Intermittent problem locking with keyfob

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

Well, I have my first significant problem with my KK. Over the past few weeks I've been having occasional problems getting the doors to lock with the remote. It's not every time, but periodically it just refuses to work. Never had a problem unlocking, oddly enough, and it seems to happen with both of my keys so I don't think it's a battery issue.

I needed to take it in for an oil change anyway, so I had the dealer take a look since it's still under warranty. Naturally they weren't able to reproduce the problem in the shop. Has anyone else run into this? I would love suggestions for how to make the problem occur often enough that I can demonstrate it to the mechanic so I can get it fixed, since this is really annoying and it would be bad if I accidentally left it unlocked downtown. On second thought, if it got stolen that would take care of the problem. :wink:

Possibly unrelated, but I've noticed some odd behavior out of the windshield wipers too. The back one sometimes goes two or three more times after I shut it off, and the other day the front ones did something weird too. I stopped somewhere while it was raining and left the wipers on, and after I restarted the Jeep the wipers didn't work right until I changed the wiper speed setting. I seem to recall reading a thread a while back about rear wiper problems, so I don't think that's a completely new problem, but I haven't heard of any of the rest of it.

Help :!:

Cheater · **Joined:** Wed Apr 27, 2011 2:27 am **Posts:** 5

I have almost the same problems as you.

First of all, the liftgate flipper window doesn't open with the remote or exterior handle button. I noted that the computer gives a message like gate ajar but everything is closed.

Second, the rear wiper has the same condition as yours. It doesnt turn off when I want. I am out of the warranty period so I do not know if I am able to ask for a recall.

Natidog · **Joined:** Tue Oct 19, 2010 10:22 pm **Posts:** 23

I know that if you turn the rear wiper knob just a bit to far it will go into the wash setting. If it does that, even if no washer fluid sprays it will cycle the wiper three times before shutting off.

bhudha1 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:57 pm

The problem I have is the wipers move when I unlock the doors. Dealer was unable to reproduce the issue. No fix. It only seems to happen on really hot days and the jeep has been sitting in the sun for a couple of hours. Its hard to sit the jeep in the sun and drive it to the dealership at the same time :banghead:

and will not happen once I drive it. So im going to film it and show it to them. I took it in so they have the problem on file.

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

Natidog wrote:

I know that if you turn the rear wiper knob just a bit to far it will go into the wash setting. If it does that, even if no washer fluid sprays it will cycle the wiper three times before shutting off.

Hmm, good point. That could have been what happened, although I think (but I could be wrong) that it actually parked the wiper and then it went again, all after I turned it off. I'll have to pay more attention if it happens again.

In any case, I'm not really concerned about the wipers because they're not actually causing any problems. It's the keyfob issue that I'd really like to figure out because it's rather aggravating. Interestingly, today I brought along my second key and tried them both when I got to work. Neither worked at first, so I stood there pushing the button on both of them for a little while, and eventually they both locked it (or at least I got two honks).

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

This appears to be temperature related. This summer when it warmed up I hardly even noticed the problem because the most it did was force me to hit the button a couple of times instead of just once. Now that it's getting cold again though, I'm having to lock it with the interior button again because the fob doesn't work for a significant period of time after it gets shut off. On the plus side, my dad recently backed into me with his KK, so I have to take it into the shop anyway and now I think I can tell them how to recreate the problem.

Sagerist · **Posted:** Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:35 pm

Good Luck with that. I have that issue with my Keys, except none of the buttons will work until i turn the ignition on. Then the key will magically work a second later. Very frustrating as i still don't know why it happens.

hislop · **Posted:** Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:52 pm

I HATE MY KEYFOB. i have auto start with it and it's unlock-lock-unlock. it unlocks but it never reads the lock-unlock. It only works when I'm right next to the jeep :banghead:

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Mon Nov 21, 2011 10:34 pm

FYI - there's a battery in the Key fob and it'll start acting weird when that's old (although on mine it was willing to unlock - without disarming the alarm.....)

hrogi · **Posted:** Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:16 pm

I have the same issues.

I replaced the battiers on both and still have the same hard to reproduce problems.

I am up a creek with no fixes

Sagerist · **Posted:** Tue Nov 22, 2011 5:04 pm

My plan was to just keep one key dead and use the other to drive to the dealership. Then show them how the dead key doesnt work. Then put it in the ignition turn the car on and off, put the key out and like magic, the key is working again. They probably still wont be able to figure it out though and have this look on their face :dizzy:

. ugh ... :banghead:

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

Crud, I missed a bunch of the replies to this thread. I don't think it's the battery because I carried both keys around for a couple of weeks last year and it did the same thing with both. Plus the fact that it didn't happen over the summer tells me it's something in the vehicle that doesn't like the transition from cold to hot when I run it after it's been sitting outside. Unfortunately, it's back to only happening about 75% of the time, so with my luck I'll take it in and it won't happen. I need to sit down some night and experiment to see what the best way to show them the problem is (how long does it need to be running, does it need to cool down again before it will happen, etc.).

musclezmarinara · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 10:43 am

Did you change the fob? Like add a remote OEM start? just curious...

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

musclezmarinara wrote:

Did you change the fob? Like add a remote OEM start? just curious...

Nope, although now that I think about it I did have a trailer brake controller installed. I wonder if they knocked a connection loose when they did that. The one thing I've been meaning to check is the ground connection. According to Click and Clack a bad ground can cause weird electrical issues, but it wasn't immediately obvious to me what I needed to check, and I didn't have time to try to find it.

musclezmarinara · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:28 pm

cybertron wrote:

musclezmarinara wrote:

Did you change the fob? Like add a remote OEM start? just curious...

Nope, although now that I think about it I did have a trailer brake controller installed. I wonder if they knocked a connection loose when they did that. The one thing I've been meaning to check is the ground connection. According to Click and Clack a bad ground can cause weird electrical issues, but it wasn't immediately obvious to me what I needed to check, and I didn't have time to try to find it.

Id back track and check for sure

Sagerist · **Posted:** Tue Dec 06, 2011 1:47 pm

Yea. I didnt have any electrical Mods done and mine is having this issue every now and then. Some weeks are better than others and it does seem to act up a bit more with the weather. But my KK is parked in an enviro controlled garage when im at work and there are times the key doesnt work when i get off. Just so frustrating because i can literally turn the jeep on and off for less than a second of run time and the darn key works like nothing ever happened. :banghead:

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

Sagerist wrote:

Yea. I didnt have any electrical Mods done and mine is having this issue every now and then. Some weeks are better than others and it does seem to act up a bit more with the weather. But my KK is parked in an enviro controlled garage when im at work and there are times the key doesnt work when i get off. Just so frustrating because i can literally turn the jeep on and off for less than a second of run time and the darn key works like nothing ever happened. :banghead:

Interesting. That's exactly the opposite of mine - it only doesn't work right after I shut it off when it's cold out. I used to have a heated garage and it didn't seem to help in my case either though.

B52Wing · **Joined:** Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:54 pm **Posts:** 1

This is my first post.

2011 KK I bought in June.

Last weekend I drove it to a small airfield where I fly. It was around 20 degrees. I parked it for about 1-1/2 hours. When I came back to it the key fob wouldn't open the door. Opened it with the key and was getting the other key out of the console when the first one started opening the door.

Didn't do it before then and hasn't done it since but after treading this thread........ uh oh.

This is the first and only issue I have had with my KK. Almost 10,000 miles and I love it.

I have put skid plates, front tow hook, rear hitch, and 245/70/16 Yokohama Geolandar AT's on it so far.

cybertron · **Joined:** Fri Feb 12, 2010 2:32 pm **Posts:** 72

Just a heads up - I took my Jeep into the shop (again :roll:

) for a problem with the ESC light coming on intermittently (this time there were codes in the computer, so they actually know what's going on. Hooray!), and I mentioned the key problem again since I hoped maybe it was related. It wasn't, but they called and told me there's a TSB for it and they're going to replace both keyfobs. They have to order them in so I won't know for a few days if it fixes the problem, but I thought I'd let everyone know that Jeep is aware of problems with this so it's worth checking with your dealer if you're having problems.

hrogi · **Posted:** Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:50 pm

Can you get the TSB number please.

It helps those of use with lazy dealers

Intermittent problem locking with keyfob

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