Electrical gremlins

[Jonas]

Hi,

My Jeep has not been feeling quite right for the last few months, maybe because it didn't get to go wheeling much lately.

Yesterday the alternator warning light came on briefly. On my way to the store today the whole system went nuts. ABS, anti-skid, ESP BAS, fuel, air bag, sway bar, you name it ... one after the other with a nice bing as each came on. The Jeep finally started running really rough, and was barely able to drive around the block back to my house. Once home I notice a nice smell of burnt wires. Seem like something shorted out the whole CAN bus.

Does anyone have an idea where I should start digging? I can read the codes, but I have a feeling it will just tell me that everything is broken.

It's a 2007 JK by the way.

Thanks,

Jonas

[BlackNBlue-ISH]

I'd start by checking the ground wires, to the firewall and engine block. If there isn't enough grounding, it'll cause all sorts of unrelated electrical issues.

[Jonas]

Thanks Dan, that makes a lot of sense.

[MDSRACING398]

If happened while driving might want test alternator too. Make sure it didn't poop it. Internally ground

[TheDirector]

Poor grounds cause lots of weird issues, check / clean the battery terminals too, if they are green then need to be cleaned.

Maybe check for TSB's and recalls too, I had some serious weirdness in my old jeep and it turned out to be something with a TSB about the air bag ring causing electrical voodoo...not the same model jeep, but it could be something to check if all the grounds look good.

The next step is to break out the volt meter...god's speed on that

[mudpup96]

Have you had the clockspring warrantied? Mine was having issues with my gauge cluster from that

[Car Jack]

Any Chrysler built vehicle hates low voltage. Battery, connections like grounds as mentioned and alternator are good first places to check. The battery terminals on my 14 are complete garbage and have been replaced. Tightened to a million foot pounds I could rotate the ground terminal around the battery post with my pinky.

[Jonas]

So the Jeep is back working. Maybe my own amateurish experience can help someone else:

After trying to start it again there was almost no juice in the battery, and I also noticing that the battery was 6 years old so I started with a new battery.

Jeep started and ran just fine. Driving to the store (about 2 miles) I noticed a strange whining noise from the front. As I get out of the Jeep I notice this very pungent smell of burned wires. Opening the hood and the alternator is literally smoking hot melting the protective sheathing around the wire for the air flow sensor. When I got back out there was no sign of life left, so the only solution was a tow truck. When I got home I disconnected the battery.

This morning I checked the voltage on the battery 6.8V. The alternator was clearly cooked. Apparently the alternator was shorted out and emptied the brand new battery in about 10 minutes almost putting the Jeep on fire. I have a feeling that the front bearing of the alternator went bad first, overheated the alternator which then melted something inside and shorted it out.

Fortunately one of the auto parts stores in Milford had one in stock. New alternator and recharged battery and everything is back to normal.

Jonas

[TheDirector]

Nice, I glad it presented itself without greater damage!