2013 JKUR Electrical issues

This past weekend I had issues with the Jeep, i think I have an ECM/PCM issue, it is currently at the dealership being diagnosed. I was out wheeling with some friends in red sands in El Paso and was turning around in a small bowl, when I tried to progress the dash lit up but the lights were flickering and then the engine stalled. I thought I stalled because it's stick but still thought the lights on the dash were weird. I went to try to restart it and nothing happened. The starter didn't even try to turn, all I got were the start up lights on the dash. I got off and disconnected the battery and touched the leads together for a minute, connected everything back and tried to start it again and nothing. This time though I noticed that when I had the door open and the key was in the ignition I didn't get the annoying chime or the notice on the display that the key was in the ignition in the off position, and when I would turn the key to the on position the dash lights would come on but the red security light was also on. I immediately thought maybe the battery in the key fob took a shit, borrowed another battery from one of the guys and tried again, no luck. I finally remembered I had my superchips programmer under my seat I pulled that sucker out and read the DTCs, and holy shit I had a code party!

P1457-fuel tank pressure sensor circuit high
P0463-fuel level sensor 1 circuit high
U0121-lost communication to anti-lock brake module
U0127-lost communication with tire pressure monitor module
U1159-lost communication with automatic sway bar system
U0168-lost communication with vehicle security control module (SCREEM/WCM)
U0151-lost communication with occupant restraint control (ORC)
C1405-transfer case range position sensor circuit high
C1008-brake fluid level circuit high
U0100-lost communication with ECM/PCM

PHUuuuuuuuk!

I tried to clear the codes and try to start again, nothing. At this point I knew the SOB wasn't going to start. It was time to pull out the bubba rope to try to get me out of the sand bowl, we tried pulling me out with a full size truck, no luck! We kept at this for about 10 min. I initially didn't think of using my winch because the Jeep wasn't running so I finally decided to try the winch just off the battery. Hooked that sucker up and was able to winch out, it was probably a 30ft pull up sand dune. Once I was out and on a trail we towed it back to some pavement. I tried to pull start and the motor would turn over and start with momentum and being in gear but as soon as I would get out of gear it would shut off. I got towed back home. Mind you this was on Saturday night/ Sunday morning. Didn't get back home till 5am

Dealerships are closed on sundays!

Called the dealership Monday morning set up an appointment for that same day, got it towed there and dropped it off. I had to get back to big spring for work, called later that Monday afternoon and they said they had just got it in to look at it, i called yesterday around 2pm no answer got a call back around 5pm saying that they still couldn't figure out what was wrong. PCM!!! Hello! I hope to get a call today saying that that is the issue. I think the long arm kit might have to wait.

Almost sounds like main harness rubbed through or something. Hope they get it fixed up for you.

Holy shit, that doesn't sound good. Hopefully Han can figure this out and not charge you an arm and a leg. Good luck [emoji256]


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Sounds like a communication issue between modules.

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Most likely a wiring issue. Poor ground?

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That sucks. I think the red security light is key here. It sounds like the ecm lost communication with all of the modules which would give you the cascade of codes. Hope it's a cheap easy fix. Let us know what it was


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WJCO said:

Almost sounds like main harness rubbed through or something. Hope they get it fixed up for you.

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VeruGE*144 said:

Holy shit, that doesn't sound good. Hopefully Han can figure this out and not charge you an arm and a leg. Good luck [emoji256]

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pedrosanchez1973 said:

Sounds like a communication issue between modules.

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pedrosanchez1973 said:

Most likely a wiring issue. Poor ground?

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Judesign said:

That sucks. I think the red security light is key here. It sounds like the ecm lost communication with all of the modules which would give you the cascade of codes. Hope it's a cheap easy fix. Let us know what it was

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It just all around sucks, hopefully they can figure something out soon

The JKs have some weird stuff with the software and all the (unecessary?) comms going all over the place.
My 07 JKU had a gremlin also. In my case it was the wipers that started very slowly on their own. I was driving normally and they would start by themselves. No alarm lights on the dashboard.
The first time it happened I turned the wipers knob on to see if that would fix it. Bad idea. That shut my engine off. Now imagine you are on a highway at 70mph and the engine dies and you lose steering and break. Luckily I had enough space to pull to the shoulder and step on the break while pulling the hand brake.
The engine would not restart for anything.
I then tried the reboot. Disconnected the battery's positive, waited 15 seconds and reconnected.
Engine started as if nothing had happened. Also no codes.
Drove back home and drove for more than a month without issues.
Suddenly happened again.
This time I knew better and pulled over before turning the wipers' knob.
Lo and behold. Engine died and I had to repeat the reboot.
Scheduled dealer, which could only see me in one month (completely full).
During that month I had a few more events like that, sometimes having to reboot more than once for the engine to start.
Took to dealer that found nothing wrong. But they said I had too much stuff (really??) and they could not run a proper test (not really surprised).
Anyway... it has been almost four months since that and my Jeep did not have the issue again.
Now it simply does the "ding" sound after I turn the engine on but there's nothing to show. No alarm lights. Some folks say it's my TIPM. Not sure, since it stopped.
Based on all the research I did and talked with other Jeepers it seems it's not IF our Jeeps will go electrically crazy. It's WHEN. And the causes will be the most varied possible.

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Love my 2016 JKR, but given that like most vehicles today, and everything is run of the ecm I am sure it is just a matter of time before I have to deal with this type of thing. Hope it gets fixed soon

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Check your grounding wire/lug on the inside engine compartment, passenger side in front of the battery (inner fender). Same thing with a buddy's JK. It was loose.

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I have a 14 JKU and had some really odd electrical issues. Started with "lost communication with (insert module here)", including losing comms with the PCM. It would even lose it in the middle of climbing various obstacles and randomly disengage the trans (auto). Thought my trans was failing on me. Long story short it ended up being the TIPM. It's amazing what weird things happen when it starts going out. Oh and a side note it would always act up out wheeling...the rough bouncing would ALWAYS make it do some weird crap.


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I had U0168 as well as a 141 and some others. Happened one time and when I woke up the next morning all lights were out. Been a few months and a lot of rough off road miles since and never came back.

Let us know what the dealer says exactly

Thanks for all the replays and suggestions, it's kind of tuff being 300mi away from it and talking to the service center over the phone. On Wednesday afternoon the service advisor called me and said that the couldn't find anything wrong so the wanted permission to get 3 more hours of diagnostic time at $140/hr so that the technician could examine the wiring harness and if the technician found an issue he would repair it and if it fixed the problems then that would be it. I asked him what if the technician doesn't find anything, to which he replied the he will it is the only thing that could possibly be wrong. I asked them if they checked the PCM and the TIPM, he said that those parts were fine, that they are able to communicate with them ok so it had to be a short somewhere in the wiring harness. With that said I gave him the ok.

On Thursday evening I finally got a call back from the service advisor, he came back and told me that the technician found a short in the TIPM and it needed to be replaced, the part is $800 (BS), and two hours (BS) of work to get installed and programmed so my total bill would be $18xx and the part is three days out:
$420 for the three hours of diagnostic
$800 for the TIPM
$280 to install and program the TIPM
And $3xx for the original time spent trying to diagnose the issue.

I asked if they were sure that that was the issue, he said yes, I told to go ahead and order it. We ended the call and I looked up the TIPM, a $250 part from molar direct...fuck me right? And then i started to think about everything and how he said initially that the tipm was good and what if that isn't the issue and they want to replace something else next. I called him back, he didn't answer so I left him a message to not proceed with anything until we spoke again.

I unfortunately was working yesterday in an area that had limited cell phone coverage and missed his call and didn't get the voice message until I got back to town around 6:30 after they had closed, I am going to call him today as he said he would be available.

That sucks. Sounds like they're firing the parts cannon at it on your dime. I would at least have a problem with the original statement of the tipm is fine and after three expensive hours of 'diagnostics' they think now that it's the culprit. You shouldn't have to pay that.


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Truthfully, I've been in your shoes and in the tech's shoes on something like this. These issues are really hard to diagnose. I hope they accurately find the problem for you. There's no set book time for diagnosing electrical faults. Most shops charge by the hour.

Electric bad connections are really hard to troubleshoot, mostly if they are intermittent.
However, Chrysler did not make easier. They put so much software and crap there. It should not be difficult to have fault logged immediately as they are detected, thus making the technicians' (and owners) lives easier.

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Time for an update. So I decided to let the dealership replace the TIPM and they got it in on 5/22, and had it running that day! Woohoo! I had to fork over the $1800 that they wanted, and my dad picked up the jeep the next day. I borrowed my moms '14 jeep Cherokee while mine was getting fixed. Once my jeep was fixed she started driving it, this was a good thing she has a short commute and if anything popped up it would still be in El Paso to take back to the dealership to get fixed. While she was driving it she called and asked about all the dash lights that were on (TPM, ABS, traction control), I told here the jeep probably lost the programming and I need to reprogram with the flash cal, no big deal, i didn't hear about anything else being wrong. I was obligated to work for the next couple weekends and could not go back to El Paso until this past weekend (6/3) and I was finally in jeep again! Super happy. I finally drove it on Saturday and I started to get a quick flash when signaling to the right, the jeep said it was the front right signal was out. no big deal probably a burnt bulb, had to signal to the left and got the same thing, what are the chances both bulbs would be bad? I went out to check the bulbs and they were good, i asked my mom if it was like that the whole time to which she told me that that was the way she thought I had it, i don't blame here I have done a lot of stuff to it. So I called the dealership to ask if I could take it in that day to have it looked at, by this point it was already 3:00. They informed me that the technicians stop working at 4 on Saturdays and that I would have to wait till Monday. I threw a fit and told them that there service report said that they had checked all systems and that everything checked out fine, clearly they were pencil whipping since clearly not all the systems were checked to be in proper working conditions, I also told them that I could not take it in on Monday as I had to drive it back to Big Spring where I work and asked if I could take it to the local dealership, the manager let me know that since I bought the TIPM from them that the local dealership shouldn't charge me anything if it is directly related to the work that they did, I was a bit pleased to hear that. I set up an appointment at the local dealership on Monday and got an appointment finally for thirsday (6/8). During all this time without the jeep I ordered some gifts for it, I ordered some auxbeam round LED lights and the Evo light mount for the quarter pounder and installed and wired them up today to get power off of the original fog light wiring harness. Went to test them, pulled the lever to turn on the fog lights and nothing, what the heck, some friends were over and were there and told me that when I turned on the fog lights the signal lights got brighter? Out of curiosity I turned on the emergency lights and the new lights started flashing. Turned off the emergency lights and tried the signal lights and sure enough they blink like signal lights. I have been looking for some sort of diagram or something that could show me what connections they might have got backwards when they installed the TIPM but I have not found anything, at least when I take it in to the local dealership I can just show them what's going on and hopefully they can figure it out quickly. Through searching on the internet, this has been encountered by other people with Chrysler vehicles in other forums but the threads never show what the solution was or how they fixed it except mentioning that the TIPM has something to do with the issue.

Man what a mess. That sucks.


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Update: went to the local dealership, I showed them what was happening and the guy right away said it was a "wiring short, no doubt about it" and said that he would have to individually check all the wiring harnesses for shorts. I told him that the other dealership had already checked the wiring harnesses, to which he replied that I should take it back to them and have them look again since I had already paid them. I asked how much their rates were, it was a lot more than the other dealerships. I left with nothing. Dug deeper on the internet and may have finally found the solution. I will post it here if it works or doesn't but there was a revision on the TIPMs that is supposed to improve bulb life for fogs and signal lights....interesting

Fixed (for now)

so after i had some fog lights wired up and was able to see where the power was going, i was able to search google and found some really interesting stuff. apparently, chrysler was having issues with TIPMs in the late 00's early 10's and a lot of people with different vehicles, durangos, grand cherokees, were having similar issues. i finally found a post on Justask.com from someone who had the exact same issue but only one side was doing it, i tried to follow the link that was given that had the solution but it was posted a while back and had expired. so i decided to JustAsk my issue, i did not know at the time but you have to pay $37 to ask a question, within minutes someone responded asking if i bought the TIPM from a dealership and if they installed it, i answered his questions and within minutes again he posted a chrysler bulletin detailing the issue caused by them revising the TIPMs for improved bulb life of the fogs and front signal lights, however this document only showed that it was for 2011-2013 WKs. the document only talked about the right fog light and right signal light but included a pinout of the connector to the TIPM that controls those lights, i followed the instruction in the bulletin but i also did the same thing for the left side using the pinout chart, hoping this would actually work, it was worth a shot.













in order to perform this procedure i disconnected my battery, removed the positive red lead from the top of the TIPM, un clipped the TIPM from its house, removed all the connectors, and placed the TIPM to the side.
once i got ahold of the connector i worked off of the pin position rather than color and swapped the leads as described in the bulletin. i swapped pin 7 with 11 and swapped pin 9 with 16. i made up all the connection on the bottom of the TIPM and put it back in its house and then connected the DC(+) lead back on the top. reconnected my battery. i went into the vehicle to turn on the hazard light and the came on as they should and then i tested the signal lights and they worked appropriately, went to turn on the headlights to test the fogs and only one headlamp turned on....checked the fuses, good, accidentally touched one of the relays in the fuse box and the lamp flickered, i just re-seated the relay and the headlamp turned on, close one. finally tested the fogs and they turned on as well. i hope this helps someone at some point. those $37 were well worth it in my opinion, it beat having to find a way to send the jeep back to el paso to get fixed by the people that should have known about this, or having to pay another dealership troubleshoot and diagnose the problem to maybe come up empty handed too. it really upset me that the local dealership service guy right away wanted to start checking the harness for grounds, almost as if they just saw dollar signs.