I have a 2004 Grand Cherokee Laredo 6 cyl. I purchased the vehicle used in 2007 from a big Chyrsler/Jeep dealer here in CT.

Anyhow, from Feb 08 to now I have had the vehicle in the Jeep dealers shop 3-4 times for electrical problems -- the dome lights would not turn off, the instrument panel needles would go bananas and the doors would not lock whenever I turned the car off and exited the vehicle. Thus the lights staying on would drain the battery. Very flaky, sometimes if I got back in the car, started it up and turned it off again, the lights would go out and the car would start right up the next day. Past couple times they repaired either a wiring harness in the drivers door and also repaired a wire ground problem in the same door. Then things worked fine for a while.

Now it's back in the shop again for electrical problems again, but this time it's a little different -- there are no visible signs as to why the battery is draining dead all the time. No dome lights staying on or anything, but they know that "something" is draining the battery but do not know what it is. The guys in the shop are very puzzled -- they have a call into Chrysler and that is what we are waiting on now. I also mentioned to them that I have noticed that the rear passenger lamps seem to blow out frequently. I did replace a socket a couple months ago because the socket had gone bad, I saw arcing burns on it, with a new socket the lamp worked fine.

Are Grand Cherokees of a certain year notorious for having this kind of problem? I just don 't know what to think at this point. I love this car and the 1996 Grand Cherokee I had before, but now I am starting to wonder...

Any advice you can offer would be very helpful. Thanks again....

 

could be a bad alternator
the internal regulator may be draining the battery and it will still charg

not all mechanics will check this

 

Hi, I was wondering if you ever got this fixed. I have the same exact vehicle with the same exact problems. Any help would be appreciated..thanks

 

Yes, it was finally resolved. You won't believe it -- it turned out to be the battery. That's what i thought it was all along, but their tests showed the battery was holding a charge. Then the day I went to pick it up, I get in, start it up ---- DEAD, after sitting at the dealer all night. They had some meter connected to the battery to see if there was some trickle power leak draining the battery, tests showed fine. Anyhow, battery got replaced, all fine since. They said something about maybe just a couple cells in the battery were bad..??

Just an FYI...I went to a reputable Jeep dealership -- too many garages won't attempt electrical problems especially when it seemed to involve the modules in the door.

One other point I want to make, I found out the hard way -- don't buy aftermarket replacement electrical parts, too many times they are inferior quality. Cosmetic parts are usually OK, but not electrical (not returnable either if they don't work or fail prematurely). I had purchased a replacement rear light assembly online because it was cheaper (I had backed into a tree too close backing into a parking spot, so that broke the lens) --anyhow, I had so many freakin problems with this assembly burning out lamps constantly, replaced lamps, sockets--still had problems. I finally got the Jeep replacement part and NO problem ever since. Guy at Jeep dealer said the circuit boards inside the after market ones are known to fail or just poor quality.

Sorry to be so wordy---but that was my experience. Hope this helps somehow.

 

Thanks for all your insight. Funny thing is when this all started six mnths ago, I was told it was the body module(somehow got wet from the cracked windshield) replaced windshield, body module, $1,000 later everything seemed fine until a month ago I go get gas and try to start it and it does the same thing again. Have it towed to dodge dealership, they run tests and say its the battery, so we replace it. Once again everything is fine for a month and then yesterday it does it again. Im lost. maybe bad ground somewhere or a relay. I dont know. Anyways, thanks for sharing your info with me.

 

I know when the techs first thought it was a door module, they first tested then replaced the wiring harness in the driver door, but that solved the problem for a while. Which could mean there were 2 issues causing the problem. Too many times people think it's just ONE thing causing the issue, not always so.

Did they replace wiring harness in your vehicle? That could be where a short is. Anyhow -- as you may know already-- electrical/electronic issues in modern vehicles can be a total nightmare. if you get a good technician who loves diagnosing/troubleshooting and analyzing and if you have similar skills, your input can help. Sometimes when you step away from a problem for a while or interject someone else's input -- a solution may come sooner.

I am just one of those that questions everything and I look for all possible causes and solutions (must be IT network admin passion coming into play).

The first object of the game is to get to the root cause(s) without spending lots of money. throwing $$$ at a problem is not the best route to a solution.

Good luck

 

No, they did not replace the harness. So that may be the next step. Possibly a bad ground or something. Im hoping for the best. Thanks for all the info.