[kaidomac]

Got home a couple hours ago, shut off the car, and the alarm went off when I opened the door. I thought maybe I had depressed the panic button my keyfob somehow & tried to turn it off, but it took over a minute before it would respond to any key presses. Didn't think anything of it, figured I had hit the panic button on accident.

Couple hours later, neighbor stops by & lets me know my lights are on in the parking lot. That's weird...they always shut off automatically. Went out, wouldn't respond to keyfob presses, had to get the tiny key out of the fob to get in the car. Wouldn't start up. Overhead lights flashing, radio blinking, steering wheel blinking, every single service light is on, and it's endless scrolling a list of messages on the dashboard screen...

Service Hill Start Assistant
Service ESC System
Dynamic Steering Torque Service Required
Service Brake System
Service Power Steering
Service ABS
Service Auto Headlights
Service Electronic Parking Brake

Even the total mileage number is blinking (only at 3,305!). I went out & got my spare keyfob to see if that was the problem, but it's intermittently not recognizing the fob - it will give me a message when I sit in it & press the button that the keyfob was not found in the vehicle, but I'll try again and it will try starting, but then shut everything down & start blinking like crazy. The lights only want to work intermittently too. I got out of the car and the rear lights & small front lights are fading in & out slowly. It's like my car bluescreened, haha. I tried starting it from the Uconnect app, which said it was successful, but nothing happened when I was standing next to the car.

I called the number on the Uconnect app and had them try to get in, but they couldn't diagnose anything so they sent me over to the free towing service. My local Jeep service center is closed for the night, isn't open tomorrow, and doesn't open until 7:00am Monday, so I told them not to bother towing me until Monday morning because then I'd need to get a ride back home tonight. So I'm sitting out here in 30F weather, just called out of work (I'm on night shift tonight), and I'm stuck until Monday, when I'll have to call out of work for the morning to go with the tow truck person to take it in and hopefully get a loaner.

This was my fear when buying this vehicle; I had read reports of Renegades going on the fritz like this, especially within the first 10k miles. So now I'm stuck without a working car for the rest of the weekend because they're not open until 7am on Monday, I have to mooch rides to go anywhere, and I have to call out of work for tonight & Monday morning. I took video of the error messages on the dash, of the blinking interior lights, and of the fading exterior lights as I have some evidence as to what happened for the techs, just in case it decides to start working for them. This comes a week after getting my squeaky brakes fixed; they also did a transmission flash update & some other things, so perhaps that's what triggered it.

Awesome.

 

[Oldav8tor]

If your car is just sitting there (hasn't been towed yet) you might consider disconnecting the battery and letting it sit for a bit before reconnecting. It might not do any good but who knows? Maybe it will reset the computer(s). You still need to get the dealer involved :-(

Good luck!
Tim

 

[kaidomac]

If your car is just sitting there (hasn't been towed yet) you might consider disconnecting the battery and letting it sit for a bit before reconnecting. It might not do any good but who knows? Maybe it will reset the computer(s). You still need to get the dealer involved :-(

Good luck!
Tim

Thanks! Yeah, I'm not going to touch it because I want them to see what is going on. I recorded video just in case, but it's always better if they see it in person. Are there any special tricks to getting it ready to tow since everything is electronic? I'm not having them come until Monday morning, when the dealership opens back up again, because it'd be too much of a hassle tonight.

Honestly I don't know if I can trust this car again. I'd hate to be camping out in some remote area & be completely stuck. Fortunately this happened in my parking lot at home & not on some dirt trail in the middle of nowhere.

 

[txjeeper35]

Vehicles have memory on their computers. Even if you pull the batt cable, the dealer will be able to see what issue it had, more than likely.

 

[alexjs1]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm not going to touch it because I want them to see what is going on. I recorded video just in case, but it's always better if they see it in person. Are there any special tricks to getting it ready to tow since everything is electronic? I'm not having them come until Monday morning, when the dealership opens back up again, because it'd be too much of a hassle tonight.

Honestly I don't know if I can trust this car again. I'd hate to be camping out in some remote area & be completely stuck. Fortunately this happened in my parking lot at home & not on some dirt trail in the middle of nowhere.

I would definitely disconnect the battery. YOU clearly have a software problem.

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Tapatalk

 

[ManEater666]

I would definitely disconnect the battery. YOU clearly have a software problem.

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Tapatalk

wich is defintly restted by Newstart the whole Car via disconnecting the Battery ... this will be the first thing they do when at the shop because they can´t diagnose anything when the car acts like that ... >:x

 

[SteveZ]

Interesting situation. Was checking how other Jeep models are handled in similar situations, as rebooting to factory default settings seems (to amateur me) the most logical way to initially troubleshoot most software glitches.

Quadratec.com has a tech page which provides an approach to this (and other) problem(s). Whether it also works on the Renegade would take experimenting, unless someone has tried it already.

http://www.quadratec.com/jeep_knowledgebase/article-89.htm

 

[percymaybe]

There is at least one thread here on alarm problems. It occurred 3 times for me - 1 was significant with almost all features disabled, including windows!
Dealer updated all software and (touch wood) it has not occurred since.

 

[JeepCares]

Sorry to hear about this, kaidomac, that's certainly a frustrating situation to be in. Any updates from today? Hopefully they can get this figured out quickly for you.

 

[PAK325]

I had this issue. Disconnecting the battery for about 10 minutes temporarily cured the issues. A trip to the dealer called for a slew of updates and a new A/C head. Afterward no problems.

Also, it's worth documenting your initial quality concerns with Jeep's resolutions team. They're pretty generous with those of us who have experienced semi-serious (definitely concerning) problems with the Renegade).

This was one of a little list of problems I had, and I talked to Jeep's resolution team as soon as it was dropped off, and asked what they could do for me as these kinks were being worked out. They issued a 100,000 mile Maximum Care warranty to begin at 36,001 miles. It doesn't erase the fact the issues occured, but it made me much more confident in the next several years owning the vehicle.

 

[kaidomac]

Sorry to hear about this, kaidomac, that's certainly a frustrating situation to be in. Any updates from today? Hopefully they can get this figured out quickly for you.

Actually got it back same-day. They reprogrammed the Body Control Module. They said they have no idea what happened, but wiping the BCM did the trick. No explanation. Not exactly reassuring...

I have zero faith that this won't bite me again. I'll be taking my wife's Forester instead of my brand-new Renegade on future trails & camping trips because I don't want to risk getting stranded in the boonies should this happen again.

 

[Oldav8tor]

I buy mostly new and have never had a completely trouble-free vehicle. In the "old days" the problem would always be mechanical, so dealing with software issues is new for me. That said, I don't intend to allow the potential for such issues to keep me from using my vehicle.

One reason I visit this site is to learn from others how to deal with problems that may arise. Such foreknowledge has gotten me out of some scrapes with other vehicles I've owned and I suspect the same will be true here. That's where my earlier suggestion to disconnect the battery came from. A modest tool kit and a few spare parts can often save the day.

As far as getting stranded in the boonies, as a 30+ year SAR (search and rescue) pilot, if you go into remote areas single vehicle, I suggest you purchase a PRB (personal rescue beacon.) Whether you're Jeeping, snowmobiling, hunting, hiking or the like.... things can happen that you can't get yourself out of. In such cases, the $250 price tag of a PRB will seem like pocket change.

 

[kaidomac]

I buy mostly new and have never had a completely trouble-free vehicle. In the "old days" the problem would always be mechanical, so dealing with software issues is new for me. That said, I don't intend to allow the potential for such issues to keep me from using my vehicle.

One reason I visit this site is to learn from others how to deal with problems that may arise. Such foreknowledge has gotten me out of some scrapes with other vehicles I've owned and I suspect the same will be true here. That's where my earlier suggestion to disconnect the battery came from. A modest tool kit and a few spare parts can often save the day.

As far as getting stranded in the boonies, as a 30+ year SAR (search and rescue) pilot, if you go into remote areas single vehicle, I suggest you purchase a PRB (personal rescue beacon.) Whether you're Jeeping, snowmobiling, hunting, hiking or the like.... things can happen that you can't get yourself out of. In such cases, the $250 price tag of a PRB will seem like pocket change.

Nice, thanks for the tip, I have not heard of a PRB before. In the future, I will not go offroading of any sort in my Renegade without a buddy. If this happens again, I'll definitely try disconnecting the battery. Crossing my fingers it doesn't. This experience has left me with a bad taste in my mouth for Jeep reliability for an otherwise very fun car. At this point in my relationship with it, I'd say we're having trust issues

 

[kaidomac]

Oh yeah, one weird thing to note. When I finally got it to start late Saturday evening, I did a quick reverse & drive forward just to see if it would move...the backup camera at night has always been horrible, like a low-res Youtube video. It is crystal clear now (when the BCM started acting up). REALLY strange. It went from a crap-at-night picture to a pretty dang good picture...enormous difference in quality. Very strange lol.

 

[SteveZ]

Oh yeah, one weird thing to note. When I finally got it to start late Saturday evening, I did a quick reverse & drive forward just to see if it would move...the backup camera at night has always been horrible, like a low-res Youtube video. It is crystal clear now (when the BCM started acting up). REALLY strange. It went from a crap-at-night picture to a pretty dang good picture...enormous difference in quality. Very strange lol.

When I got my 2016 Latitude last month, even though it was on the lot I ended up waiting an additional 24 hours for the vehicle. I know that doesn't sound like much, but usually the sales department whipsaws the finance and service departments to immediately-if-not-sooner get the paperwork done, money taken and customer out the door before the customer can change his/her mind. The story given to me by the service department was that there was a software upgrade issued and they wanted to take the time not only to install it, but run the vehicle through its paces to verify the software installation to its desired output. As I've said elsewhere on this forum, I have an exceptional dealer.

This computerized world, now extending greatly into vehicles, does require driver adaption to it. Regardless of make, they all are dependent in various degrees on silicon chips to run, and that dependency leans now to what is driver maintenance. For me, that's checking every few months to see if there are software/firmware changes/updates which impact my vehicle, just like planning for the next oil change or whatever. While I trust my dealer's service department will be up on this, that doesn't excuse me from vigilance.

Yep, things have changed in the last few decades...

 

[kaidomac]

When I got my 2016 Latitude last month, even though it was on the lot I ended up waiting an additional 24 hours for the vehicle. I know that doesn't sound like much, but usually the sales department whipsaws the finance and service departments to immediately-if-not-sooner get the paperwork done, money taken and customer out the door before the customer can change his/her mind. The story given to me by the service department was that there was a software upgrade issued and they wanted to take the time not only to install it, but run the vehicle through its paces to verify the software installation to its desired output. As I've said elsewhere on this forum, I have an exceptional dealer.

This computerized world, now extending greatly into vehicles, does require driver adaption to it. Regardless of make, they all are dependent in various degrees on silicon chips to run, and that dependency leans now to what is driver maintenance. For me, that's checking every few months to see if there are software/firmware changes/updates which impact my vehicle, just like planning for the next oil change or whatever. While I trust my dealer's service department will be up on this, that doesn't excuse me from vigilance.

Yep, things have changed in the last few decades...

The difficult thing is finding out what is available, because not everything falls under a TSB. The guy with the service rep next to me was told they had done 4 different flashes to different parts on his vehicle, and that only recalls were covered for free after the warranty expired, so any flashes you wanted you had to pay for if your warranty was up. I believe that includes you having to pay for TSB's post-warranty as well.

That reminds me, I need to get an ALLDATADIY subscription for my Renegade.

 

[Oldav8tor]

Good question for JeepCares --- should the dealer charge for software updates???? I don't think so but I'd like to hear the official answer.

A PRB will work just about anywhere. When activated, it sends a signal to a satellite giving your position within 100 meters. It also has a radio transmitter that aircraft and ground teams can home in on. Each unit is registered so when a signal is received, the SAR Coordination Center calls the phone listed to try to establish the validity of the distress call.. If they get "Jack? Oh, he's out with his Jeep somewhere..." you can expect to hear airplanes or choppers heading your way

A guy I know was on his own, hunting in Northern Michigan, when he slipped and got hung upside-down from his tree stand. He was not able to extricate himself so he turned on his PRB. He had to hang there for a few hours before help arrived and although very sore, he lived. Like I said, a good investment!

 

[kaidomac]

Today's issues:

1. Brake squeak is back. Not as bad as before.

2. BLIS is randomly going off. I'll be on the highway in the center lane with no cars around me and then BEEP BEEP BEEP. Has happened twice, gives e a heart attack because I think someone is merging into me and no one is even around! Happens at lower speeds & higher speeds.

3. Radio is acting funny, especially the volume knob...being selective about when to respond to my volume adjustments. Sometimes it responds slowly or not at all, next car startup, works fine.

4. Pushbutton start sometimes only responds on the second, third, or fourth try. Intermittently.

4. Worst of all - Emergency Brake now self-activates ANYTIME the car is put into park. This includes when I come out to the car after it's been sitting off. And I can't disengage until I start the motor, which means I have to push down (hard) on the foot brake (because the e-brake is on, it's harder to push the foot brake down), start the car, and then after a few seconds it lets me turn off the e-brake. I took a video to show the techs just in case it decides to revert, but it's been doing it all day.

I called service & they said the e-brake thing was normal...this has never been the case in my Renegade. They said it might be an option in the radio under settings - maybe I missed it, but I poked around the menus for a few minutes, didn't see it, even did a full reset to defaults & delete all personalizations and it's still there. It's sooooo annoying, especially when you're just putting it into Park for a second to pick someone up, then back in gear, and it just revs & jerks forward because the stupid e-brake is on again!

Looks like I will have to take it in again. This will be the third time. First was brakes, second was haywire/no start, third is small goofy issues. I am not pleased with the car's behavior.

 

[kaidomac]

Ahah, on the e-brake issue:

http://www.edmunds.com/jeep/renegad...-parking-brake-works-perfectly-sometimes.html

http://www.edmunds.com/jeep/renegad...p-renegade-trailhawk-does-things-for-you.html

I'll see if I can disable this permanently tonight. I'd rather not have to kill another work day by having to bring it in for service, I'll just live with the other glitches for now if I can get the e-brake thing to turn off.

 

[kaidomac]

I was able to turn it off, it wasn't intuitive. You have to go into settings, then there's a slider on the side. If you tap the arrows up or down, it skips over the service section with the brakes. You have to manually pull the slider tab up & down a few times until it expands and then shows the ones it skims over when it jumps all the way down or all the way up. Bad GUI design.

The BLIS beep gave me another heart attack tonight. Turned a corner (no obstacle, just grass) and it beeped at me, making me jump thinking that someone was coming up on my side from the grass or something. They did do the free car wash this time, so I'm wondering if maybe a sensor got covered or something, I dunno - does anyone know where the blindspot sensors are? Maybe I just need to wash them off...