TheShanMan

The other day I started experiencing the problem where the car would start and then die after 2 seconds. After research here I cleaned the battery terminals but that didn't help. I then replaced the battery as the old one was below 12v and due for replacement anyway. That didn't help either. I also verified that it wasn't my key because I tried my wife's key too.

I was able to start it a couple of times after having the battery disconnected for a while but after that, I couldn't anymore.

I noticed 3 other symptoms. My driver door wouldn't lock/unlock with the fob (all others would) and I would notice that when the fob would unlock the doors, the passenger door light would flicker. Interestingly, using the lock button on the driver door would lock the driver door. Finally, I noticed that much of the time, my gauges and trip display didn't work at all.

Today I made some progress. I remembered that my dealer installed alarm system can be disabled so I did that, and it seems like I'm able to consistently start the car now. So I think the alarm system was disabling the car as an anti-theft reaction to whatever is going wrong with my driver and/or passenger doors.

That gets me back to the root of the problem. I then noticed that if I had the door open, the gauges worked, but if closed, they wouldn't. Specifically, the gauges would go out whenever I heard a relay flip a couple of seconds after closing the door (or pressing the button in the door jam). Then I tried moving the gauge brightness slider up to the "always on" position and the gauges came back on.

I am guessing there is some sort of ground problem or short problem. Does this sound right based on the symptoms of the gauges, as well as the non-functional driver lock and flickering passenger light? I am hoping that by posting what I've found here, I might get some expert advice that will lead me more quickly to the cause than if I try to find it all on my own.

yamifj1200

Does your 98 have an alarm system? If so you may need make sure the alarm is off. My 97 did the same thing once my battery died. Once I installed a new battery I still needed to reset the alarm and it started fine... Hope this helps..

Eric

TheShanMan

Yes. I mentioned that before but it is a long post so I'm not too surprised that was missed. To clarify, I disabled the alarm so that is out of the picture.

My problem now is figuring out what's up with the gauge/door lock/door light. Since pressing the door switch kicks the gauges on, I'm thinking there is a ground/short problem that is causing all of this. I'd like some feedback from the members on this fine forum if possible.

TheShanMan

Bump. Anyone have an experience based hunch or suggestions on where specifically I ought to start looking? For instance, based on my symptoms does it sound like the problem is more likely in the driver door, the passenger door, or elsewhere? Does it sound like a wiring problem as opposed to a faulty part? While I'm good with electrical systems generally, I know very little specifically about the electrical system of my jeep, other than what I've gathered through research since this problem started last week.

TheShanMan

Noticed today that steering wheel controls (radio, cruise control) don't work unless I switch the dome light on too. Haven't had a chance to start trying to find the cause of the problem, so any ideas appreciated.

If anyone can suggest a good source of wiring diagrams that would apply to this stuff, I'd appreciate it. I have a chilton manual that has nearly worthless wiring diagrams.