jeep ... odd problem

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rock n roll kid

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little long , so bear with me .

2001 grand cherokee . noticed bout couple of months ago while parked in the garage , the lights came on , with no apparent reason . this is
ALL lights , tail head & fog lights . at first believed i might have set this off with the key fob on my keys in my pocket . was able to use the fob to shut them off.
did the same thing again a few days later . i got in car and fiddled with the light stalk and doing this seemed to re-set all back to normal ....or so i thought.
the " light up " happened again 2-3 days later . once or twice they went off with no prompting by their self. took my keys with the remote attached , out of pocket and left them in the house . it happened at least twice with the keys NOT in my pocket . no more problems for a couple of weeks , untill today !
came on couple of times this am . got them turned them off . then they remained on & off , mostly on for the next several minutes . long enough to run battery down & vehicle wont start now . disconnected the battery cable .....finally .
my mechanic will come to check the jeep the next chance he has , probably next few days. told him the problem and he seemed at least somewhat stumped for now.
big question ! any one ever experience this AND what could be the cause of this ?? !!
thanks and needless to say i would appreciate your help/knowledge
 
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I had a similar problem with my '02 Durango. Something in the computer module went bad and had to be replaced. We'd be driving down the road and the wipers, lights,etc would go on and off, or the wipers would start up, doors would lock and unlock, all kinds of annoying things like that. I think it was about a 500 dollar fix.
 
...do you have neighbors in close proximity?...could be someone elses key fob...or some other kind of remote is doing it...back in the height of the CB radio days...it was said that keying up a CB would activate some brands of garage doors openers...
 
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Yup, I'd bet its the main computer. My wife had a 2001 Laredo with the 4.0 I-6, and the computer controlled EVERYTHING.

Did you know your tail light assemblies are NOT just lenses with bulb holders in them? They have a freakin' circuit board and chip in them! When the chip or the board goes bad the tail lights will do all kinds of weird things - and the only way to fix them is to buy complete new tail light assemblies - and as I recall they are about $200 apiece!

Now, how retarded is that?!? Why in the WORLD do tail light assemblies need to have computer controls built in? NOT one of Chryslers better ideas IMO...
 
Jeep...Odd Problem

O.K., I'm serious in this reply.

Could the computer in your jeep have been hacked? Chrysler has been all over the news lately with easily accessible internal computers. I watched a demonstration on ABC News in which someone took complete control of the vehicle, including the brakes. The vehicle finally rolled in to a ditch with the driver having no control whatsoever.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=chrysler+computer+hacking

You may have seen similar reports.
 
rock n roll kid said:
little long , so bear with me .

2001 grand cherokee . noticed bout couple of months ago while parked in the garage , the lights came on , with no apparent reason . this is
ALL lights , tail head & fog lights . at first believed i might have set this off with the key fob on my keys in my pocket . was able to use the fob to shut them off.
did the same thing again a few days later . i got in car and fiddled with the light stalk and doing this seemed to re-set all back to normal ....or so i thought.
the " light up " happened again 2-3 days later . once or twice they went off with no prompting by their self. took my keys with the remote attached , out of pocket and left them in the house . it happened at least twice with the keys NOT in my pocket . no more problems for a couple of weeks , untill today !
came on couple of times this am . got them turned them off . then they remained on & off , mostly on for the next several minutes . long enough to run battery down & vehicle wont start now . disconnected the battery cable .....finally .
my mechanic will come to check the jeep the next chance he has , probably next few days. told him the problem and he seemed at least somewhat stumped for now.
big question ! any one ever experience this AND what could be the cause of this ?? !!
thanks and needless to say i would appreciate your help/knowledge
Click to expand...

My suggestion FWIW, would be to post this on a Jeep forum cuz more than likely someone over there has experienced this problem.

I've found lots of useful info on my truck on several F-150 forums.

I don't mean to discourage you, I'm trying to be helpful.
 
I had a Jeep Cherokee. Main computer went out. Nothing but problems with that thing. Cost more in maintenance than it did to buy it.

I'll never own another Jeep product.
 
so far ... thanks ..

if its the computer , my guy should be able to find it ok . not certain if it could be something else . still hopin for lesser fix.

went over to the jeep forum , as was suggested here, but the jeep forum i was on wanted a $5 fee for creating a new e-mail address ....they wouldnt take hotmail , gmail ect. i declined !
 
Doesn't matter who makes a vehicle, they all break down and they all have their own quirks , been driving for 50 yrs., had all makes and I complained about every time I had to make repairs
 
kenv1950 said:
Doesn't matter who makes a vehicle, they all break down and they all have their own quirks , been driving for 50 yrs., had all makes and I complained about every time I had to make repairs
Click to expand...
I still have a 1987 Mustang ... either it really is that good, or hell won't have it. Either way, the only time it ever made me a pedestrian was when a tire blew. The spare might be okay yet. Not sure. Haven't been able to get the trunk open in nearly a decade. For the first 20 years of service it was a radiator, oil changes, ignition module, plugs cap and wires.
It's rolling proof that they can build them right. They just don't
 
M3Stuart said:
I had a Jeep Cherokee. Main computer went out. Nothing but problems with that thing. Cost more in maintenance than it did to buy it.

I'll never own another Jeep product.
Click to expand...

A Cherokee - or a GRAND Cherokee?

I've had 5 Cherokees and they have been great - I still have 2 of them in fact.

Now Grand Cherokees, are a different animal all together. I've only had one of those and wouldn't want another...
 
I had a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee and it was a great vehicle for the first two years.........then a new family moved in about 5 houses away and slightly higher in elevation up the street. Two very big and tall communication towers were built with all sorts of antenna mounted up high on each. My Jeep's theft alarm started going off at weird hours at night. The lights would come on with the ignition key in the 'off' position. I would start to drive away at night and the lights wouldn't come on without shutting down and restarting a few times. I asked around and found a couple of other people were having similar problems with computer controlled electronic items. I asked the city utilities engineer if they had checked out what sort and what power emissions were coming from those two towers and were they properly licensed. The new neighbor was a high level ham radio man talking all over the world with a wide variation of ham rigs. His antenna were directional and rotated to optimize his rig's broadcast performance. The City checked with the FCC and they jointly investigated. The fellow was broadcasting with far more than licensed power and his emissions were causing all sorts of problems for other citizens besides me. The FCC cited him and my problems stopped. I was OK for the next couple of years and then I moved. I sure took a good look around for tall private communication towers at the next residential area that I bought a house in. I understand that there are still outlaw broadcasters that use what is called a "lay-down" tower that they only crank up into the sky at night when being used and then that tower and antenna system is laid back down out of sight until the next use. You might take a good look around for about a 1/2 mile radius around your residence. ....
 
venomballistics said:
I still have a 1987 Mustang ... either it really is that good, or hell won't have it. Either way, the only time it ever made me a pedestrian was when a tire blew. The spare might be okay yet. Not sure. Haven't been able to get the trunk open in nearly a decade. For the first 20 years of service it was a radiator, oil changes, ignition module, plugs cap and wires.
It's rolling proof that they can build them right. They just don't
Click to expand...

My '74 Ford is one of those. When ever any of my newer vehicles have given me trouble, I drive that. It's simple, get in start and drive. Sure it rattles from the weatherstripping being old, but it goes and goes well. I think the more advanced they made the cars, the more money it costs to keep them off of a lift.
 
Had a buddy that drove one of those english cars. Spent more money and time working on the "electrics" than anything else. Had a Crown Victoria aka mafia staff car. Darn thing drove me nuts. used to lock it up and find out in the morning was unlocked, this went on for a couple weeks. Went out to get the mail and hear the doors unlocking, look up the block young lady bought a new car. yep same frequency as mine. Had the dealer change out whatever needed to correct the problem. Frank
 
Aloha,

If Not the CPU, it could be the fuse box.

Everything goes thru it.

My Chevy Trailblazer SS would run and then die.

Took a while, but turned out to be a fuse box problem.
 
The way I see it you have three options:

1. Go to the warehouse store and buy a pallet of tin foil. Wrap the vehicle in it to stop the interference of those pesky radio waves.

2. Stop calling the car Christine and get a priest.

3. Get a wiring diagram and start chasing the electrical gremlins. Start at the common points, battery, fuse box, steering column, FOB receiver, etc. I know some mid 90's model Jeeps had garage door openers in the overhead console. I would check there also considering the dome lights are also triggered by the doors and back hatch circuit which in turn is connected to dash warning lights.

BTW, there could be something to the electronics recall. The hackers have published the schematics to the device they used. Hence, someone could be experimenting with a newly purchased or newly made device.
 
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