting the TIPM. I guess that I was just not taking into account the fact that the TIPM controls everything that uses battery current. And, it is electronically controlled through circuitry. There were absolutely no signs of battery degradation before this incident. No lights dimming at idle, no slow cranking or any problems cranking after having the ignition in ACC and loading files to the 430N.

What steered me to thinking that the problem was something else was the continued chattering of relays in the TIPM after key off and removed, and the fact that sometimes the marker (park) lights were on faintly. I guess that when I attempted to crank the engine and voltage fell (due to dead cell) that caused issues in the electronic control circuitry of the TIPM.

So far, so good. Oh, and life is back to being good. The parts to get my Tracker back on the road should be here this week, and I just got my sons PT Cruiser back on the road yesterday (my one day off this week). He hit a deer six days after I nailed that big buck on my way to work. It took us both a grand total of six hours to get the radiator out, all supports hammered back into a semblance of their former state, and new radiator installed. I am sad to report that his AC condenser was beyond repair. It may be some time before he saves up enough money to get AC again. I must say, I have never worked on a car with a more compact engine bay than on that PT Cruiser. Good gravy, what a shoehorned-in mess that bay is. I am just glad that the timing belt and water pump had been replaced right before he bought it. But, the knotheaded mechanic at the local garage that did it used the wrong coolant. Come on, what is so hard about getting the right coolant in a vehicle? It had been refilled with green stuff. And the PO had a jug of (hold your breath) 50/50 mix DexCool in the car to top off as necessary. If that's not a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is. The Cruiser is now full of the right stuff (G-05 HOAT) after e much deserved flush and refill.

Anyway, back to Life Is Good - after we finished that project, wife and I went for a drive into town to pick up a few things to tide us over. Had the back window rolled up and the SunRider (TM) folded back, listening to Channel 61 on Sirius. Good times...




* the batteries in my wife's 2003 Ram 2500 are OEM! I have been able to get about 5 years out of the batteries in my truck.
 
#10 ·
Glad life is good again now get a rifle and start killing those deer. Its cheeper with ammo than with front end parts! Glad you are back and running.
 
#12 ·
No room!

Glad life is good again now get a rifle and start killing those deer. Its cheeper with ammo than with front end parts! Glad you are back and running.
I grew up on venison, rabbit and squirrel. We raised our own turkeys, ducks and chickens too. I would be more likely to hunt again if our freezers didn't stay so full of our own grass-fed beef. My wife also likes wild game, but since we raise cattle, we have to eat 'em too ya know. All three of our freezers are full (and our son's is too) since we just processed a three year old about two weeks ago. I have been trying to make room for a wild hog for about a year now, and am about to give up. I will shoot a smaller one and throw the whole thing on the smoker for a party.
 
#11 ·
Even a two or three year old battery can easily go bad. In my experience, vehicle batteries not getting regular, thorough recharge cycles will have shortened lives sometimes dramatically short. Lots of short trips can do a battery in sooner too because they're being stressed. Keep em charged up whenever possible.

I had an original motorcycle battery last 8yrs (sold with the Harley) because I kept I it on a smart charger every time I parked it at home. Same for my Vettes and my Grand Cherokee which sits for days at a time undriven.
 
#14 ·
Several years ago I had a Buick Electra Limited that the battery just suddenly died on. The wife had just parked the car and about an hour later I went out to move it and nothing. That battery went from normal to nothing in no time.
BManz mentioned the smart charger which I am a believer in. I had a lawnmower battery last 8 years because it was always on a charger. If you want to see some strange actions, wait until the battery starts to go on a Vette!
 
#15 ·
Ahhh, memories.



Growing up we had a 1973 Buick Electra. Man, that thing was a boat. It was dark green, with green velour interior. I remember the buzzer you could set to remind you when you were exceeding the selected speed (orange pointer) and the yellow pointer for the cruise control. I think we sold our old push-button Dart to get that car. We also had a 1970 Pontiac Bonneville that would really move out!

Anyway, those batteries in my wife's truck are OEM, and we don't keep it on a charger like I know I should. Since we've stop showing cattle, her truck doesn't get driven much. It is a 2003 and has just turned 78K miles!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top