stranded due to key - Going back to dealer again

jrsavoie · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:06 am

papaindigo wrote:

What's the age and condition of the vehicle battery?

Age isn't as much a factor aS condition. I've had several bad NEW batteries inn the past several years. Now Load testing is one of my first diagnostic tools

Big Montana · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:31 am

6 month old diehard platinum.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:25 pm

Well, I still don't know what they had to do to fix the Jeep, but my wife brought it home. It seems to run, but I can't tell yet if I have the GDE tune. I'm wondering if I can unplug the MAF and trip the CEL. If it trips then I'll know they've turned it back on.

On another note, the top clamp on the passenger side of my grill is broken, and now my grill is loose on that side. It could have happened when the last shop fixed my AC, but I walked in mid day, and my grill was not off.

I looked at the new invoice from this dealership, and it says they "removed Fascia, closeout and front carrier assembly. Repaired harness under P/S line where rubbing has occurred..." Does any of that sound like they removed my grill? These are the same jags that never replaced my heat shield and stripped the threads on the cam locking bolt hole. If only I didn't break down right next to them.

thermorex · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 7:58 pm

I think if you unplug the maf you'll get a cel with gde tune also.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 8:04 pm

IIRC, back in the day I got the tune with the CEL on. I hadn't cleared the cycle yet, and I told Keith that I was worried about whether or not I had damaged the plug. Keith told me that the light would go away regardless once is tune was on.

kdlewis1975 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 19, 2013 8:29 pm

From what I remember, with an OEM tune you start the engine and it immediately gets to the idle speed and stays there. With a GDE tune the motor revs past idle to like 1200 or so rpm and drops down to the normal idle speed. That's supposed to be an indicator that the tune is loaded and active.

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papaindigo · **Posted:** Fri Sep 20, 2013 9:19 am

Comments:
1. the ticket sounds like they removed the grill and other stuff to get to that line. Why I don't know as I would have thought dropping the front skid would provide access but I don't know where the line is. FYI breaking those clips is real easy, ask me how I know, as they are only plastic and have to bend a bit to engage. The grill is a bit pricey but you may be able to fab a replacement clip out of a piece of like brass or stainless sheet metal and attach it to the grill with pop rivets.
2. the rpm flair is supposed to be an indication but how reliable I don't know.
3. best email Keith on what happens if you unplug the MAF with/without a tune. I do know the sensor on the side of the air box is not used with the tune hence I would assume if you unplugged it a CEL would be triggered if you lacked the tune.

Frankly I doubt they messed with your ECU as there was no need to do so and if they flashed it they would have almost certainly charged a $100 or so item for doing so.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:00 am

I think I still have the tune, so that's good news.

I did however notice that me AC and rear defrost buttons are dead. The jeep will have to go back to the dealer on Monday. I hope that they just forgot to plug something in.

I have not found any other problems other than the fact that my father in law claims the jeep stalled on him last night while moving it out of his way in the drive way. He backed up and it stalled he said when he put it onto drive. The Jeep has never stalled on me, so I hope that he was just unlucky.

I have been hearing a clunk from the front while accelerating, and I think I may have a bad motor mount. I'm at 120k on the original mounts, so I would say I've had a good run. I don't fink that would cause the engine to stall though. I am on the original TC though, so perhaps there's something in the tranny causing it.

I'll deal with it if it walls again.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:15 am

It's certainly possible the stall was a fluke. If not a bit of transient air in the fuel will cause a stall as will the tranny drain back issue (sometimes reverse works ok but as soon as you hit drive it stalls - have no clue why but when I had tranny drain back that sometimes happened)

Big Montana · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:30 am

The jeep has run well since the claim my father-in-law made that it stalled. I did however discover that not only does the AC and rear window defrost not work, but my heat doesn't work either. It will only blow cold air. I hope that those three items are on the same circuit. My compressor won't kick on and the windows fog up. It was 45 degrees on m way to work yesterday.

Billwill · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:03 am

Big Montana wrote:

The jeep has run well since the claim my father-in-law made that it stalled. I did however discover that not only does the AC and rear window defrost not work, but my heat doesn't work either. It will only blow cold air. I hope that those three items are on the same circuit. My compressor won't kick on and the windows fog up. It was 45 degrees on m way to work yesterday.

Check fuse 29 and fuse 25 on the fuse panel inside the cabin and fuse 6, 16 and 21 in the fuse box under the hood.

Also check the Control AC Heater board....it is the one that the wires from the blower resistor plug onto and check that the small rubber vacuum line that comes off the vacuum pump and goes into the dash has not fallen off or split.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:52 am

Checking fuses is a good idea. I don't have a clue what circuits are involved or time/energy to try to figure out the wiring diagrams but will offer one comment. The heater core is hot all the time as there is no inline valve to control coolant flow into/out of the heater core. You can confirm that coolant flow once the engine is warmed up by touching the inflow/outflow hoses just in front of the firewall. Both hoses should be essentially the same temperature; if not the heater core may be plugged. The most likely reason that you get no heat is the "blend" door actuator is not working because it's not getting power hence it's not moving the HVAC blend doors to provide air flow across the heater core and into the cabin. This actuator is different from the vacuum operated "mode" actuator which controls the direction of air flow (e.g. flow, dash vents, etc).

If you switch the mode knob between options you should hear the mode doors open/close in which case the "mode" actuator is fine. In contrast moving the temp knob to activate heat does not normally in my experience produce any sound of the blend door moving.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 2:54 pm

Holy cow... Now they think the control unit is out that controls those items (I already had it dropped off before I checked the fuses but thanks for the advice) and in terms of not having heat, he says my coolant is low... I'm not buying that as I check the fluids like crazy, and I don't have low fluid. I don't have smoke issues either. I think the car is just refusing to switch over to hot air.

All of this stuff worked before I took it to them to fix the key issue. WTF? I get that I may have wiring issues, but how could the control unit go out while fixing these wires? It was never a problem before.

I forgot what he was calling it instead of the control unit. The control head or something? Is there one unit that controls the AC, the Compressor, and the heat?

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:54 pm

For coolant not to circulate thru the heater the coolant level would have to be well below the low coolant level warning light and so far below that as to be likely to cause catastrophic engine damage. Like I said confirming coolant circulation thru the heater core is as simple as touching 2 hoses on a warm engine. Well within the expertise of even a dealer mechanic although probably not something the average dealer service writer would grasp.

To the extent there is a control unit that controls these items I suppose it's the HVAC control center on the dash. But I don't see how the various different portions of the control unit that control the different functions could all die at the same time. For example the blend door is controlled by electric current as adjusted by the temp control knob while the AC is controlled by the AC on/off switch although it also runs in certain mode positions. But heh I'm not up enough on today's vehicle electric systems enough to offer much in the way of an educated WAG.

Billwill · **Posted:** Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:38 am

There is a so called "control unit" which is basically the panel that has the heat control knobs, vent control knobs and AC ON/OFF switch.

My bet is that they pulled off the plugs on this board when they "removed fascia".

papaindigo · **Posted:** Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:24 am

That's possible although I assumed the ticket reference to P/S line was power steering but who knows. Easy enough to check. There is a phillip head screw in the back of the recess at the bottom of the panel that includes the HVAC controls and the radio. Remove that screw and then use something like a thin narrow putty knife to gently pry the panel loose from the press in retainers at the corners. From there checking that everything is plugged in should be easy.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:29 am

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm still waiting to hear back from the dealer today. I would look into the car if I could. I wouldn't have taken it to them again, but I figured they had made a mistake in the first repair and since I paid them. A s*** ton of money already I figured they should correct their mistake. These buttons were not a problem until they fixed my wireing problem.

Big Montana · **Posted:** Wed Sep 25, 2013 8:40 pm

Jeep is fixed. The plug inside the dash was indeed pulled out. They dealership was going to charge me but they were receptive to the idea they their tech may have caused the problem when they repaired 5 holes in the harness. I'm happy. the CRD rides again.

profdlp · **Posted:** Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:59 pm

Good to hear. And good for you for sticking to your guns and making them do right by you.

Tulmaster · **Posted:** Wed Nov 20, 2013 8:28 pm

So what was the final item found to have been the cause of the problem?

stranded due to key - Going back to dealer again

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