Big Montana wrote:
Which lights were on? Did they simply flash and then go off? Are you saying that the speedo and tach stopped reading for a second and then went back on? Was is wet out when this happened?
Give us some more details. I suspect that you have a wire grounding out somewhere or perhaps a bad CAN BUS under the battery. It's a thinnish rectangular silver module that receives the communication of all the sensors throughout the Jeep and sends them to the ECU (I think). If it stops transmitting, all of your gauges will die and the computer will light up the dash once it assumes it's no longer receiving info from the sensors. It's held on by two screws and the whole area was full of ice, snow, and rust.
I had both problems. I paid almost $800 to fix seven broken wires throughout the engine compartment last summer, and then I discovered that my can bus was rusted through. That was $1000 to replace and reprogram at the dealer. If it's all of your lights, then I would guess that it's the can bus, because my understanding is that all sensors have to go through there. Mine got worse to the point where it wouldn't recognize my key fob, and I couldn't kill the alarm. That was a nice tow bill. Then it wouldn't stay running after two seconds because it couldn't read the key code, then one night it locked the doors on me while running. That's supposed to be impossible. I almost broke a window with a rock I was so mad.
Everything is great now. If you have t change it, be sure they program it correctly. After mine was done, I couldn't use my sunroof, brights, or fog lights. I took it back and they said that they had forgotten to add solenoids or something.
The best I can describe it is, I just happened to look down, (been watching the tach pretty closely since I just bought this jeep) and the tach and speedo were both sweeping up from zero. I was running about 40 at the time. At the same time, all the indicator lights were on for a few seconds.. (exactly like when you are cranking to start the engine.. computer self test?) The engine didn't die, in fact, it ran fine afterwards.
About 3-4 miles previously to this, I heard a light growling upon accelerating from about 10 mph.. lasted about 1 or 2 seconds.... until I backed out of the throttle ( I thought, maybe this is the start of what you guys are calling 'shudder'..) I was into the throttle about half when it did it... probably 2nd gear... I also was 'playing around' with having the esp turned off.. not really thrashing it.. but was checking out how much different the engine is when it's on or off. On gravel, it makes a huge difference on power to the wheels! I was in 2wd.
Back to story! so, I took it easy on it for the next 2-3 miles, running up to 40-45 mph.... and just started coasting down for my driveway when I seen the dash doing its thing.
The jeep has a 'Chinese' alternator.. looks fairly new. 1 or 2 years at best.
It is bone dry here.
This was not silky smooth roads... typical gravel, some ruts, some washboard.. not terrible, but not highway either.
I just got in from checking the alternator. no signs of red dust out the pulley.. or down the belt itself.
I had the AC on, but the headlights were off. So not too big a load on the electrical system.
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