lakelloggg

I have a 2011 Jeep grand cherokee Larado, it is the 3.6L V6. The other day I drove around town doing my arrands and went to Walmart. This keep in mind was after an hour or so of driving without any issues.
After I was do shopping and came out to my jeep I went to unlock my jeep with the key fob and nothing happened! I thought that maybe the battery went dead in it, so I manually unlocked my car door and I noticed that there was no power to anything.
I replaced the battery in my key fob and tried to start my jeep...Nothing! Well I thought maybe its the car battery so a hundred sixty bucks later my jeep started and I was able to drive home which is maybe ten minutes away. I went home without any problems.
The next day I took my boyfriend and dropped him off to fish. ( maybe ten minutes from my house) Then I went to the gas station in town and when I pulled out all of a sudden the battery light came on, on my instrument panel. I drove to get my boyfriend another 15 minutes and when I picked him up my air conditioner, my radio, the air bag, ABS, and traction control lights all started to go off.
I made it home and the jeep just died. I had a friend take my to get a new alternator and had that replaced and charged the battery. I drove it for about 2-3 minutes and my battery light comes on and a minute or so later the air conditioner and radio goes out and all the lights come on my dash and then my jeeps dies.
So I have a new battery new alterator and for some reason my Jeep is not getting a charge and holding it. I checked all the fuses and followed all the wiring and checked all the connections and found nothing!
So now what do I do? What is wrong with my Jeep?

blueseasons

First of all let me say that I know nothing about 2011 Jeeps so I don't know if you can pull codes with the key like you can on the WJ. If you can. That would be the first thing I would do. Did you have the first battery tested to see if it was bad, before you replaced it? Did you have the first alternator tested before you replaced it? Doing so would have given us a good starting point and determine where else we might look if both of those parts were good. If you can't pull codes your self. I'd either take it to a parts store and have them test the battery and charging system, or invest in an hours labor (or so) to get a diagnosis from a mechanic. I know this isn't much help but it's kind of tough to go backwards at this point to the original condition.

97grand4.0

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your first post. Here we have a concept that we often use to express a repair method that you are already familiar with. We call it the" Parts Cannon". When someone fires the Parts Cannon, it is because they have no idea what is wrong.... and they just start buying parts and installing them in an effort to fix the problem. It's kind of like opening the medicine cabinet and just start taking whatever is in there hoping for a cure.

lakelloggg

Original battery was not putting out any voltage or they said that it was very low. Second battery was tested before we left the store and it was pushing out 790 amps and he said that it was good. I put it in and it lasted about 10 minutes and I lost all power again. I took the battery back off and also the alternator and now replaced both. So now I have spent 500 bucks on a new battery and alternator and still it dies after a few minutes. When it first starts everything is fine besides the check engine light stays on and I start to get my traction control light, battery light, ABS light, red security light, windows start to go up and down, windshield wipers start to come on. And then the Jeep just dies.

lakelloggg

I took now to a repair shop here in Fremont and the guy is saying now that the alternator is not getting any power from the battery he says it's the main computer and he has to order that from the dealership and have it reprogrammed for that specific key fob. I told him I don't understand that because there is a main power line that comes off the battery directly to the alternator that bypasses the computer so I don't know if this mechanic is just trying to get me for more money can an alternator fry my main computer?

blueseasons

Hopefully you vetted this mechanic before you took your car to them Typically mechanics make mistakes but don't intentionally try and defraud people. That works But not for long these days. Is that Fremont California? There should be no shortage of qualified mechanics in that area. Electrical problems are very hard to diagnose. Did you try getting any codes using the key dance? Did the mechanic pull any codes?

Rene Simao

hey hello .. i have the same problem today ... how you fix this ..??

blueseasons

That post is from 3 years ago and we dont know how it was fixed. Whatever you do. Do not fire up the parts cannon and start throwing parts and money at it random. You didnt give us much information so we dont know exactly what your situation is. Since its a 2012 its best to take it to a competent mechanic and have it looked at first.

Gcc Cricket

I had the similar issue a few days before while coming back to work my AC turned off, wipers started moving, abs sign came and there is a smell of burning While lifted the bonnet. Jeep came to a sudden halt and no ignition at all. I have a Grand Cherokee 2013 model. I got a new alternator and got it fixed but it seems the similar issue, it won't charge the battery My Pakistani mechanic tried different batteries but problem remained the same. There is no way possible to check that alternator was good unless we got another new one. We had a computer assessment which indicated that the problem is with the main computer. I have no other option then to get a new computer for my Jeep Grand Cherokee to see if all works back to normal and battery starts getting charged. It would be better, if the original thread from 2017 concluded how the problem was sorted out so it would help a lot others, who are stuck with the similar scenario. Will update outcome in a few days.

DB4

What was the outcome of this??

DB4

I have a 2012 grand cherokee with the exact same situation. How did you solve?

taylor64

I have this same problem, 2011 GC Laredo 4x4 v6 3.6L.

Changed alternator and battery, drove around for 2 days fine then it died in my driveway, all the dashboard lights coming on. Neighbor jumped it and still barely made it all the way into its parking spot.

Started up fine a day later, no warning lights whatsoever, looked good. Made it down the block then wipers wouldn’t turn off, lights going crazy, beeping, then dead. Is it a computer issue?

BlueRidgeMark

This is a great example of "thread hijacking".

It's not good.

Start your own thread.

Mirugai

Car: Jeep Grand Cherokee 2011 Overland V6 3.6 Liter

I encountered the same issue as the rest of you this past weekend. Was trying to drive to school and alternator crapped out. Smelled smoke from the alternator and so knew that it was culprit. Towed vehicle to a safe location and pulled out alternator for a rebuilt and tested good. Pulled out battery, tested and was holding good charge. Installed both components and car started just fine. Drove around the block and noticed battery light came on, measured voltage across battery and voltage was slowly dropping below 12 volts, it’s supposed to be above 13.5 to 14 volts. Checked engine wire harness cable and noticed no fried wires or connections. Tried to reset PCM to notice the new alternator but still wouldn’t charge. Pulled out PCM for inspection but cover plate was sealed tight with adhesive and so couldn’t diagnose for bad electrical components. Ended up ordering and waiting for a used PCM from Mopar. Received part, fully charged battery and drove car to Jeep dealership. Be careful, depending on how far you live from a dealership, you might not make because you’re only running on battery. Got to the dealership safely to replace and program the new PCM. Jeep is fixed now, alternator recognizes the new PCM and charging battery at 13.7 volts. Program and new PCM install costed $220, new rebuilt alternator $100, used reman PCM $350, diagnosis and labor was all me lol.

Bad alternator most likely shorted the PCM through the engine wire harness not allowing a variable duty cycle signal to a regulator and to the new alternator to control output. Basically the fried PCM lost all control as well to monitor the battery as to tell the new alternator when to start and stop charging the battery. So an open circuit but to only run on battery with no alternator charging.

Hopefully this helps you all.

Quintanar18

Where did you get the pcm from having same issue? Please let me know thank you