Battery connections and all grounds would be a good first step. Ground leads to the engine block too.

Then there's a TSB for a jeep dealership to replace what's called the clock spring which allows the airbag and steering wheel controls to stay connected while steering.

After that the dash instrument cluster has three connectors, the centermost one is prone to condensation corrosion. It carries signals for what's called the interior can bus module which when faulty can cause dead dash or "Christmas Tree" dash lights and fault codes. If the wipers haven't come on by themselves and the stereo still works then the clusters interior can bus module is usually okay once connections are improved. Once the wipers come on the dash cluster usually needs to be replaced.

There are ground connections behind the driver's left and right kick panels which can get corroded aswell.

If none of these fix the issue then testing each sensor for ground and 5v would be next.

I hope this helps, let us know how you get on.

The main take away is that driver inputs are signalled digitally from the interior can bus module accros various connections to the TIPM which looks like a fuse box but is actually a communication hub for all other modules, so connection between these two, and other modules needs to be in good order. Fuse and sensor connections may need cleaning aswell.

Cheers,
🥝 Scott

 

Battery connections and all grounds would be a good first step. Ground leads to the engine block too.

There is a YT video series by a mechanic named Rainman Ray. It's a good series, the videos vary in length, but start with getting in the vehicle and stating what the owner has said. He always checks the codes, and when he opens the hood, he goes to the battery to check it's condition and the connections. Many times, he has found bad connections, and when he has taken care of that, the codes disappear.

With our modern vehicles, if the battery connections or the battery itself are weak you get some strange issues, and they are not consistent.

Early last year I had a strange issue on my '17 Chief. It would on occasion give me what I called a half start. Instead of the robust start settling down just under 1000 RPM, it would sort of chug around 500 rpm with no throttle response. I blew off the first time, but than several days later it did it again. It always started normally on the second try until one night when I was about 30 miles from home. It did it three times in a row. Finally I turned the lights from auto to off, and it started. The next day I went down and bought a replacement battery. It hasn't done it since. I never heard of a similar experience on this forum. I thing just about every Jeep is a little different in it's reaction to a weak battery or bad connection.

 

In my post above I had thought you'd said goes dead meaning the dash. If the dash doesn't die and just the codes and warnings come up with the going into limp mode it could be cam-crank sensor out of sync which can happen when a cam phaser actuator, cam position sensor or crank position sensor or their harness goes bad. It can also be caused by low or degraded oil making the cam phasers slow to respond, or lack of oil pressure due to a leaky or missing lifter oil gallery plug (usually this would create a noticable lifter tick). The crank sensor is usually the cause if you're getting both banks cam timing faults.

 

I think you are probably looking for a 'change this part' easy simple type of answer. but that doesn't sound like that kind of problem. sounds like a wiring/power/ground issue somewhere possibly and it is going to need some diagnosing.

when I bought my 2012 2 years ago I ended up finding that it had some wiring issues that someone had done a hack job fixing. there was a new power wire running to the passenger side cam sensor jumpered from the driver side cam sensor and connected with scotch locks. I have no idea what codes it had thrown but apparently the power wire in the harness was bad so they 'hacked' in a new one. I found other wiring harness issues as well that did throw codes for me..such as part of the harness basically rubs on the steering shaft so I had no a/c. so i'm not convinced the wiring harness was fully sorted out when the 2012 models were built....hell maybe they were exactly the same til 18 and we all have or will have the same issues.

 

Did you find the problem?

 

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Suggest you start a new thread and ask about your own situation with as many specifics as you can provide.