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Turn signals, lights, and wipers stopped working

73K views 32 replies 21 participants last post by  Chris Merenda 
#1 ·
Argh! Another gremlin it seems. Love my 2012 JKU but oh boy, this isn't fun... 1600 miles and about 6 weeks on it.

Today my wipers randomly came on and now won't cut off. Nothing on the steering column stalks works... Wipers, signals, lights, brights, fog lights, panel dimmer, washer, rear wiper washer. It is all "stuck" with panel fairly dim, lights on, fog lights off, and rear wiper odd but front wipers on. Basically nothing on either of the two stalks changes anything now.

Radio buttons and uconnect, compass, cruise all seem ok.

Checked my fuses and relays and everything is tight. Heading to to the dealer in the AM but gotta drop my toddler off at daycare, and I dread driving in traffic with no signals. But I am SOL with my wife out of town with vehicle #2.

Any thoughts on what could be wrong? I am thinking a wire shorted or broke, or a relay got stuck, but seems like multiple relays would be involved here so that's iffy. Maybe a computer that controls these items fried or has a software issue?

A quick fix for the signals on the way to the dealer would be nice... No rain or snow coming so the wipers should be ok with the fuse out for now.

Thanks!
 
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#3 ·
The flux capacitor is jammed.
 
#11 ·
My $$ is on a failure w/in the wiring harness, the problem area may not be found :eek:

This is where a "few" folks are betting the failure of my 2012 JKU is located!
If no other fault can be found, have the shop search for a "ground" fault!

After 2 visits to the dealers shop totaling about 17-days in the shop and many dozens of hours, it was a ground problem.

The shop drove it for 20-mi w/o a problem this afternoon :D

Will pick it up in the morning!:dance::D:dance::punk:

This problem seems to be limited only to my vehicle!

Man, I feel like a kid at Christmas morning, getting my Jeep back!
 
#12 ·
Looks like my Jeep is spending the night at the dealer.

I talked to my technician today, he says the multifunction switch in the steering column failed. They have another coming but won't be in until tomorrow, so I got to drive ... drumroll ... a Caravan around today (and tomorrow).

The service writer passed along that there may be something else causing the multifunction switch to fail, but that they wouldn't know until they put in a new one. Reminds me a little of my PC technician days...

I have done some searches on the multifunction switch and am seeing it has been a common failure point since '07 at least. Hopefully that means that while they occasionally fail, I will get a replacement that is good and that will last the rest of the time I have my Jeep!
 
#16 ·
Ericpso said:
^^^ awesome news - Glad you're back in biz. Did they mention if it's an epidemic or were they thinking it was an anomaly with your car? I know your research turned up a few cases.

Cheers.
No mention, leading me to believe it's isolated.
 
#18 ·
I had the exact same problem. All steering column controls stopped working. I also took mine to the dealer( 2011 jku) and they told me it was a computer issue. They flashed the system, which I'm guessing is some kind of a hard reboot, and problem solved. Took 20 minutes. the Jeep has about 8k miles on it and this happened about 3 weeks ago. No issues since.
 
#32 ·
I had the exact same problem. All steering column controls stopped working. I also took mine to the dealer( 2011 jku) and they told me it was a computer issue. They flashed the system, which I'm guessing is some kind of a hard reboot, and problem solved. Took 20 minutes. the Jeep has about 8k miles on it and this happened about 3 weeks ago. No issues since.

My '08 did that last night, all steering controls stopped. I disconnected/reconnected battery giving about a minute w/o power. It worked, then this AM it's all dead again. If this is the symptoms with him, wondering if I should try the hard reboot first.
 
#25 ·
I'm having the same problem. 2014 JK with 13000miles. Still under warranty, but the dealership keeps telling me they can't figure out the problem. They did however replace the multifunction switch which didn't help. My friend also has a 2013 Dodge truck that does the same thing. They must have figured out the cause by now??
 
#26 ·
Had the same issues but I was caught with my top down during a downpour. Did the research and the common part is the clockspring. Changed it today and the jk is back online. The clockspring not only has something to do with the entire steering column electronics but also the enter dash auxiliary switches, ie: inverter, traction control, etc. Changing it isn't terrible and took me about an hour and a half with a trip to home depot for the 1/4 inch #20 torx to get at the torx screws just under the console. Good luck!
 
#31 ·
I woke up to thundrer and lightining and remembered my top was off. rove it around town and found out that my headlights,blinkers and wipers do not work. Oh and I had condensation in my 430 radio! I ultimately took the leaf blower to the steering wheel area and then at the radio which blew out the moisture. EGO leaf blower to the rescue. I then disconnected the Neg on the battery for a few hours and when I reconnected I was back in business. Not sure if the steering wheel did anything but figured it couldnt hurt. The jeep got a bad soaking this morning... Just throwing this out there for others to try before bringing to the stealership.
 
#27 ·
Partial Lighting Issues

I saw this thread and decided to look here first. I have an 07 JK and have a similar issue with my lighting. First my dome light comes on fine when the door is open, however does not turn on when I use the twist lever on my column to turn it on. My running lights come on when I turn the headlights all the way on, however if I try to use them with parking lights (just pull the light lever on the column)...I have no parking lights, its either all or nothing. Also...my cruise control switch isn't working on the column, i can push the button tills the cows come home and get nothing. Is this a relay switch issue? Just wondering, because everything works just not the way they should.
Thanx, Chris
 
#28 ·
Since the dome lights aren't responding to the signal switch, I'd bet on the multifunction switch being the issue here.
 
#30 ·
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