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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, then 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. Have any of you experienced this yet?
Thanks!
I turned the key and there seemed to be a slight hesitation, then 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. Have any of you experienced this yet?
Thanks!